O primeiro There Is No Game parece muito com Portal (dadas as devidas proporções): um jogo bem curto, feito por um time muito pequeno, mas com uma ideia tão diferente e bem executada que se tornou um clássico, mesmo concorrendo com outros gigantes.

Hoje eu descobri que Wrong Dimension também se parece muito com Portal 2 (dadas as devidas proporções): pegar o conceito simples e explorá-lo ao máximo, transformando uma ideia em uma obra-prima.

Seja pela forma como conta sua narrativa ou pela forma como ele torna o gameplay de um point and click mais prazeroso, criativo e divertido, Wrong Dimension consegue quebrar expectativas e mostrar como há espaço para inovar e trazer experiências novas mesmo num estilo que existe há décadas.

E se possível, tente não ter nenhum spoiler antes de jogar, suas risadas futuras vão agradecer.

It is starting to tiring me the premise of a story driven by the game being conscious of his condition and trying so hard to make a story out of it. Honestly, this one doesn't overcome the cliché, even though the execution is slightly different from other games that I have played. I mean, the concept is great and the first hour is enjoyable, but when it comes to the execution, it just fades away the more you play it. By the 4th chapter, I was already tired because the story was dragging for way too long. If the developers had shortened the content and went more straight to the point, this would be better. Also, the art of the game is not quite my style, but that's not my major complain about my experience (excluding the parody of The Legend of Zelda and the graphic style of Lucasarts games).

Eu me lembro de jogar o primeiro There Is No Game em algum site de jogos em flash por ai, muitos anos atrás. Eu fiquei maravilhada com a metalinguagem e o senso de humor. Especialmente por ser uma época onde jogos com essas características estarem aparecendo pela primeira vez (ao menos na minha vida, certamente existiram outros que eu nunca tive acesso).
Faz uns dois ou três anos que eu joguei novamente ele no celular. Ainda bem que ele foi portado e não se perdeu no limbo. Foi ótimo perceber que realmente era um jogo legal, não era só um produto do seu tempo ou uma memória falsa minha.

Corta pra 2020, com um jogo novo da franquia vindo, aparentemente, do nada. Não fosse um amigo recomendar, teria passado batido. O que me deixa triste, pois é um jogaço que merece mais atenção.

Assim como o primeiro, as quebras de quarta parede e brincadeiras com a metalinguagem e com a própria linguagem de jogos estão presente. O senso de humor também.

Foi uma experiência que me deixou sorrindo do início ao fim e eu adoraria dizer tudo de legal que ele faz, mas parte da graça é descobrir por si só e eu não quero estragar a experiência de ninguém.

Se você gosta de puzzles, point and clicks, metalinguagem e /ou jogos bem humorados, por favor dê uma chance para esse título.

"There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension" has some of the most creative puzzles I have seen recently. You quickly learn to think outside of the box and having the right idea to solve a conundrum almost always gives you a sense of accomplishment. The game's got a generous hint system, which I didn't had to use often, but when I did, I always realized that I was already on the right track and just missed a small detail. A lot of Point&Click games have those moments where you look up a puzzle solution and your immediate thought is: "How was I supposed to know this?" and not "I probably could have figured that out.", which is an important differance and I'm glad this non-game never had a situation where I had the first one of these thoughts.

Another thing I really liked about There Is No Game is the charming pixel art look, especially in the second chapter, where it looks like LucasArts during their best days.

But all that being said I've got some minor criticisms here and there. For one, this game relies too much on pop-culture references for it's humor, I laughed maybe twice during the entire playthrough, which isn't great for a comedy game. Then there is the plot that isn't all that interesting, but at least it fits the meta commentary of the rest of the game, so, that's not too bad I suppose.
Last but not least, I recommend you play it on PC if you can, the controls with either touchscreen or analog sticks aren't necessarily bad, but they do break the immersion of the game a bit.

All that being said, I would still recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a short and clever puzzle game and who can stand a bit of unfunny jokes.

How do I even begin talking about this game? In his review of the film "A Ghost Story", film critic Matt Zoller Seitz opened with the following proclamation:

"I rarely see a movie so original that I want to tell people to just see it without reading any reviews beforehand, including my own. David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story” is one of those movies. So I’m urging you in the first paragraph of this review to just see it and save this review for later. If you want more information, read on. There are no spoiler warnings after this because as far as I’m concerned, everything I could say about this film would constitute a spoiler."

I won't go so far as to say that "There is No Game" is as unique and rift with spoilers as that movie allegedly is solely by virtue of its content, but it is such a distinctly different title from your usual puzzle games or even self-aware titles like Pony Island. The best way I can describe it is it's a pastiche of the themes/persona of such media as The LEGO Movie, Undertale, Animator vs. Animation, and even The Fountainhead. A lot of comparisons have been made to The Stanley Parable, and though I have not played that title as of the time of writing this review, I have a feeling I would either way reject the notion. TING begins one way, but quickly transmogrifies into something different, changing forms with each chapter till it hardly resembles what it started off as.

