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The Piano

The Piano fails to execute meaningfully on any of its promising concepts, which are further marred by finicky controls and antiquated game design. Microtransactions: none
The Piano Game Cover
36%Game Brain Score
story, music
gameplay, graphics
50% User Score Based on 20 reviews
Critic Score 40%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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The Piano Game Cover

About

The Piano is a single player action adventure game with a horror theme. It was developed by Mistaken Visions and was released on November 10, 2013. It received negative reviews from critics and neutral reviews from players.

Accused of his brothers’ murders, failed pianist John Barnerway searches for answers on the streets of post-war Paris. Part traditional survival horror, part noir-influenced murder mystery,...

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The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
The Piano screenshot
+4
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50%
Audience ScoreBased on 20 reviews
story6 positive mentions
stability5 negative mentions
  • The atmosphere and visual style are distinct, creepy, and noir-inspired, creating a compelling psychological horror experience.
  • The soundtrack, particularly the piano music, is well composed and fits the mood effectively.
  • The story and mystery elements are engaging, with a variety of collectibles and puzzles that add depth to the narrative.
  • The game suffers from numerous technical issues including poor optimization, frequent bugs, frustrating controls, and camera problems.
  • Gameplay is often repetitive and clunky, with broken stealth mechanics and annoying QTE sequences detracting from the experience.
  • Progression can be blocked by glitches causing players to become stuck or lose key items, requiring game restarts and reducing overall playability.
  • story
    15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is generally praised for being engaging, detailed, and atmospheric, successfully keeping players interested despite some visual or technical limitations. While there are occasional glitches affecting progression, the intriguing and often psychological narrative, supported by collectibles and good audio, creates a compelling experience for those invested in the plot. However, the game may not appeal to all gamers, as some found it less captivating overall.

    • “The story is extremely detailed and engaging and every challenge is different which makes it so fun.”
    • “For the most part the game is focused on the story revolving around John, which is at first completely unknown.”
    • “Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game.”
    • “After you got thrown into the game without much information, you slowly but surely become interested in the story and want to find out what caused the mess you find yourself in.”
    • “But that didn't bother me much, for there are plenty of collectibles like memories or newspaper articles that gave me a better outline of the story.”
  • gameplay
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gameplay feedback is mixed, with criticism targeting poor camera angles, controls, and confusing visuals that detract from the experience in "The Piano." Conversely, "The Silence" is praised for its stealth and puzzle mechanics centered on silence, though some find the introduction to these mechanics unreasonable and the gameplay slightly repetitive despite escalating puzzle difficulty and tense quick-time events.

    • “The silence is the most important mechanic to find clues, discover paths, and interact. It worked for me as a defensive method, although not always.”
    • “Ingame the first three levels set up simple mechanics of running, hiding, and dodging obstacles, which support the core gameplay of solving riddles.”
    • “In general, the gameplay can get slightly repetitive, but the variety of riddles that build up in difficulty and some well-placed quicktime events corroborate the tension.”
    • “The piano is a really poorly concepted 'art' game that tries to blend an incredibly pretentious arthouse concept with 3D action/adventure gameplay and fails abysmally.”
    • “Before going into the usual faults and defects we expect from amateur made games, the biggest killer here is just terrible camera angles, control and handling, coupled with frankly garbage arthouse visuals that just detract from the gameplay experience as you wonder what the heck is going on.”
    • “The introduction to the mechanics is unreasonable.”
  • graphics
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics receive mixed feedback, praised for their beautiful noir and retro-inspired visuals that enhance the dark, atmospheric mood, but criticized for technical issues like poor camera angles, frequent clipping, and choppy frame rates. Despite being visually appealing, some players encounter performance drops and lack of customizable video settings, which detract from the overall experience. The visuals are comparable to PS3 quality, supported by a standard Unity engine, but plagued by occasional glitches.

    • “The visuals are fantastic!”
    • “The beautiful visuals, retro style props and cutscenes build up the proper dark and depressive mood only further.”
    • “Last and least the graphics are provided by the Unity engine, I suppose, and are high quality standard.”
    • “Before going into the usual faults and defects we expect from amateur made games, the biggest killer here is just terrible camera angles, control and handling, coupled with frankly garbage arthouse visuals that just deter from the gameplay experience as you wonder what the heck is going on.”
    • “Even though it's a low graphic and low processor game the fps drop is a whole other level.”
    • “There are lots of clipping graphics and other visual issues (like entire buildings having see-through textures, looking behind buildings to see through world, etc).”
  • music
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music is widely praised for creating a captivating, eerie atmosphere that perfectly complements its noir and mysterious themes. The soundtrack, including standout piano pieces, is well-chosen and enhances the overall experience, though some players wished for more musical content.

    • “Before the game even started, I was pleasantly greeted and easily drawn into the creepy dark atmosphere provided solely by the soundtrack and the dusty-looking piano.”
    • “Soundtrack and ambient audio fit perfectly to the noir mysterious thrill!”
    • “Great atmosphere and good synchro as well as a well-chosen soundtrack.”
    • “If Deadly Premonition wasn't your favorite coffee blend, then the piano will not be your favorite musical instrument.”
    • “My only complaint here is that there isn't more music.”
    • “Music.”
  • atmosphere
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is praised for its rich, psychological horror atmosphere, combining a noir aesthetic with creepy and mysterious elements enhanced by a fitting soundtrack and voice acting. Players appreciate the immersive, character-driven story and unique setting, though some note pacing issues during cutscenes. Overall, the chilling atmosphere effectively draws players into the narrative.

    • “Tl;dr character-based mysterious search with harsh effects on the protagonist's psyche shown by solving riddles while experiencing a beautiful noir atmosphere with cuts of creepy aesthetics.”
    • “Before the game even started I was pleasantly greeted and easily drawn into the creepy dark atmosphere provided solely by soundtrack and the dusty looking piano.”
    • “Great atmosphere and good synchro as well as a well-chosen soundtrack.”
  • stability
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is mixed, with several notable bugs and glitches such as character getting stuck on stairs, camera issues, and occasional lag when facing light sources. While some visual quirks add to the experience, frequent glitches and awkward pauses can disrupt gameplay for some players.

    • “You think that because it's an old game it would have fewer bugs and glitches, but it's not.”
    • “Other glitches include stairs where the character gets stuck, and I have to roll out of the geometry.”
    • “Glitches and awkward pauses kind of ruin it for me.”
  • optimization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from poor optimization, resulting in technical issues and very poor performance. Additionally, some users find the color scheme irritating to the eyes.

    • “Game has technical issues and horrible performance, with very irritating colors that are hard on the eyes. I'd like to request a refund.”
    • “Poor optimization.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features no microtransactions, offering a monetization-free experience.

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40%Critics’ scoreBased on 3 critic reviews
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The Piano is a action adventure game with horror theme.

The Piano is available on PC and Windows.

The Piano was released on November 10, 2013.

The Piano was developed by Mistaken Visions.

The Piano has received negative reviews from players and negative reviews from critics. Most players liked The Piano for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

The Piano is a single player game.

Similar games include Dead Secret, SKYHILL: Black Mist, Black Mirror, Someday You'll Return, Alone in the Dark and others.