![]() ![]() At the brink of despair after many hopeless years of confinement, his fortunes change when a fellow prisoner helps him escape and bequeaths a substantial fortune on him. We would be the ones betrayed, we would be the ones who suffer - and thus we finally get to see what we would do, were we the Count of Monte Cristo.From the Tony Award-nominated composer of The Scarlet Pimpernel and Jekyll & Hyde comes this swashbuckling musical adventure of vengeance, mercy, and the redemptive power of love.įalsely accused of colluding with the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte in 19th century France, newlywed seaman Edmond Dantès suddenly finds himself thrown into a Mediterranean island prison without a trial. But the involved nature of video games puts us in the driving seat, and more importantly, in place of Edmond. The fiery anger, the icy cunning, the victories, failures and rare moments of uncertainty - we witness these things as observers, not as participants. Maybe some Telltale morality choices or spymaster strategy? There's no obvious answers, but I still think it's worth pursuing, purely because of the potential of game storytelling.įor as incredible as the book is, the passive nature of reading means that we're always seeing Edmond from the outside. It's tempting to just write it off as an Uncharted action-adventure game with more French accents and feathered hats, but I'm not sure that'd really evoke either the dark soul-searching or elaborate intrigue that're what make the book so wonderful. If a game were to capture this properly, it wouldn't be easy. but on the other hand, it's just so fun to watch his elaborate plan come together, and to see all the villains who framed him finally get some comeuppance. The Count's pursuit of revenge takes him to some truly dark places, often making us question whether he truly deserves to win. Goatee = humanity sacrificed.īecause make no mistake: gentle Edmond died in his cell at the Chateau d'If, and the cold engine of vengeance known as the Count of Monte Cristo was what dragged itself out. The question is never whether the Count will come out victorious, but how much of his humanity he's willing to sacrifice in the process. Whatever they betrayed him for - reputation, money, love - Dantès sets hundreds of wheels in motion to deprive them of their prize, leaving them deranged, destitute or dead (sometimes all three at once). and the location of a massive treasure trove that Faria had discovered shortly before his imprisonment, but never managed to get his hands on.ĭantès manages to escape after fourteen years in the wake of Faria's death and claims the treasure for himself, using it to build a new identity as the mysterious nobleman known only to Europe as the Count of Monte Cristo, and creating an epic campaign of vengeance structured to ruin each of the men that framed him. His only respite comes when he makes friends with the wise old Abbé Faria in the next cell along, and through him learns about science, history, culture, language, mathematics. ![]() Labelled unfairly as a traitor, poor Dantès is sent to the island prison of the Chateau d'If, left to rot in a cell barely bigger than himself. There's no other story like it, and probably never will be again.Ī brief synopsis for those not in the know: our tale starts with Edmond Dantès, a young, good-hearted French sailor, being framed for treason by four men who all stand to gain something by his disappearance. Penned by Alexander Dumas in 1844, it's a legendary saga of betrayal, adventure and intrigue that follows its protagonist for two decades across half of Europe. I say that with complete and total sincerity - no hyperbole, no exaggeration. The Count of Monte Cristo is probably the greatest revenge story ever written. ![]()
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