Therapy
 

If you need to really relax and you don't know how. If you want to be absorbed in things that normally don't captivate your heart in a game. If you want to feel as though you're floating and wish you could play a game with your eyes closed, because you are free of false expectations and the tension of unfair gameplay. If you want all of this, and a musical bodywash and mind massage that soothes... play Carol Reed: The Colour of Murder.

It's a gentle and rewarding experience, that just happens to have an intriguing story and lots of traditional cozy fun.

http://www.mdna-games.com/Colour/about.htm

Thanks for the opinion, Romer.

A quick question: is it necessary to have played the previous games in the series?

I don't know--I have never played one of the others. I think the site says, no, this is a standalone game.

They're all self contained stories. I've played a couple of the Carol Reed games. I like them. They are very quiet, not a huge amount of interaction, but it's there. They can be very linear. There's not a ton of voice work and at times the back tracking can get a bit annoying, but I can get over it (others may not). I like the location and the use of real people (it has a very unique graphical style) and the stories are interesting.

There are demos of all of them so you can see if they're your cup of tea.

I love those games, as most of you know. I even went to Sweden this summer to see Norrköping for real. They games are indeed very quiet and relaxing. I haven't played the demo of the new game because I will buy the game anyway :D

These are some of my favorite games. I've just finished the new one and eagerly await next year's. They do have a very calming, immersive effect that is so pleasurable. My SO wanders by and says "that's a beautiful scene" and he couldn't be less interested in adventure games. The first games in the series had a creative impressionistic painting look to them. See the screenshots to see what I mean. The games hold up very well without the effect, which I sort of miss. I did get a kick out of the "messy room effect" that's used this time out. I can imagine the author saying "Just let me use it the way it is in my game. I'll put in a group picture and you'll all be famous!"

You don't so much play the games as amble through them seeing the sights and picking up clues here and there. Your mind starts wondering about why the summer place is called "the allotment" (do Swedes actually receive it from the state), who Bigge, the strange guy who plays the janitor really is, do they know Willie is a dead ringer for Putin and other questions about the real people you encounter.

tsa, I envy you. I have thought if I ever get back that way I'd love to visit Norrkoping myself!