Sunny-side-up eggs and toast. A warm cup of coffee. Relaxing piano music. An easel and a canvas. What better way to enjoy a morning?

Behind the Frame invites its player to revel in that tranquil scenery. It tells the story of a young painter who's trying her best to enter an art exhibition in New York and, on an afternoon that would have been spent with the easel, ends up learning more about an old neighbor who doesn't interact with other people much. As a short narrative-focused game, it's better not to go any deeper into the story in a review: suffice to say, it's a touching and easy to relate to story about being true to oneself and one's feelings.

Much like Tangle Tower, another 2D hand-animated point-n-click on Steam, Behind the Frame immediately distinguishes itself through its immaculate vibes: the Ghibli-inspired characters and animation, gorgeous environments and emotional tunes are highly effective in setting the mood to our lovable artist's surreal adventure. The similarities end there, however, as Behind the Frame is much more focused on its narrative than anything else.

The game is strictly linear, with six chapters composed of events that unfold in sequence -- not unexpected from a narrative game, but the particular choice of mechanics here does end up giving off this distinct feeling of being constrained. It's also far lighter on puzzles, which, bar the ones at the tail end of the game, are solvable within seconds. This makes the package less attractive for its brainteasers, and more of a game to unwind to on a lazy evening. On that front, it makes a very compelling case for itself.

This is the first original IP from Akatsuki Taiwan, and it does leave a good impression along with the lingering question on whether they'll make more original games like this.

An incredibly pretty game but an incredibly short experience. Thought about buying it because I saw it was on sale on steam, but then I realized it was free currently with Amazon Prime Gaming so I went that route instead. Which I'm thankful for because while I enjoyed the beautiful story and art, the game is ultimately about an hour to an hour and a half long.

I don't regret playing it thought! While I can't recommend it for the gameplay (it is incredibly simple with its puzzles), I can definitely recommend it for the melancholy story and gorgeous art and animation.

A cute little piece. You can tell that the devs wore their hearts on their sleeves this one, really drawing from their inspirations, such as Ghibli and Amélie. It's a quaint puzzle game with a lot of good art and simple yet touching animations.

The biggest struggle with a game like this is that there's just not a lot to it. It's a simple, straightforward narrative, with some very simple puzzling elements. A few of the puzzles are finnicky, but are pretty straightforward and easy to solve. The plot itself is also very straightforward, and you'll probably realize what happened by chapter 2. This can make the game feel a little slow and plodding; it's as if the writers revealed their hand too early, and maintaining an air of mystery would be more interesting.

But for what it is, this is fine. It's a nice, wholesome, cozy game, and it'll pluck a heartstring or two on its way. Definitely a pleasant experience, but there's also not much else to say beyond that.

This game was extremely short but very lovely, definitely an interesting concept that was very enjoyable. I'll sum up the arguments for my rating below:

(+) Visuals: The artstyle is extremely artistic, probably due to them being ''handpainted'' and overall having a very painterly style. The characters are drawn in a style similar to anime.
(+) Sound: The music and sounds are very lovely. There are not really any narrators or voices, but I think that supported the cozy atmosphere.
(+) Puzzles: I think the puzzles were not too hard but also not too easy, but they were really innovative and i enjoyed the variety and thoughts behind them.
(+) The story was short, but very touching.

(-) Length: The game was extremely short. I finished the main game in about an hour and a half and the DLC was around another hour, and I really took my time, so it is possible to finish it in less time. For the price (especially considering that the DLC's also cost extra money) it is just not really worth it. I'd recommend to get it in a sale.
(- -) This certainly won't concern everyone, since it is about the achievements. There are not many of them, but you certainly won't be able to find them on your own, because they are just really pointless. Many of them are things like ''click on x ten times'' or ''stare at y for this many seconds''. I love achievement collecting, but this just felt like a task. Especially because most achievements are extremely missable and you will just have to replay it to get them: Cutscenes are unskippable which makes the entire progress tedious.

This leaves me at about three stars!

I think I need an artistic mind to understand what is going on here. Or maybe I am just too dumb.
Anyway the game is good-looking and has some good cutscenes.

EDIT: This game was nothing like anything I have ever played. What a unique concept!
I wasn't getting what was going on, but the last chapter brought it all together. The game design and the execution of the story by the devs team is really worth a praise.
I would say this is one of the most beautiful games I have ever played.