I rarely play PC games. More than the epic-scale strategy games and frag-anything-that-moves games, I prefer games with few characters and a storyline. Max Payne was the first such game that I played and it remains the favorite. I enjoyed the dramatic shoot-while-jumping moves, loved using the clean weapons, had my heart broken by Mona Sax, and after five years continue to use one of its lines: “We agree to disagree.”
When caught by a sudden desire to play one of those, I go to the store looking for an inexpensive mature-rated crime-themed game (like the hard case crime paperbacks), buy it, and finish it in a few days. Last week I bought Microids’ Still Life.
Still Life has the best story and story setting among all the games I’ve played thus far, and I must thank Mathieu Lariviére, its writer and lead game designer, for it. One part of the story follows FBI agent Victoria McPherson’s current investigation of a series of murders in Chicago. The other part follows PI Gustav McPherson’s investigation of an eerily similar series of murders that took place in 1930s in Prague.
Vic is the weakest link, with the most clichéd female detective character possible, cheesy CSI lines and a hardly sexy model. On the contrary, her grandfather Gus is interestingly complex and believable, occasionally crippled by visions (courtesy past in the game Post Mortem), physically cautious than courageous, and hopelessly in love with a woman waiting to be the serial killer’s next target. His own past as an amateur artist makes even him shady.
Though set in a timeline much after the Jack the Ripper murders, and though very few explicit references are made, the Prague murders offer a fictitious theory about the London murders. Prostitutes are targeted, bodies are mutilated and sometimes eviscerated, bodies are found away from actual scenes of crime, high connections are suggested, the killer when revealed is found to be an American who had grown up in London (because of his father’s ambassadorship) and recently moved to Prague. In a way, Gustav’s story has parallels to Fred Abberline’s in From Hell.
The lighting, colors and music used perfectly set the melancholic mood. The artwork and CGI are first-rate, the puzzles are sufficiently tiresome, though the controls could have been clearer.
The Pupil in the present who devotedly follows the style of the Prague murderer is never revealed, and it stirred a tiny controversy for the game. Microids did that for its planned sequel, and I don’t mind.
Spoilers Follow: Who is the Pupil?
Reading the numerous plausible theories was fun. The most common suspects that I came across are Richard Valdez, David Miller, Patrick McPherson, Todd Browning, a woman, a sect.
Sect is a wild possibility that cropped up because of the S&M list. It is least probable simply because too many cooks spoil the broth. Unless it is the Freemasons, every member of a secret sect is unlikely to pull off such clueless crimes.
The tall athletic personality of the masked Pupil suggests a man more than a woman. None of the women introduced in the first game at least have such a personality. Also. Mark, Gus and Ida were in the last Prague crime scene. 2 men and 1 woman. The Pupil, Vic and Mia were in the last Chicago crime scene. 2 women and? 1 man, I think.
Todd Browning’s name in the S&M list brought him up as a suspect. He didn’t seem sufficiently tall and athletic to me. There was evidence of his presence in the office during the chase scene. Comparing Gus’ and Vic’s stories once again, I think Todd was written to be more like Jiri Skalnic. Note the sour relationships between Gus and Skalnic, and between Vic and Todd. Skalnic’s involvement in the crime was to cover up. Todd, who came across as weaker, is much less involved only through the S&M list. (Speculation: He may have helped get the killer the required files from the archives section.)
Patrick McPherson, someone said was the disturbed son of a schizo (Gus) and a prostitute (Milena). He had access to all the material about the Prague murders, and could be the one with a reason to not kill Vic when he had the chance twice. He didn’t seem sufficiently tall and athletic to me. But it is an interesting theory that I can’t rule out.
David Miller was the first to arrive on some crime scenes, had access to the required evidence and records, may be putting on a face of being a sissy, and fits the physical profile. He was missing towards the end of the game. One could explain it somehow, though after the chase scene when Vic returned to the office he was at his desk. All valid points. Trivia: David Miller and Mark Ackerman were voiced by the same person.
My theory, like most others, considers Richard Valdez as the crime suspect. Tall, athletic and young, didn’t kill Vic when he had the chance twice, had extensive material about Mark Ackerman’s portraits through the gallery, was the owner of one of the crime scenes, was asked to babysit Mia and was absent from the gallery when Mia had gone missing. Apart from these, I base my hunch on parallelism. There are intentionally too many parallels written between Gus’ and Vic’s stories. Consider again on the last murders in both cases. Mark killed Gus’ fiancé Ida, causing Gus a great loss and suffering. Vic shot the Pupil while Mia lay almost dead. The Pupil, if needed, would have otherwise killed Vic. Richard was Vic’s boyfriend, and shooting him on her own would have caused Vic a greater loss and suffering (though her character was annoyingly written to brush off all feelings worth feeling.)
And I got my confirmation from the literature on Still Life 2. Remember the nurse that Mark Ackerman drew? She was Beatrice Allen who had a son Henry Allen with Mark. Henry married Maria Valdez and had a son called Richard. Richard Allen aka Richard Valdez, Vic’s boyfriend, grandson of Mark Ackerman, wanted to be come what his grandfather was – the artist who dedicated his life for an art of murder.
Image Source: Still Life
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