Oddities: Emmanuelle

Games adapted from books are few and far between; fewer still have been adapted from memoirs.  But in the late 1980's, the French software company Tomahawk produced a game based on Emmanuelle Arsan's famous erotic memoir, Emmanuelle.

The book also served as a springboard for a series of movies, of course, starting with the artsy, arguably well-made Emmanuelle, but ultimately devolving into movies like Carry On Emmanuelle and Emmanuelle in Space.  The game, at least, is based on the original novel, though its publishers were doubtless banking on people's familiarity with the property in other media.

The game is set up like a detective adventure, but there isn't really much to do.  Go to a new location, which is likely to look very much like every other similar location, and inquire after Emmanuelle:

Failing to find her, chat up the local girl hanging around in the foreground, pay her if necessary, and indulge in a sexual encounter:

Presumably the player's ongoing success will lift the obscuring blinds as the game goes on, but I wasn't compelled to reveal the pixelated nudity.

The player can also visit the local gambling den and hobnob with the hoi-polloi, although I only succeeded in offending them and getting myself thrown out:

The player also frequently visits the airport to travel elsewhere -- the female attendants also provide other services, but the male attendant is strictly business and makes no suggestive conversation, which surprised me considering the game is French in origin:

 

Returning to Paris without locating Emmanuelle ends the game, although the final message displayed isn't wholly negative -- it reads, Your impulses are fleeting!  You are wise.

A curiosity, this Emmanuelle.