She Remembered Caterpillars is a fungipunk fantasy about love, loss, and holding on, told in the format of a colour-based puzzle game. A tale as the bond between parent and child, this lush and bewildering title will have players testing their wits against a variety of challenges, some devious, and others outright nefarious, but all beautiful and very, very strange.
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Awesome little puzzle game. The ambient music and "fungipunk" aesthetic create excellent vibes to solve the challenging, but not too difficult puzzles. You're presented with bits of text framing a loose narrative prior to each puzzle, which, while not creating an entirely coherent narrative, do a nice job in setting the mood. Much to my shame, I got stuck on the last level and ended up looking up a small hint after nearly 2 hours of missing a stupid simple trick and I'm very disappointed because I have no one to blame but myself since it was actually a very reasonable and well made puzzle and now my experience with this beautiful game is forever tainted by my own weakness and I'm not sure that my fragile intellectual ego will ever recover from this blow but maybe it's good to be humbled from time to time and I probably made the right choice to move on and not torture myself but I still hate everything.
Highly recommended for the puzzle fans out there.
Highly recommended for the puzzle fans out there.
some beautiful art here I said goddamn
puzzles extremely satisfying but sometimes also I'm pretty dumb so I definitely got stuck plenty of times
puzzles extremely satisfying but sometimes also I'm pretty dumb so I definitely got stuck plenty of times
It's a neat and interesting puzzle game that introduces new challenges each round. It always feels good to figure out the combination of colours, switches, and paths to get to the end of each act.
The story bits in-between the puzzles and the visuals of the game created a nice atmosphere. The puzzles themselves were good, but nothing too special or clever. They were always fair and in the few instances where I got stuck it was usually my fault for not seeing the obvious path forward.
In the end, neither the story nor the puzzles really captivated me though.
In the end, neither the story nor the puzzles really captivated me though.
I tend to follow my itch whenever I want to try out something new and exciting, and tonight, my itch was telling me to play this short and sweet indie puzzler from 2017 that I got in a Humble Bundle from who knows when, as a nice little diversion during a rainy evening. Needless to say, She Remembered Caterpillars was not quite that, because this game definitely tested my patience, but I found the whole experience quite fruitful and touching regardless.
The game's layout and concept are quite simple; you must guide all the colored "Gammies" into ending white seed slots, traversing past color coded caterpillars, bouncy reed barriers, and various switches slowly introduced through new acts. While color coding is crucial to figure out how each Gammie will react to obstacles, color-blind players need not worry because Gammies are also marked with unique combinations of shapes & symbols. I suppose the main gimmick besides the color coded caterpillars is the ability to temporarily couple and decouple Gammies to mix colors/integrate shapes to transport other Gammies past obstacles that they usually would not be able to traverse (i.e. combining a Red and Blue Gammie to create a Purple, and allowing the combination to cross over a Blue caterpillar when normally the Red Gammie would be blocked); it's a simple concept, but the game very quickly ramps up in difficulty despite optimized solutions often taking less than 2 minutes to solve. Nevertheless, I found that the levels were simple & tough, but fair; if you can keep in mind the parameters by which your Gammies can get past each obstacle, and figure out which goes where using the same set of rules, then having a set gameplan and being willing to experiment with slowly progressing Gammies past obstacles together goes a long way towards tinkering with the mechanics and figuring out the solution for yourself.
Presented alongside the 40 levels is the game's narrative, told simply through short blurbs before each level plays out; this disjointed story telling (with the full manuscript written out here if you're interested, obvious story spoilers from the link) doesn't quite stand out since it's really easy to lose yourself in the challenge and spend all your brainpower trying to trial & error through the level elements, forgetting about the spurts of text in-between. but it's fortunately not intrusive in the least bit and when put together, is honestly a very heartwarming and contemplative tale. While I think the overarching plot could have been better integrated with the game mechanics (maybe some voice acting as you progress through levels, or more direct references strewn through the level elements and triggers as you progress? Just spitballing a couple of ideas here), I do think it's at least worthwhile to revisit all the short segments once you've finished the main game; it's fortunately not intrusive in the least bit and when put together, is honestly a very heartwarming and contemplative tale. Of more noteworthy mention are the game's hand drawn surreal environments, as well as a brooding and haunting ambient soundtrack that get more and more abstract yet uplifting as you progress through, mirroring the hero's journey and catharsis of the little girl whose tale is being told. The melancholic dreamscapes of She Remembered Caterpillars alongside the mysterious ambience definitely enriched the overall experience, and soothed my soul from ever getting too angry or frustrated as I puzzled my way through the simple yet formidable brainteasers.
Take your time if you choose to play through She Remembered Caterpillars, and just soak in the atmosphere while carefully maneuvering through the clever and logical problems woven into the dreamy and detailed landscapes. If you put your mind to the test, I think you'll find a real gem in all this.
The game's layout and concept are quite simple; you must guide all the colored "Gammies" into ending white seed slots, traversing past color coded caterpillars, bouncy reed barriers, and various switches slowly introduced through new acts. While color coding is crucial to figure out how each Gammie will react to obstacles, color-blind players need not worry because Gammies are also marked with unique combinations of shapes & symbols. I suppose the main gimmick besides the color coded caterpillars is the ability to temporarily couple and decouple Gammies to mix colors/integrate shapes to transport other Gammies past obstacles that they usually would not be able to traverse (i.e. combining a Red and Blue Gammie to create a Purple, and allowing the combination to cross over a Blue caterpillar when normally the Red Gammie would be blocked); it's a simple concept, but the game very quickly ramps up in difficulty despite optimized solutions often taking less than 2 minutes to solve. Nevertheless, I found that the levels were simple & tough, but fair; if you can keep in mind the parameters by which your Gammies can get past each obstacle, and figure out which goes where using the same set of rules, then having a set gameplan and being willing to experiment with slowly progressing Gammies past obstacles together goes a long way towards tinkering with the mechanics and figuring out the solution for yourself.
Presented alongside the 40 levels is the game's narrative, told simply through short blurbs before each level plays out; this disjointed story telling (with the full manuscript written out here if you're interested, obvious story spoilers from the link) doesn't quite stand out since it's really easy to lose yourself in the challenge and spend all your brainpower trying to trial & error through the level elements, forgetting about the spurts of text in-between. but it's fortunately not intrusive in the least bit and when put together, is honestly a very heartwarming and contemplative tale. While I think the overarching plot could have been better integrated with the game mechanics (maybe some voice acting as you progress through levels, or more direct references strewn through the level elements and triggers as you progress? Just spitballing a couple of ideas here), I do think it's at least worthwhile to revisit all the short segments once you've finished the main game; it's fortunately not intrusive in the least bit and when put together, is honestly a very heartwarming and contemplative tale. Of more noteworthy mention are the game's hand drawn surreal environments, as well as a brooding and haunting ambient soundtrack that get more and more abstract yet uplifting as you progress through, mirroring the hero's journey and catharsis of the little girl whose tale is being told. The melancholic dreamscapes of She Remembered Caterpillars alongside the mysterious ambience definitely enriched the overall experience, and soothed my soul from ever getting too angry or frustrated as I puzzled my way through the simple yet formidable brainteasers.
Take your time if you choose to play through She Remembered Caterpillars, and just soak in the atmosphere while carefully maneuvering through the clever and logical problems woven into the dreamy and detailed landscapes. If you put your mind to the test, I think you'll find a real gem in all this.
puzzle game thats beautiful and makes me want to fucking cry and also makes my brain hurt and steam come out of my head like a fucking cartoon character #218972