Indigo Prophecy (Windows)

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Description

January 2009. On a cold, snowy night in New York City, an ordinary citizen named Lucas Kane, under the control of an unknown force, unwillingly murders a complete stranger in a diner. Once he comes to senses, Lucas realizes he must escape while leaving as little evidence as possible behind. Barely managing to accomplish that, Lucas contacts his brother and tries to understand what has caused him to commit the crime, recalling the events of his own past in the process. Meanwhile, two police detectives investigating the murder, Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, are determined to find the perpetrator, at the same time trying to deal with the personal problems of their lives.

Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit in Europe) is a psychological thriller in which the player is able to control different characters on both sides of a murder - the killer and those who are trying to find him. The game's core gameplay style is adventure. The three protagonists explore various locations, talk to other characters, and interact with the environment in order to advance. However, the game is heavy on various action-oriented sequences, from tasks that must be completed within a limited amount of time to quick time events, which require the player to press the correct button during a scene.

The game emphasizes realism in the player's interaction with the environment. For example, picking up a rag and cleaning the floor requires the player to move the mouse or the analog stick back and forth, imitating the actual movements of the object. Dialogue with character often imposes time limits on the player; failure to choose the optimal response in time will prompt the game to choose another, not always the optimal one. The player's choice will sometimes influence the subsequent events and the outcome of the entire story, eventually leading it to one of the three possible endings.

Cinematic treatment is evident in the game's handling of action-based gameplay and cutscenes, which are often seamlessly integrated into each other. An example of this is the split-screen technique, which is often used during the game's most dramatic moments: while the player is trying to complete the required action in time on one screen, another one displays what is happening around the controlled character.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "靛青预言" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "全面失控" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "Fahrenheit" -- European / Oceanian title
• "인디고 프로페시" -- Korean spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Best of Infogrames / Atari releases
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Gameplay feature: "Simon says"
• Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit games
• Nudity
• PC Gamer Presents Games
• Protagonist: Hunter & Hunted
• Setting: City - New York
• Setting: Future now Past
• Software Pyramide releases
• Technology: amBX
• Theme: Law enforcement

User Reviews

Movie with QTEs	Unicorn Lynx (181445)
A storytelling masterpiece	Katakis | カタキス (42834)
Original, movie-style game that's both retro and revolutionary. Stunning.	Shazbut (167)
An unusual gaming experience	erseN akçay (30)
Amazing and original in some aspects, sorely lacking in others	phorque (147)
A unique, genre-bending experience	plumifrons (98)
Wonderful and Awful at the same time	Jeanne (76226)
Tries to do something different and new - and mostly succeeds	thud (94)
Some of the best voice acting and story writing ever.	David Gasman (5)

Critic Reviews

MikroBitti	Oct, 2005	92 out of 100	92
Gameguru Mania	Dec 08, 2005	90 out of 100	90
Playback	2006	9 out of 10	90
ActionTrip	Sep 28, 2005	84 out of 100	84
IGN	Sep 20, 2005	8.4 out of 10	84
Absolute Games (AG.ru)	Oct 25, 2005	83 out of 100	83
PC Powerplay	Sep, 2005	81 out of 100	81
Armchair Empire, The	Nov 13, 2005	8 out of 10	80
GameSpot (Belgium/Netherlands)	Sep 07, 2005	79 out of 100	79
Jeuxvideo.com	Sep 22, 2005	15 out of 20	75

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Skipping cutscenes	2	GAMEBOY COLOR! (2002) Sep 25, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Fahrenheit appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cut Content

In the U.S. version, the sex scenes have been toned down to maintain a Mature rating.

Development

• Fahrenheit was first announced as an episodic game. With this business model, Quantic Dream wanted to sell the game at a budget price, and then release monthly episodes and half-yearly bundles. This concept allowed for cliff-hangers, red herrings, mysteries, and surprises, with a new build-up in hype every month. Ultimately, they did not go along with it and released the game as a whole, at a regular price.
• The game was in development for five years - two years to create the tools and engine, two years to develop the game, and an additional year to sell it to the publisher.

Genre

The developers themselves do not call the game an adventure, but rather interactive drama, a story that is evolving according to the player's choices in the game, where gameplay is the story. It consists of bending stories, with a beginning, a middle and an end, but everything in between can be stretched or has multiple paths.

Publishing

The game was first to be published by Vivendi Universal, but developer and publisher parted ways in November 2004 because of differences in creative vision.

References

• Early in the game when the player wakes up as Tyler there is a desk in the bedroom with an action figure on it that when checked says: "This is a figurine of Sox, a character from my favorite videogame." Sox is a robot from another Quantic Dream game, Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
• At one point of the game there's also news about Omikron on the Internet. It can be accessed from Tyler's computer at the police station. Notice also how much the archive computer in the basement of the police station looks like a Commodore VIC-20.
• The concept of an Indigo Child is an actual theory, though not quite the same as the game presents it.

Technology

The game contains thirteen hours of full body and facial animation, which, according to the developers, has never been done in a video game, a TV series, or a film.

Tutorial

In the tutorial, the player is introduced to the game in a training room by director David Cage, not just with a voice-over, but using a rendered model as well. He also briefly discusses his creative vision.

U.S. Title

The decision to rename the game Indigo Prophecy in the U.S. was made by Atari. Fahrenheit suggests September 11th because of Michael Moore's critical film Fahrenheit 9/11, even though it's equally well known as a temperature scale, or in reference to Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2005 – Best Adventure of the Year
  • 2005 – Best Innovations of the Year
• GameSpy
  • 2005 – PC Adventure Game of the Year
  • 2005 – PC Adventure Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
• Golden Joystick Awards
  • 2005 - Unsung Hero of the Year
• PC Powerplay (Germany)
  • Issue 04/2006 - #2 RPG/Adventure in 2005 (Readers' Vote)
  • Issue 02/2006 - Most Innovative Adventure in 2005

Information also contributed by Jeanne, Mr. Sefe, piltdown man and Zack Green.

Related Web Sites

• Developer's diary (An extensive post-mortem by director David Cage.)
• Fahrenheit (Official Web Site)
• FAQs and Guides (on GameFaqs.com)
• UHS Hints for Indigo Prophecy (Nudges you along so you can try to solve the game yourself. Given in question and answer format. Includes full solutions.)
• Walkthrough by Grawl (posted on GamesOver)
• Wikipedia: Indigo Prophecy (Information about Indigo Prophecy at Wikipedia)
• Zarf's Mini-Review (A mini-review of the PlayStation 2 version of Indigo Prophecy by Interactive Fiction developer Andrew Plotkin (June, 2006).)