The Book of Watermarks is an adventure game released in Japan, and only in Japan, in 1999. Rare for a Japanese adventure game, it featured full-motion video acting and 3D visuals. Oh, and it also tipped its hat to the work of William Shakespeare.
Though itās of course heavily inspired by Myst, being a puzzle-based game in which fancy cutscenes break up gameplay found on static screens, The Book of Watermarks finds its own space through its use of an actor/narrator and for being a Japanese game thatās almost entirely played out in English.
Yup, while itās subtitled in Japanese, and was developed in Japan by a Japanese studio, the narration and many puzzles are in English. Given the gameās Renaissance setting, thatās some serious dedication to context. It even opens with a quote from Shakespeareās The Tempest, and as HG101 point out, seems to be loosely based on the events of the play as well.
With a wonderfully late-90s look and sound (the music is as Enya as video games get), The Book of Watermarks is one of those game that, although youāve likely never played it, is still super interesting to read up on.
If you agree, HG101 has a nice in-depth write-up on the game you should definitely check out.
