The Star Named EOS from developer Silver Lining Studio and publisher PLAYISM is no longer my most-anticipated puzzle game of the year . But there's a good reason for that: it has now been released, and I've played and beaten it already. But ahead of release, I had the opportunity to speak with the developer – which also provided some gorgeous concept art – about the new game, photography as a medium, and what makes a good puzzle.
If you're unfamiliar with The Star Named EOS and Silver Lining Studio, the important context here is that the developer previously made Behind the Frame, a deeply moving narrative puzzle adventure game ostensibly about painting and painters. The Star Named EOS is the studio's much-anticipated follow-up, but it swaps paint for pictures. Why? Because it was always meant to be this way.
"Even before our previous work Behind the Frame, we had conceived of a 360-degree panoramic narrative experience centered around photography," says Weichen Lin, game producer for Silver Lining Studio. Because of its scale and the team's development experience at that point, the narrative was instead prioritized for Behind the Frame, but its positive reception ultimately made the team reboot the development and production of The Star Named EOS to embrace that aspect even more. Worth 1,000 words The premise of the new game sees players inhabit the role of Dei, who shares a love of photography with his mother, as he attempts to recreate old photo compositions with the h.