

Music and games go hand-in-hand. A memorable soundtrack has often propelled games to treasured status, and the best game music gets the attention of aficionados even outside of the gaming world. As such it was only natural to experiment with the way that games use music. And so Orrery Games have announced the first game in a new fantasy adventure series, Midnight at the Celestial Palace, which they’ve described as a point and click musical.



While certainly some adventure games have incorporated music into their aesthetic and indeed even into the puzzles themselves, this title intends on going further than that. The developers intend on incorporating interactive songs into the game, allowing the player to select their own verses and influence the flow of the game’s music directly.



The game is set to focus on Greg, a chronic underachiever who has been whisked away to a magical fantasy world. There he meets Sir Squiggles, a friendly otter, and together they make their way through the perils of Dreamlandia to reach the Celestial Palace. It all sounds a bit silly, and the game promises to be lighthearted in its narrative. This sort of humour can be hard to pull off, especially with everything unique the game is trying to do, but if the writing can hold up, it should make the game quite memorable indeed.

The trailer showcases a colourful cartoon aesthetic that shows off the game’s storybook style, as well as its fantasy tone rather nicely. It looks like it still could use a little polish, but it does feel a bit like some older hand-drawn adventure games which definitely should attract the attention of some players.



Whether the game is a hit or miss is obviously too far off to be certain, but Midnight at the Celestial Palace is definitely interesting. If its writing and humour can hold up, and if the interactive music works out as planned, it could definitely be an intriguing title. A Kickstarter and Greenlight campaign are on the horizon, and it’s tentatively scheduled for release in early 2016. Adventure game fans should watch this one closely as more trailers and information pops up, as well as folks with a vested interested in how music is used in games as a whole.