There is always the big question of whether FMV is going to be one of the mainstream subgenres of adventure in the future. It is not easy to give a positive answer to this question since there are many obstacles on the way of developing an FMV title. One of the most annoying obstacles is the difficulty of going back and correcting mistakes as it is almost impossible to shoot scenes again. Despite these challenges, There are still some studios that are actively working on FMV titles. D’Avekki Studios is an indie developer that particularly focuses on developing and publishing FMV games. The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker and The Shapeshifting Detective are two FMV titles from this studio that introduced a novel approach in story-telling. Now, D’Avekki Studios is back with another FMV title, Dark Nights With Poe And Munro.

The game tells the story of Poe and Munro, who are running a radio in a small town called August. They are not afraid of engaging in mysterious events and embracing dangers. These events could be talking to strange audiences, searching for a hostage, sleeping together in a bed for 24 hours, or even looking for werewolves. The game includes six episodes in total, and each episode is dedicated to one of these odd stories. Same as most of FMV and interactive drama titles, the choices that you make during the episodes lead to different story branches and even endings.

Dark Nights With Poe And Munro tries to be a surreal comedy. However, the directors' effort to inject absurd humor into the story has succeeded in a few parts but failed in others. The ping-pong dialogs between Peo and Munro are the most interesting moments of the game. They are usually well written and full of humor. Additionally, the actors have done a great job when it comes to saying these dialogs. The actors' voices and their facial expressions have increased the power of dialogs. It's always fun to hear Poe and Munro arguing about saving animals or the Munro's decision to date a random person.

The main problem with the story is the lack of a proper plot. There is no logic behind the sequence of events in the game. Basically, we are watching tons of absurd and weird occasions which can be simply swapped with something else without any dramatic change in the story. I believe that a story (independent of the fact that it is depicted by a book, a movie, or a game) should be able to affect our emotions, and it is not possible without a good plot. It is the chain of events in a story that encourages us to follow the characters' fate to see what will happen to them. Thus, if the chain is broken or in other words, there is no logical connection between the events, it is hard to identify with characters and the interest in pursuing the story wanes.

It is not understandable for me how Poe can simply kill someone and then a few minutes later sits down with Munro and talks about forgetting bad memories. Who is the girl suddenly appears in the second episode? Is it supposed to be only a surreal nightmare? Who is the girl in the painting in the last episode? Why does she eat people? There is, unfortunately, no answer to these questions in the game. It was even possible to add another episode in which Poe and Munro meet aliens, and I believe it wasn't weirder than the current six episodes.

When it comes to the gameplay, Dark Nights With Poe And Munro has some drawbacks compared to other FMV and interactive drama titles. Instead of choosing dialogs, the game puts the choices as clickable points in the picture. For example, you should click on either Poe or Munro to decide which one takes action in a particular situation. However, it is often hard to know or guess what are the consequences of these choices. This problem reduces the level of interaction with the game as we don't have a clear picture of our choices and their results.

In addition, the depth of choices is very shallow. There are no story branches in the game, and what you chose only changes the next scene. It means that you immediately see the consequences of your choices and they do not affect the entire story.

Verdict:

The lack of a proper plot, unclear consequences of choices, and absence of deep story branches prevent Dark Nights With Poe And Munro from becoming a memorable FMV title.