Cyrano – Polished, Permanent Release of Previously Unavailable Adaptation

“Well when I write my book, and tell the tale of my adventures – all these little stars that shake out of my cloak – I must save those to use for asterisks!” – Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

Overview

Originally available for a limited time and only as part of the LudoNarraCon2021 Supporter Pack, Cyrano, has now been released as a standalone, permanently available title by developer Popcannical, creator of Kind Words and Kind Words 2. This interactive fiction, an adaptation of the classic French play Cyrano de Bergerac, invites players to fight with both blades and wits.

Narrative

Starting in Paris and set in the 1600s, Cyrano’s story takes place as France and Spain are at war. The titular protagonist is about to set off with his comrades to assist a siege. He is well renowned to be the greatest swordsman and wordsmith in all of France but also possesses the largest nose and the fiercest temper!

Cyrano finds himself hopelessly in love with Roxane, his companion’s wife, and even though he has stood alone against a hundred soldiers and could best the wits of any poet alive, he fails to see how anyone could ever love such a ridiculous beak and so writes love letters on behalf of her husband, wooing her by proxy.

The game’s writing is very loosely befitting of the time period and feels sufficiently old fashioned without feeling forced or being laborious to read. The dialogue helps to give each of the characters a distinct feel, with great diversity across NPCs and different scenarios. The rhyming sections of dialogue and combat were especially charming.

Gameplay

After the story and characters are introduced, the party (consisting of Cyrano, Le Bret and Christian) set off on their journey. Players control the party with the arrow keys and manoeuvre them to the next campsite whilst fighting enemies such as wild animals and bandits along the way – this can be toggled off, but it removes a fun aspect of the game and limits the characters’ ability to gain XP. All other controls simply use the mouse. Like the rest of the game’s combat, these simple fights are turn-based. All of the party can fight, heal or retreat, but Le Bret can also attempt to steal playing cards, and Christian can throw them.

Cards are obtained via the aforementioned theft or by defeating enemies and also have sentimental writing on the back. They can also be lost if a character ‘dies’ during a fight, but the entire party’s health is replenished at the end of each scuffle! Once the party make camp for the night, Cyrano sets about writing his love letter. This first involves looking at the playing cards earned throughout the journey and making the best poker hand possible. Following this, the writing on the cards chosen is used to compose the letter. The player can choose what order to use them in, how many times to use them, and what to fill the blanks with. The letter aspect is mainly for fun and can be entertaining in a variety of ways, but the poker score is then converted to XP, making the party more powerful.

In addition to the party combat, Cyrano also duels alone, with linguistic options such as confident, bold or pointed stanzas for players to choose from as attack options. However, I hit the opponent every time during these encounters and never took damage giving the impression it is impossible to fail at them. Similarly, outdoor enemies do not seem to improve at the same rate that the party levels up, giving the game a kind of reverse difficulty curve with the combat getting progressively easier.

Styling

Cyrano has a delightful hand-drawn artwork with a mix of pencil and printed aesthetics and a warm, autumnal colour palette all combining to give it a unique feel. The various characters are drawn with simple but distinct designs that have a somewhat cute look overall.

The music in Cyrano fits it really well, featuring instruments that seem befitting of the game’s 17th-century setting, including lutes and harpsichords, amongst others. The tunes aren’t especially catchy, but they blend well with the experience and add to the overall sense of immersion. This is aided by the well-executed sound effects and background noises such as chickens, people and fires crackling that all help to connect the player to the game.

Summary

This permanent release of Cyrano has received a bit of polishing and gamepad support has also been added, along with Spanish as an addition to the other 6 supported languages. It utilises a variety of game mechanics; none of them is used to great effect on their own, but the combination is fairly unique and makes for a great accompaniment to the entertaining narrative. The combat is potentially too easy for a lot of players, but the short playtime of around one hour means that it remains fun, especially taking its low price into account. The writing and narrative, along with some aesthetic elements, are the strong points of this title, and anyone looking for a decent story with casual gameplay will enjoy Cyrano, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge.

If you’re looking for more visual novels, you may also enjoy these reviews:
Firebird – An Interactive Visual Novel Filled with Fascinating Folklore – The Wreck – Relive the Past and Alter the Present in this Emotional Visual Novel – If Found: A Coming of Age Story with a Sci-Fi Twist

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