Gerda: A Flame in Winter Reviews

love the story

This is my kind of game. Choices definitely matter. I wish I was more historically competent to truly understand some of the concepts but I fared okay overall. Will play again to achieve other outcomes. Very enjoyable!

Excellent game about doing whatever it takes to survive under Nazi occupation.

I really, really want to love this game. But unfortunately, I can't. First, the art style is really creepy! All the faces are blurred. It seems to be a kind of bug, but I think it is just how the art style is. Then most of the dialogue is written. Despite the game having spoken narration, most of the interaction is via text you have to read. And not only that. You only get one sentence at the time, and you have to click every time you want a new sentence. That makes the game tedious, and the game makes me feel more like I am doing homework, rather than enjoying an interactive story. Then I am also annoyed by the political correctness in the first spoken interaction. “Crimes was committed by both sides” – yes, the resistance, also in Denmark, did kill some more or less innocent people. But that is nothing compared to the atrocities and genocides of the nazis. To compare the crime of Holocaust to a murder on a grocer who trade with the nazis, is an outright insult to the resistance movement who fight the nazis, and the millions of victims of the nazi genocides.

I played this game after a while it was released back in 2022, I still remember this game was so bad at almost every aspect. I tried really hard to love the game, to be optimistic af at the "entertainment" they made. I couldn't. the story is full of drama bullsh*t. it doesnt tell the real detail situation of ww 2, it was like fake scenario. I made a mistake of picking wrong choices(or maybe it wasnt), I cant go back to change the choices because the game doesnt provide chapter select. you have to play from the start. I read early reviewer back in 2022, she told the story of her grandma in real ww2 and the occupation isnt the same of the game. how come a housewife is able to roam around back and forth in an occupied city? after I finished the game, I didnt want to look back because how bad the game is. even after they released liva's story its like nobody cares it has only 10 reviews. if I could refund this, I would

What an excellent game. The story captured all my attention

Compelling story and really like seeing how the choices impact the character and the story.

It's difficult for me to say "I don't recommend this game." I wish there were a third option. The choices you make genuinely matter, and the artwork is fantastic, as is the soundtrack. But.. the story. You'd expect a WWII narrative to be tragic, dramatic, and emotional; however, it isn't. It felt like a polished, toned-down, and simplified version of the Nazi occupation. It could've been used to teach kids about WWII, but I'm not even sure about that, given the ambiguity of characters on both sides (Nazi and the Resistance) and the way it seemingly ignores the horrors of Nazi ideology. Similarly to Disco Elysium it feels like you're out of place, out of time, and that you're just manipulating various factions to achieve your goal. I failed to connect with any of the characters (and there are plenty), and the only thing that kept me going was my own persistence in finishing Gerda's "mission." But even then my own imagination failed, as the voice-over work is either a hit or a complete miss and can totally ruin the mood. Verdict: this game is worth playing if it's on sale and you have a couple of hours to spare.