Having liked Syberia (you have to like a game if you've bought multiple copies over the years), when I saw the Still Life trilogy in a bundle (Post Mortem, Still Life, Still Life 2) a few months ago I decided to pick it up.

While it's taken me a while to get to this game (not thinking, I played the second in the series first), I'm glad I finally did.

Still Life eventually ends up following the lives of two characters, with the real focus on one, Victoria. While at times she seemed like a bit of a teenager (attitude), I actually enjoyed her character pretty dang well. The other character is also interesting, and ... well, spoiler, look forward to playing as him when I get around to Post Mortem.

Some of the puzzles are rather challenging, and I'll readily admit that I opted to just look at a guide as time went on; I'm not as smart as I once was, and really I was just digging the story. I have no shame in admitting that.

I look forward to playing the rest of the games in this series. Honestly, Still Life gets 5 of 5 stars.

Quick review:

Short Verdict: A point-and-click adventure with some strong and weak points. Overall, it was more frustrating and lame than fun, so ultimately I can't really recommend it. If you already have it (and SL2!), you might as well try and see for yourself. But I did think of abandoning the game quite a few times during it.
IMPORTANT: The story ends with a huge cliffhanger, which I hope to be the starting point in Still Life 2. It doesn't even feel like an ending to a game, but to a chapter. So don't get/play this one if you don't plan on buying/playing the sequel.

Pros:

• Although unoriginal, the story is interesting
  
• It was nice changing back and forth between the two ages in the game
  
• Some characters are interesting and well-developed

Cons:

• They've missed the mark on difficulty--puzzles are either ridiculously easy or insanely hard. Either way, it's never rewarding
  
• Lack of BGM on most scenes is lame
  
• Most of the game consists of moving back and forth to solve boring puzzles... and moving back and forth is a really slow process
  
• Some characters and dialogs are stupid
  
• The ending is really frustrating--seems like the end of a chapter
  
• Dialog system makes you click for each topic... but there's almost no topic do choose from. Basically, sometimes you have two options: left click for important dialogs, right click for idle chat. But most of the time it's just the left-click. So instead of going smoothly through the dialog, they make us click every three phrases just to pretend we're actually doing something

Bought on / for: Arctic Bundle by Bundle Stars, for an average price of US$ 0.36. For that much, yeah, it was worth it, but I wouldn't get it outside of a bundle.

Great game that should not be missed

Video review below!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=284108585

I love, love, and love this game! I probably played it several times already and don't mind playing it again.

It has great atmosphere with just perfect music behind it that made me really get into the story. Couple of times, it really scared me or had to cover my eyes.

I tought the scenery of Franch back in 1920 was beautiful, moreover, it was excitinig to actually played the Gustav part not just reading his dialy.

It was rather sad at the end of it, but with that included, I really liked the story. I recommend this game a lot!

Great game with a Great Story but for the love of ALL THAT IS HOLY THE PUZZLES WILL DRIVE YOU INSANE!!!
Play it and enjoy the large amount of intrigue and grizzly bits!

very grabing story and even to this date, nice graphics that gives a nice atmosphere. a mature story with decent voice acting, some difficult puzzles like lock picking (that is by far the hardest puzzle in the game) and the most stupiest puzzle: baking. no, seriously, you must do this puzzle to preceed with the game. so keep a walkthrough ready.
you play 2 characters, each of them solving their own case at a different timeline but are connected to the main story.

a very solid P&C adventure i can recommend to anyone who likes a good story and P&C. but i would get it on special since it is a older game and in my view not worth 10$.

i like the game but i watch someone else play the part im on and nothing i did matched to what happend to him and also im stuck on this park part where i dont have a picture and im supposed to

A very intersting game. I won't lie and say that I'm the biggest fan to point and click games, because to be honest I find most games in the genre very stupid. A lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ puzzles that have nothing to do with the task at hand, these are reasons why I can never get into the Broken Sword games. But this right here, is a....'masterpiece' An interesting story, I was fully into what I was seeing and hearing. Throughout the whole game I kept calling out who I thought the murderer was, and the whole theme and cheesyness to the story is a lovely sight. I well admit, I was actually scared during certain parts of the game. The musical score this game has, is amazing. Really making this dark atmosphere. However this is balanced out by the over the top voice acting, and actions that just make you scratch your head and say..."What?" A Lovely experience, and something I'll always remember because of that one Black Guy. To be fair, the game has problems. Some puzzles are way to easy, and others are completely unfair. I don't like puzzles that are random based like the one with your grandfathers chest. Yet others like getting the crane operational again is way to easy.


