I played the demo of this at a game development conference over a decade ago (sheesh!), loved it, and in my usual manner swore I would get around to the full 2017 version definitely, maybe, at some point. I finally did, and had a great time. Wonderfully unique puzzle game, and while some might find it a little on the short side, I felt like all the elements were watchmaker-perfect in their integration. No wasted space; it knows exactly what it wants to do and it does it.

Gorogoa is a game about perspective, both in its central puzzle mechanics and its story. A dragon threatens a city (as these stories go) and the only way to appease it is a sacrifice. Thus a boy goes on a quest for five fruits. But, as the player eventually susses out, this journey can only be completed by navigating through scenes from the rest of the boy's life, after he has already failed, and the city is destroyed and then rebuilt. You end up manipulating not only the locations in the city, but eventually thought, time, and memory. It's an interesting, fable-like structure. Combined with the detailed and delicate art, the overall effect put me in mind of a Colin Thompson storybook. But I'm mainly giving it 5 stars because fairly cluing puzzles with zero text is incredibly difficult, and this game does it incredibly well. I always knew the shape of what I was supposed to do, if not the "how".

There's a careful balance struck here that seems to be overlooked when this game is discussed. This sort of game - abstract, a disjointed and indirect story, a core mechanic that relies on experimentation - can easily stumble. Too diffuse and vague, abstract to a fault, or just a bit too simple, with a threadbare narrative and solutions that are easily waltzed into. Gorogoa's triumph is its careful navigation of this design tightrope and the effortless way it fuses this with its absolutely gorgeous art direction, complete with a final chapter that does a stellar job of pulling all the threads together.

It's kinda hard trying to articulate just how cool this game is. Like yeah, the puzzles are REALLY clever and it's got a neat art style, but that hardly scratches the surface of its brilliance. The core mechanic is deceptively simple: you've a got a 2x2 grid of squares and you move them around to make stuff happen. It's still decently challenging, and you're bound to get stumped from time to time (in a good way).

But I think what really makes Gorogoa tick is how it marries "gameplay" and "narrative" in a way I haven't really seen elsewhere. I'm not really sure how to describe it and I don't think "ludonarrative harmony" is the right term (it's similar, but not really the same thing), but it just works.

Anyways, I saw a bunch of nerds on Twitter the other day discoursing about whether video games count as "art". Probably should've dropped this in the QRTs and ended that debate for good.

The presentation of this puzzle game is immaculate, with beautiful hand-drawn art and colors, and great animation. It lends itself really well to the perspective-shifting puzzles in the game.

That said, the game is extremely short, and can be beaten in an hour. It's a fun time, but did not last nearly long enough to really captivate me. The puzzles themselves are all cool too, but there were times where it was a bit unclear what my goal was or what I could manipulate in the scene. Worth playing in the end.

Wonderfully illustrated puzzle told through a story. There are no words, no dialogue spoken. The story is told in an abstract manner, jumping from scene and different timelines. I knew very little starting into the game and I strongly recommend experiencing it for yourself.

The game has illustrations that feel hand-drawn from a story book. There is a wide range of emotional scenes: peaceful, somber, frightening, etc. The designers did a great job with the art style. The puzzles were unique and fun to find a new picture.

It was a short experience. I'm not sure exactly how long I played since Nintendo refuses to give us that option. I know I spent some time scratching my head on some of the puzzles but still felt short. However, the story did feel complete. I rather have a tighter, complete game experience than one trying to pad time with monotonous gameplay.