Fahrenheit had one of the best premises for a game I’ve ever played. You hide evidence as the murderer and choose whether to find it as the police.
It’s one of those experiences that only gaming can provide, and it’s what makes gaming special. You’re part of the journey, and your choices determine how that journey goes.
This actually applies to most games you play. If you’re playing a horror game, then it’s you who’s walking down the dark corridor, also meaning it’s you who gets attacked if you miss something. Movies can give you dread and jump scares, but gaming gives you the consequences of that dread, and that’s something no other medium can give you.
Fahrenheit’s opening takes this idea and places the player into a crime scene. You take control of Lucas Kane just after he’s committed a murder. It’s now the player’s job to hide the evidence (if they want to) and successfully escape. You then switch perspectives to the police officers investigating the exact crime scene you just left behind.
It sets up a unique situation where succeeding as Lucas means making the police investigation harder, but succeeding as the police means making things worse for Lucas.
It’s one of the best openings I’ve ever played in a game.
Fahrenheit uses the Camera to Set the Scene
The game opens with Lucas Kane returning from a blackout and realising he’s taken a life in a diner bathroom. You have around 3 minutes to cover everything up because a policeman is sitting at the bar outside. This policeman will then head into the bathroom and discover the body.
The section opens with a camera pan towards the bar, revealing the policeman and setting up the stakes by presenting the threat first. This keeps him in the player’s mind and creates an artificial timer without needing an actual countdown on screen, which is great organic storytelling. The bar layout is also shown during this pan, telling the player the toilets are at the very back and that they’ll have to pass several customers (witnesses) before leaving the diner.
There’s also a clever bit of game design here where Lucas’s inner dialogue talks about escaping, pushing the player to leave the scene. However, the victim’s body is placed between Lucas and the door, and the prompt to move the body will appear almost instantly. This organically shows players that they can clean up the murder scene if they choose to, while still giving them the option to simply leave.
The opening minute sets up all the stress, dread, and consequences, just by using camera pans to show the geography. Players know they have to pass through the diner, meaning they’re likely to think about washing off any blood, organically prompting them to go to the sinks.
The Policeman is the Timer
The policeman is what makes this opening work because the player knows he could enter the bathroom at any moment. The camera cuts back to him several times throughout the section, constantly reinforcing the threat and building tension as he looks ready to get up. These shots are usually framed from behind him, which also implies that he will see Lucas when he eventually leaves the bathroom.
The camera work peaks once the policeman finally stands up and begins walking towards the bathroom. The game switches to split-screen while the player is still inside, showing both Lucas and the policeman at the same time. This creates tension by letting players know exactly where the threat is while still trying to escape or clean up evidence.
Lucas then has to walk directly past the policeman, which is ridiculously tense. The split screen remains on both characters as they move, meaning the policeman will likely walk into the bathroom while the player is still in the diner, forcing them to sprint out the door, which can become evidence later.
Once the policeman finds the body, they’ll exit the bathroom and loudly inform everyone to stay put and that reinforcements are coming. Lucas would have no way of knowing this, since he’s now outside, but showing this to the player works for building more tension. The player knows the body has been found, everyone in the diner is a suspect, and reinforcements are coming, and they have to get away quickly.
Fahrenheit Makes You Investigate Your Own Crimes
The opening becomes really interesting when Fahrenheit switches perspectives and puts the player in control of the police officers investigating the murder.
You now have the choice of whether to find the evidence you just hid as Lucas. Finding evidence helps the police investigation but makes things worse for Lucas, and ignoring evidence helps Lucas but means deliberately doing a worse job as the detectives. The police have to find the knife and speak to a witness, but after that they’re free to just leave.
This then starts the most interesting dynamic of Fahrenheit because I want to know what happened with Lucas, but if he’s arrested, then he can’t discover the truth. So then do I interrogate all the witnesses, find all the evidence, and build a solid case leading to him, or do I take it easy, making the Lucas sections easier?
That’s a premise I’ve not seen a video game do before, or really since, and it’s what makes Fahrenheit special… even for its flaws (if you know, you know). It’s a shame the game can’t deliver on it throughout, but I’d love to see another studio take a shot at it someday.
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