I picked this up completely by chance; I just happened to be at a GameStop (out of town, no less) that just happened to be carrying a physical copy of a pretty obscure Kickstarter project helmed by an independent Montreal-based studio. Of course, at the time, I knew none of this about this game. All I knew was that I'd never even heard of this game, and that I liked the boxart.
It doesn't really happen anymore, now that I've committed myself to mostly playing games up until a certain era, but for the longest time I loved taking this sort of gamble. Sometimes it shook out, where I'd have yet another completely unheard-of also-ran title to hype up to my friends, like the sorts of things that represented the sum total of my gaming experiences as a kid. Didn't really matter; the fun was taking the plunge and seeing if it shook out.
I really wish I had more enthusiasm for the game itself, but I sadly don't have much to report. I feel like the game that exists is the start of something quite strong. There's a great high-concept with the dynamic between Girl and Robot, where the Robot is more combat-oriented but less flexible in its movements while the Girl is able to get around more easily but is completely defenseless. I don't think the Robot is super compelling to fight as, though given that ICO (ICO a nae) is a key influence, and combat isn't strong in that, I guess it's okay?
But the main thing is the cliffhanger ending, and the insistence that this is Act 1 of something bigger. Sort of a gutsy called shot on Flying Carpet's part, particularly knowing it's a Kickstarter project that didn't hint at this and the, um, lack of a second part. Definitely screams of something going wrong and the team needing to get the game out the door, at the most charitable interpretation. Doubly so since the follow-up effort is a card game ("inspired by concepts from Russian roulette", which is a really weird way to say a player can be eliminated at any time). Nothing wrong with the change of medium, it's just sort of a sign that this approach wasn't working.
Actually, speaking of the Kickstarter, that maze at the end that sort of comes out of nowhere and has little cohesion with the rest of the adventure was a stretch goal. Hmmmm.
The soundtrack is quite good, though. Sort of feels out of place in-game, but it's definitely worth the listen.
It doesn't really happen anymore, now that I've committed myself to mostly playing games up until a certain era, but for the longest time I loved taking this sort of gamble. Sometimes it shook out, where I'd have yet another completely unheard-of also-ran title to hype up to my friends, like the sorts of things that represented the sum total of my gaming experiences as a kid. Didn't really matter; the fun was taking the plunge and seeing if it shook out.
I really wish I had more enthusiasm for the game itself, but I sadly don't have much to report. I feel like the game that exists is the start of something quite strong. There's a great high-concept with the dynamic between Girl and Robot, where the Robot is more combat-oriented but less flexible in its movements while the Girl is able to get around more easily but is completely defenseless. I don't think the Robot is super compelling to fight as, though given that ICO (ICO a nae) is a key influence, and combat isn't strong in that, I guess it's okay?
But the main thing is the cliffhanger ending, and the insistence that this is Act 1 of something bigger. Sort of a gutsy called shot on Flying Carpet's part, particularly knowing it's a Kickstarter project that didn't hint at this and the, um, lack of a second part. Definitely screams of something going wrong and the team needing to get the game out the door, at the most charitable interpretation. Doubly so since the follow-up effort is a card game ("inspired by concepts from Russian roulette", which is a really weird way to say a player can be eliminated at any time). Nothing wrong with the change of medium, it's just sort of a sign that this approach wasn't working.
Actually, speaking of the Kickstarter, that maze at the end that sort of comes out of nowhere and has little cohesion with the rest of the adventure was a stretch goal. Hmmmm.
The soundtrack is quite good, though. Sort of feels out of place in-game, but it's definitely worth the listen.
2 Comments
@willn46 - I'm working on a long-term writing project based around video games. I think it's useful to limit the types of video games I try to reference in my work, so I'm giving myself a soft restriction that I'll mostly play video games released up to a certain point in time - specifically, through the seventh console generation (Wii/PS3/360). This isn't a hard rule or anything, mostly just something so I don't feel bad about not jumping on the newest releases all the time.
willn46
1 month ago