A good game design student’s final project, not so much a full experience that ought to be paid for. I saw Claybook a few years ago on some random youtuber’s indie showcase. It looked cute so I picked it up for cheap. The fundamental concept is rolling around a kid’s clay tabletop as you transmorph into different shapes and rewind time to fulfill mission goals. You might change into a sphere to roll up a ramp, or use a cube and rewind time to create steps to climb. You can also burrow in something to effectively “erase” certain clay structures. Some goals may be to “erase” certain markers on the map, or fill a reservoir with liquid by opening a line up. The problem is the game is finicky, imprecise, and frustrating in its traversal.
Everytime you move you’re degrading the environment by slightly indenting the ground, forcing you to figure things out with little backtracking. The fluid physics are awful and involved in the worst mission objectives in the game. The completion counter is downright inaccurate at times, forcing you to do more than necessary just to get to the next level. And beyond the tutorial, they don’t introduce any cool additions or settings. Any mission or shape they do add is just more and more excruciating to interact with. When I started off I knew how short the game was so I created a goal to 100% it. By mission three I abandoned that mission. Maybe a little more time in the oven and more collaborators would have saved this game from an eternal damnation of collecting dust on the shelf.
Everytime you move you’re degrading the environment by slightly indenting the ground, forcing you to figure things out with little backtracking. The fluid physics are awful and involved in the worst mission objectives in the game. The completion counter is downright inaccurate at times, forcing you to do more than necessary just to get to the next level. And beyond the tutorial, they don’t introduce any cool additions or settings. Any mission or shape they do add is just more and more excruciating to interact with. When I started off I knew how short the game was so I created a goal to 100% it. By mission three I abandoned that mission. Maybe a little more time in the oven and more collaborators would have saved this game from an eternal damnation of collecting dust on the shelf.
5 Comments
@RedBackLoggd Oh wow! That's actually pretty funny we're the only two to stumble on this title on this site.
Yeah I was probably a little harsh, I just felt so let down with how boring the game was beyond its potential. And man just rereading my review again reminded me of how much I indeed hated that doughy water physics they had. Trying to shoot water out of a detached cannon into a reservoir in this game should be an Olympic sponsored event. Add to that the levels got so boring astronomically quickly that they actually managed to usurp my love for the look of the game. I'll admit I'm usually quite forgiving in my rankings but something about this one checked all the wrong boxes for me.
Also I love your mentioning that doughy kid in your review. He really adds nothing to the game except this uncanny Twilight Zone layer of WTF lol. I mean, how is he moving clay with a controller? I especially love your line:
"Combine this with those scarily large eyes, and you can be sure I worked hard to avoid him throughout my gametime."
It actually made me laugh out loud because it's so true and yet so strange. Appreciate another perspective on this one too brother. That's the one disadvantage of playing lesser-known titles, less people to converse about them with, so I like to see what others are saying about the oddballs and hidden gems when I can. Especially when I have respect for the reviewer :)
Yeah I was probably a little harsh, I just felt so let down with how boring the game was beyond its potential. And man just rereading my review again reminded me of how much I indeed hated that doughy water physics they had. Trying to shoot water out of a detached cannon into a reservoir in this game should be an Olympic sponsored event. Add to that the levels got so boring astronomically quickly that they actually managed to usurp my love for the look of the game. I'll admit I'm usually quite forgiving in my rankings but something about this one checked all the wrong boxes for me.
Also I love your mentioning that doughy kid in your review. He really adds nothing to the game except this uncanny Twilight Zone layer of WTF lol. I mean, how is he moving clay with a controller? I especially love your line:
"Combine this with those scarily large eyes, and you can be sure I worked hard to avoid him throughout my gametime."
It actually made me laugh out loud because it's so true and yet so strange. Appreciate another perspective on this one too brother. That's the one disadvantage of playing lesser-known titles, less people to converse about them with, so I like to see what others are saying about the oddballs and hidden gems when I can. Especially when I have respect for the reviewer :)
Yeah I agree it had greater potential for sure, but sometimes you just gotta review a product for what it is vs. what you think it should be. It's a problem we all encounter.
I actually don't remember having TOO much of a problem with the water leakage, I think the missions where you had to absorb all the specific colors were the ones that gave me a headache. But LOL at that Olympic joke.
Yeah, it was repetitive, I'll give you that. I wonder if the user-generated levels were any better.
Haha, yeah, sad thing is I don't even think I was trying to be funny with that line when I initially wrote it - he genuinely scared me!
Yeah, that's a great point: less people means less discussions. Glad we at least had this shared experience xD
And thanks man, ditto as always.
I actually don't remember having TOO much of a problem with the water leakage, I think the missions where you had to absorb all the specific colors were the ones that gave me a headache. But LOL at that Olympic joke.
Yeah, it was repetitive, I'll give you that. I wonder if the user-generated levels were any better.
Haha, yeah, sad thing is I don't even think I was trying to be funny with that line when I initially wrote it - he genuinely scared me!
Yeah, that's a great point: less people means less discussions. Glad we at least had this shared experience xD
And thanks man, ditto as always.
@RedBackLoggd True true, and that's totally fair. I remember those levels too; they were headaches for me as well.
That's what I like about that line, it's so earnest and relatable if you've played the game, but almost absurd sounding if you haven't lol. Couldn't agree more brother.
That's what I like about that line, it's so earnest and relatable if you've played the game, but almost absurd sounding if you haven't lol. Couldn't agree more brother.
Thanks man
RedBackLoggd
4 months ago
That's a pretty harsh endline! I feel the game was better than that, though I do agree it was repetitive in objectives.