Florence was developed by the studio Mountains and published by Annapurna Interactive in 2018. It is available to play on Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, and the Nintendo Switch. For this critical play, I played on my iPhone. Its target audience is mainly young adults, since the main character, Florence, is a twenty-five year old who leads a pretty ordinary life. This is a narrative game with small, easy puzzles, so it is also aimed towards “casual” gamers. Florence incorporates feminist perspectives through its narrative which tells a personal story and defies a climatic structure. Its mechanics also give players agency to reflect on the story and their own experiences.
In the book, Play Like a Feminist by Shira Chess, Chess argues that a feminist story, “is conversational, personal, and relays narratives that surpass the expectations we tend to have of those ushered in to and for patriarchal audiences.” The story of Florence is a feminist story because it does not follow the traditional love story. In traditional love stories, becoming an official couple is considered the main prize, the end condition of the story. The trials and tribulations come before then, but once the couple is together, they are together forever. However, Florence pushes past this timeline. The narrative continues past the honeymoon stage and reveals narratives that are often not told, such as the routine stage, the breakup stage, and the letting go stage. These later stages also do not follow traditional tropes. There is no big fight and no serious wrongdoings that lead to the breakup. After Florence finally lets go, she does not find a new, better boyfriend, nor does she harbor spiteful feelings. By breaking these tropes, Florence tells a more personal, relatable story that recounts experiences and emotions that might not typically be found in patriarchal stories.
By including all stages of the relationship, from start to end to past the end, Florence also does not follow the typical climax structure. Chess writes that “by not being climax-centric, the video game narrative is free from the heterosexual masculine perspectives that have guided our storytelling expectations for centuries.” In Florence, there are many highs, such as first getting together with a new partner, moving in with them, getting into art, and becoming an artist. There are also many lows for Florence, such as falling into a routine with her partner and breaking up with them. While it could be argued that Florence becoming a successful artist is the climax, the structure is still different as it captures a more complete snapshot of her experiences.
Finally, the game mechanics in Florence can be thought of as feminist as well. As Chess explains it, “game mechanics are entirely dependent on player agency,” and can ultimately “offer a kind of realism for rethinking the role and weight of choices as well as power in our lives.” In Florence, the game mechanics include simple tapping, dragging puzzle pieces, swiping to reveal images, etc. Many of them physically mirror real world actions, for example, tapping the heart button on Florence’s phone is exactly how we might tap the like button on our phone. Others might mentally mirror real world actions, for example, when trying to think of how to reply to a conversation, the player must piece together a jigsaw puzzle. These actions connect the player to Florence, which immerses them in the narrative and lets them reflect on their own experiences.
Some puzzles that really stood out to me include one where Florence is arguing with her partner. The player must complete jigsaw puzzles faster than her partner in order to say more words in order to win the argument. However, as I was playing, the mechanics made me think about what it means to argue with a partner. That is, is the point of an argument really to win? Why is saying more words the end goal? Also, how is anything going to get resolved if you are too focused on crafting what you’ll say next instead of listening? Another puzzle that led to deeper reflections on relationships was one where the player had to move Florence’s partner’s stuff into her house. The player had to decide how to fit everything and what had to be packed up and stored away. This mechanic led to deeper questions of what it means to share a space with someone. Do you forgo your own personal possessions for your partner’s possessions? Whose stuff is valued more in the relationship? How do you reach a compromise? These puzzle mechanics invite players to think deeply about their own experiences.
Overall, I think that Florence is a feminist game. Its narrative feels very personal and relatable. Playing the game helped me reflect on my own thoughts, not only on relationships, but also what it means to be a young adult trying to navigate life.
