Let’s be honest: “handcrafted” and “cinematic” are words that get slapped onto every poster until they mean nothing. Then along came Ce jeu vidéo s’inspire du cinéma, the debut from The Midnight Walk—an indie studio staffed by ex-Lost in Random alums. Imagine a living, breathing clay universe, shot frame by frame in real stop-motion, draped in a Tim Burton–style gloomfest. I nearly spilled my coffee when I saw it.
Before branching out on their own, The Midnight Walk crew honed their spooky-diorama chops at Zoink. With Lost in Random, they delivered moody cardboard sets and haunting silhouettes. Now they’ve thrown away all shortcuts: every creature, prop and set piece in Ce jeu vidéo… is hand-sculpted from clay. No post-process “filter”—this is tactile artistry, digitized one snapshot at a time.
Watching the trailer is like peeking through a studio porthole at a Laika production. Tiny clay fingerprints peek out from mossy walls, shadows creep over oddly warped doorframes, and every character model brings its own handcrafted quirk. It’s the kind of artisan finish you can’t fake with GPUs alone, and it sets an atmosphere so thick you could slice it with Potboy’s lantern.
You play as Potboy, a jittery little lantern whose light is both your guide and weapon. You’ll creep through dripping hallways inhabited by fire-breathing terrors, using shadows to stay hidden and brains over brawn to solve puzzles. It’s stealth stripped down to its essentials—no swords, no shields—just the tactile tension of old-school puzzle design. Picture Little Nightmares’ claustrophobic dread fused with INSIDE’s minimalist mastery, but with enough clay under your fingernails to fill a terrarium.
If you’ve got a PS5 or a PC VR rig, you’re in for a treat. Kneel beside a battered plush toy, peer into a miniature alcove or inch your way past a snapping clay-jawed beast. The devs promise intuitive controls and comfort options for longer sessions. If they stick the landing, leaning in to zoom on a tiny crack in the wall could be the most tactile VR moment since Moss.
Stop-motion is an unforgiving mistress: a few seconds of fluid animation can demand days of finger-pinching work. The Midnight Walk has announced “dozens” of levels, each crammed with handcrafted bits. If they can maintain that level of detail, expect a technical marvel. But one slip-up—repeated character rigs, flat backdrops or choppy scene changes—and the whole illusion could crumble.
In an ocean of pixel-art indies and endless Soulslike knockoffs, Ce jeu vidéo s’inspire du cinéma dares to be weird. It proves a small, passionate team—even fresh out of mid-tier studios—can gamble big on craft over budget. With its blend of gothic aesthetics, stealth-puzzle design and VR support, it might just reset expectations for what an indie production can achieve.
Bottom Line: Ce jeu vidéo s’inspire du cinéma could be the most visually arresting indie of the year, marrying genuine stop-motion clay artistry with tense stealth puzzles and immersive VR. If the gameplay lives up to the craft, this is one handcrafted marvel you won’t want to miss.
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