You play as unnamed user trying to play a new indie release on the market, only to be consistently stopped by the AI overseeing the project, appropriately referred to as “Game”. What begins as a humorous back-and-forth between the two of you quickly escalates into a serious narrative wrapped with a strong helping of black humor. Things get dramatic, meta, and satirical, culminating in a climax that is as bizarre as it is entertaining to witness. That’s the most I can say without spoiling anything serious- you may think you have an idea as to who Game is, but as the story progresses and revelations are made, you’ll find your earlier assumptions to be wrong.

Graphically, TING is a genuine feat due to it being self-funded by creator Pascal Cammisotto. The way he has not only established his own unique art scheme, but successfully replicated the aesthetic of older titles like classic DOS graphic adventures and The Legend of Zelda is very commendable. He tries to go for something resembling a cartoony computer interface, yet avoids falling for a depressing grading that you would expect to be associated with a semi-rogue artificial intelligence. There are a lot of bright reds, greens, and browns that make it warm and accentuate the self-awareness.

Sound and score are good, if only adequate. Nothing stood out for me personally, but then again this isn’t a title that you will be caring about for specific dins. A lot of the music is homaging/emulating the usual OSTs you’d hear from the games being parodied, but they stand on their own and I never found it distracting.
In terms of the puzzles/general gameplay, I’m a bit more mixed. I do think the vast majority of the solutions were clever, and often incorporated a meta-facet to achieve them, but there were a number of others peppered throughout that were contrived. Regardless, there is a hint system available that will alleviate any frustrations you should have (and I don’t believe there is an achievement for beating the game w/o using a hint!).

My bigger issues are the following: one is that, I do not think it’s good satire to have a character or characters criticize an issue or trope with the gaming industry, only to then have your title require you to engage with said trope/issue. That’s not spoofing, that’s simply engaging in these acts with a different coat of paint. It’d be like if that tile puzzle from Undertale was actually mandatory to beat AFTER hearing Undine’s speech about the complicated mechanics.

Second is that you have to complete the game in chapter spurts- there’s an autosave function, but every time I tried to reload my game file, it said I would have to restart from the beginning of that section. What? What was the point in even having that icon present as an indicator?

Third is that the ending is a big disappointment. It doesn’t live up to all the shenanigans you had to go through before, and doesn’t even end on a note that will make you laugh out loud courtesy of ending a long-running gag the way Naruto’s sexy no jutsu did in the final arc of Naruto. I have a feeling that Cammisotto ran low on budget at this point and had to put something together to get the product ready for shipping. In fact, I feel budgetary limitations, in general, prevented the title from being as zany as it wanted to be ala Rick and Morty-style.

But overall, I did enjoy my time with There is No Game: Wrong Dimension (an unnecessary subtitle by all standards). I can’t say I loved it or that it held as strong an appeal to me (I did not grow up with 90s PNC releases, which is what TING primarily parodies), but it is so distinct from everything being released in the AAA and even indie markets that I can only recommend you play it for yourself.

It took me little more than 6 hours to beat (ignore the Steam record- I was AFK for at least 1.5 hours while the game ran, and since I chose to complete it in one sitting I consequently had to balance breaks/other things), and at a $12.99 cost, it is perfectly priced.

Comedy is always subjective, but boy did this game fail to make me laugh. If pop culture references and stock gamer humor are your cup of tea, then maybe you will get more out of it than I. There are some genuinely fun puzzle set ups and and moments, but the plodding momentum, boring story, and tepid humor make those moments fleeting and far between. For a game only 5 hours long, everything you do feels like wading through molasses, puzzles constantly get interrupted by dialog/comedy moments, a large section in the middle half of the game is almost intentionally slow and boring as a meta joke, which turns out doesn't make it any less slow and boring!

There Is No Game feels like a project that has a fair amount of heart put into it, given that a chunk of its plot seems to be directly influenced by it starting out as a Kickstarter game that failed to reach funding. However, I can't say that heart translated into a game worth experiencing.

There is no game: Wrong Dimensions é mais um jogo Indie que conquistou meu coração. Sua abordagem é simples, é um jogo de point and click, nada mais. Porém o que se sobressai nesse jogo é sua história, que com certeza foi feita com toda a dedicação possível dos criadores para formarem essa incrível obra de arte.
O jogo aborda sua história de uma forma inusitada: Dentro dele há uma espécie de IA que fala com você (E inicialmente te odeia) e te pede para sair imediatamente do programa. Mas como todo jogador, você insiste contra essa IA e junto com ela vai desenrolando a plot do jogo. Os personagens são extremamente carismáticos e com certeza irá te oferecer boas gargalhadas, seu humor é repleto de ironia e zoação, o que o torna ainda mais perfeito. Até as próprias músicas são geniais, elaboradas de uma forma que tudo se encaixa perfeitamente.
é um jogo que com certeza vale a pena dar uma jogada, se divertir e curtir o momento. Não é um jogo extremamente longo e, sinceramente, não é necessário, pois é possível aproveitar completamente suas horas de gameplay. E fiz questão de platinar ele para me recordar do quão bom ele é. Enfim, é um jogo que sem dúvida vale a pena ser jogado.