Final Rating

7/10

Made me want to start collecting point and click adventure games , story was captivating and the puzzles were satisfyingly challenging , it actually didn't feel good at all ending it, but the journey to the end was great.

I love this game, the enviroments are beautiful and the story is so interesting that I played none stop too find out what would happen! It's simple enough, point and click but some of the puzzles can be very challenging! (for me that is) I wish the game was longer and SPOILER it ends on a cliff hanger. (No worries there's a Still Life 2, but I haven't gotten myself too finish it my opinion it's not as good as the first by far).
Anyway, I recommend picking the game up.

Nice story plot, athough it seems to me a bit slow gameplay and it forces you to make specific actions without any alternative. Well for its time is good.

Still life is a very good game, it does have some really infuriatingly hard puzzles but its smart and very enjoyable. I will say though that the ending was pretty meh. Still , even with that and its dated graphics I recommend this game :)

One of the classics still playable in 2014 with great artwork and storytelling.

Fun to play with some surprisingly attractive graphics and an interesting storyline. The playthrough is very linear and the mechanics are a bit (okay, very) clunky and the game is pretty short. But overall I would recommend picking it up in a Steam sale.

I like liked it a lot cuz you play as more than one character. It has a story within a story and it feels like most tv shows.

What I don't like is that I tried getting back in to finish part 1 and it won't let m.e

This game is a follow up to Post Mortem, and introduces a second playable storyline involving FBI agent Victoria McPherson. She is investigating a string of grisly murders in Chicago and this ties in to a case her grandfather, Gustav "Gus" McPherson worked whilst in 1920s Prague.

It is a simple point-and-click type game that involve some rather puzzling puzzles to be solved along the way. The story itself is reasonably interesting, but the character development and voice acting are somewhat lacking. The ending seems to raise more questions than it gives answers, but it is, on the whole, an enjoyable game to play. The soundtrack/score by Tom Salta is particularly well-crafted, working brilliantly to convey the atmosphere of a scene.

One of the better point and click games. You actually see yourself walking, instead of gradually floating or jerking into the next scene like most point and clicks. The controls are easy to use, and the story is pretty cool. There are graphical glitches. Her hair starts spiking all over the place which annoys me immensly, and the police officers mouth at the beginning is actually kind of funny, reminds me of Garys Mod parody videos lol. Give this game a chance.

I love the story but puzzles get tougher by the end of the game. Have to follow a walkthrough to solve'em.

I've played this game through several times over the years and still enjoy it. The game pulls off the link between the present and the past fluidly. The cut scenes were well done, even though at this point they are dated, they still draw you in. I think the only real flaw in the game is that sometimes you are left with no immediate purpose, and you wander from place to place until you find what you need to trigger the next step in the game. This is something that is present in most of the older point and click adventures, so I try not to let it keep me from enjoying the rest of the game.

Short version: 76%
Still Life is another– well-crafted– attempt to retell a Jack the Ripper style serial killer mystery in two timelines, with a somewhat stock main heroine, a few cruel puzzles and one of the best directed stories found in the adventure game genre. Definitely recommended for those who like modern crime thrillers, but not for those who dislike slow-paced stories.

Long version:
I’d be lying if I’d say Still Life isn’t my favourite point-and-click adventure game. It was developed by Microïds, a French company well-known for their unique adventure titles (and a bunch of others), and uses the same gameplay system that was introduced in Benoît Sokal’s Syberia a few years back.

The story follows a somewhat clichéd tough girl type FBI agent who is working on a serial killer case that was obviously inspired by Jack the Ripper. There is also a second storyline involving her grandfather (a returning character from the games quasi-prequel, Post Mortem), who is working on a similar case in 1920s Prague.
Although this premise doesn’t bode well, this game is probably among the half a dozen or so well-crafted Jack the Ripper rip-offs (pardon me the pun) with heavy visuals and atmosphere, an almost perfect (yet jarring) soundtrack, and a cinematography style that was very popular in French mystery movies in the first decade of the century. This latter part especially deserves a few praises: the director did an excellent job in building up the story and choosing the perfect visual and audio styles to accompany each and every scene.

The puzzles in the game range from mediocre item-manipulation to quite hard logical brain-twisters that follow a steady line of progression in difficulty throughout the game. Sadly some of these puzzles are too obviously unrealistic, thrown in only for the sake of having a puzzles at set intervals.

Although the game is good, it is not without flaws. The voice acting can be clunky, sometimes quite underwhelming. The puzzles tend to be forced into the story. Also, the pacing is quite slow on purpose, which is reflected even in the character control: you walk slowly, and you have to walk a lot even if you follow the most optimal route. Also, the ending lacks any sort of Hollywood-ish “happily ever after”, which may leave some people dissatisfied.