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Florence ★★★★ Mobile game

Mobile games are designed to be addictive. We know this (Candy Crush? Angry Birds? Word Cookies? Addictive). They get you hooked in stages, and eventually you’ll be so addicted to the game you might end up spending money in order to advance to the next stage or make a current stage easier.

Florence — a film-like game published by Annapurna Interactive, whose parent company is behind critically acclaimed films such as Zero Dark Thirty and Her — is not that type of game. In fact, it’s designed to be played only once, in about a 20-minute sitting. Great way to occupy yourself in the doctor’s waiting room.

But while you can’t get hooked on it (Florence isn’t designed that way), you become completely immersed in it. It’s a beautifullooking game with a whimsical, relaxing soundtrack.

In the game you step into the shoes of 25-year-old Florence Yeoh, who has a boring office job and a weird relationship with her mother. She meets and falls in love with Krish, a cellist but, life being what it is, not everything is smooth sailing.

By the time the game ends, you’ll feel both sad and relieved — sad at its ending, relieved that the game is over and you can move on to something that will, hopefully, cheer you up.

Florence is free on iOS and Android. ● LS Pearl Boshomane Tsotetsi