The Marionette is an adventure game about the struggling sculptor Martin who tries to make a living in the city. He is moderately successful and has been able to hold a number of expositions. He specializes in modelling human figures, but the models he hires to pose only have a functional interest to him; he only needs them in order to inspire his art. One evening he receives an unmarked letter. There is only a number in the top right corner and a strange photo inside. When he leaves his studio, he blacks out and wakes up in front of an unknown house, with no recollection of how he got there.

Players command Martin from a first-person perspective as he tries to find out what has happened to him. He soon finds out the world he has ended up in has no logical structure, as doors bring him to new and distorted locations from his past. With the help if Giuseppe, a man who seems connected but does not hold all answers, the different locations bring back fragments of his memory. Progress is detailed in his journal and he can also locate pages that have been ripped out to restore the memory. This eventually leads up to four possible endings.

The game is controlled through the mouse and the main actions consist of examination, conversation and interacting with the environment, selected from a row at the top of the screen. There is also an inventory where items are stored. They can be used in the environment and can be combined with each other. There are often cut-scenes after completing a part, where Martin is shown from a third-person view, with scenes in a panel view.

While talking to other characters there are conversation trees. Throughout most of the game it is not possible to die, only during a specific sequence at the end, which is saved automatically. There are also quite a few horror elements.

Screenshots (32)