We love classic point and click adventures. That’s why we decided to write a love letter to classic p’n’cs - in the form of Irony Curtain. Creating a game that channeled our nostalgia and allowed us to include our collective experiences of the communist regime in Poland in a humorous way was a dream come true.
We believe there still are people who love this particular genre as much as we do – and maybe that there are more who will be hooked on point and clicks after playing the right game, hence the mixture of nostalgia and improvements we presented in Irony Curtain.
Since the story is one of the most important elements in classic p'n'c games , so we made sure to have a well-written plot and interesting characters - Irony Curtain is about a goofy pen-pusher who gets tangled up in the spy-standoff between two powers. We wanted Evan to be likeable while also making him Guybrushingly funny – he's an unwilling troublemaker and works really well juxtaposed with all the other characters, such as the ruthless Leader or Anna - who's smart, capable, mysterious... We wanted strong personalities to match the story and then we peppered it all with puzzles. A lot of puzzles.
And when we say “a lot” - we mean it. And mini-games too. This is where our HOPA background comes in – we're really good in mini-games. They’re not a classical p’n’c mechanic, but we know they enrich the gameplay, allow to pace it and also are a good excercise for the brain. It’s also a tribute to our legacy – we even have one hidden object scene in Irony Curtain as an easter egg! And believe us when we say - there’s plenty easter eggs for you to enjoy – try to find out if there really are 1951 hidden around Matryoshka. You can also read our previous Steam announcement on the topic here. That’s another point where the past intertwines with the present, bringing in jokes for both the fan of The Lord of the Rings and F.E.A.R alike.
We strived to create a game both familiar but also somehow innovative – that's why the interface is exactly as you know it from other games. If you’re a p’n’c player, you’ll know your way around from the getgo – the inventory, the icons telling you what kind of an action is available, etc.
As both players and creators we know that being frustrated is not fun – the game is supposed to be a challenge (like in the old, golden days) but at the same time we wanted the solutions to be more reasonable than “use chickend and bucket to make a helicopter”. The point is to get the satisfaction of solving a riddle using your brain, not a walkthrough. The puzzles in Irony Curtain can be ambigous, challenging but never absurd (and some of them can even be solved in multiple ways). The only absurdity you’ll encounter is the historical absurds that we really lived through. Yes, bribing people was normal. Yes, TP was a precious commodity and we stood in unending queues. But we hope that thanks to this you’ll not only get some mind excercise but also will learn about the oddities we had to live through back in the day.
When we pitched the game as ‘Deponia meets Papers, please’ we were hoping to add value to the genre we loved talking about topics we cared about. And we believe we did. We hope we brought to the table all the things classical p’n’cs represent: humour, wit, riddles and story that’ll draw you for long hours (up to 10 😉) so that the fans of classical point and click adventures will feel at home with Irony Curtain – and those who are new to the genre will get hooked!
Irony Curtain premieres on the 16/05
https://store.steampowered.com/app/866190/Irony_Curtain_From_Matryoshka_with_Love/