The Forest Quartet

A screenshot of gameplay in The Forest Quartet.

The game is puzzle-based adventure game in which the player navigates three stages to complete puzzles, each based around reuniting one of the three band members. The player is Nina, a "gone, but not forgotten" singer of a band of musicians who have disbanded after passing away and are unable to move on. The player reinvigorates a decaying forest to inspire each of the three members of the band, Kirk, JB, and Sebastian, to reunite. After the members are reunited, they perform a farewell concert, and satisfied that the band has been able to move on, Nina disappears into the light. The player can float across stages and use Nina's voice to manipulate objects, press buttons, and collect items to activate objects.[1] In the first stage, the player assembles machinery by locating and assembling cables and manipulating valves and dials to power large generators.[2] In the second stage, the player activates light bulbs that illuminate the darkness of the forest.[3] In the final stage, the player transforms into a swarm of butterflies to navigate a series of pipes to direct the flow of water to put out forest fires.[2]

The Forest Quartet was created by Danish independent developer Mads Vadsholt under the name Mads and Friends. Vadsholt was a computer graphics and animation graduate from The Animation Workshop in Viborg, and developed the game from 2016, with most of the development period involving independent part-time work on the game.[4] Vadsholt cited the game as a personal work relating to growing up in a family of musicians and that the game became "very much about my own grief and the life of my family".[5] Development of the game was supported by several grants, including the Danish Film Institute Games Scheme and the Danish Arts Foundation,[6] allowing Vadsholt to hire additional artists and animators for the game.[5] Vadsholt also involved several friends and family members in development, such as sister Nina Vadsholt, who provided voice acting for the game's main character,[5] and jazz bassist Kaspar Vadsholt, the father of the developer, who composed the game's soundtrack, performed by members of the Copenhagen band The Danish Radio Big Band.[7] To promote The Forest Quartet, publisher Bedtime Digital Games launched a pre-release party in which the soundtrack of the game was performed in a forest in Gisselfeld.[8][5]

The Forest Quartet received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9] The game received praise for its soundtrack. The Guardian described the game's music as "phenomenal", citing the game's mixture of genres and tone as a "wonderfully apt musical ode to the confusing aftermath of death".[10] Edge highlighted the game's "forlorn" and "ethereal soundscapes".[2] Multiplayer.it commended the game's sound design for recovering "the magic underlying music and jazz", citing its use of improvisation and fragmentation to symbolize the game's themes of loss and death.[1] However, Gaming Age found the music to be "awfully forgettable" and "nothing special", citing the band's music only being played at the end of the game.[11]

Critics also praised the game's visual presentation and connection to the audio design. The Guardian described the art as "striking" and "painterly", finding the animations to be "playful and intuitive".[10] Edge highlighted the game's "distinctive setting" and its interactive animation as "enlivened by the musicality of the environment".[2] 4Players commended the game's "great atmosphere", highlighting its "panoramas and scenes" and "convincing" use of "attractive warm light".[3] In contrast, Gaming Age felt the graphics left "something to be desired".[11]

Several critics were lukewarm on the narrative and treatment of its subject matter on grief and loss, but many felt the game could have explored them further. Edge found the game to be elevated from other titles dealing with grief "in both form and tone", describing the game's treatment of its themes as done "with understatement and wit", and the ending being "touching yet hopeful".[2] 4Players acknowledged the game's "important topic" and "soulful implementation" of its themes, but found the representation of mourning to be abstract and "not particularly effective".[3] Multiplayer.it expressed interest in the game's characterization and its use of interview to "open a window on the lives of the musicians", but "would have liked to hear more".[1]

Reviewers were mixed on the design of the puzzles, with most agreeing they were not the centerpiece of the game's experience. Edge noted the puzzles were "straightforward enough to allow the story to flow", but did not feel "insultingly simple".[2] Multiplayer.it praised the game's "simple but clever puzzles", but noted their structure was "very linear and not at all complex".[1] Despite noting the "surprising" variation in puzzles, 4Players noted that they lacked "ambition" and could be "solved very quickly".[3] Gaming Age described the puzzles as "linear" and not "remotely challenging".[11]

• Official website