Smoke and Mirrors is a point and click narrative video game based on Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, enriched with elements from George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty Four. The timeline of the story it is an undefined future. Characters have no sense of current time, as they believe that the inception of their world coincides with rise of their government. It’s a seemingly utopic world where the habitants reside in happiness under the gazing eye of the government.
The narrative consists of the wondering of Montag, the main character, through a combination of individual and public spaces. Montag as a contemporary noir figure tries to find answers to his questions by engaging with the urban landscape and other characters in it. His personality transforms from a passive, law abiding fireman, to a vivid and anxious character. For ten years his only interest was to burn books until he found an old man, a writer, who talks about the past when people weren’t afraid and a professor who showed him a hopeful future.
Through the interactive narrative, the user can explore the world of Smoke and Mirrors at his one pace, choosing the order in which he visits the individual spaces of the game and undertakes the tasks. The unfolding of the story evolves in parallel with the progression of Montag’s character like a form of a theatrical show.