An expanded game of The Wardrobe
A protagonist overflowing with sarcasm, cynicism and who continually breaks through the fourth wall. More than 40 hand-illustrated and digitally colored locations, populated with more than 70 characters and enriched by dozens of puzzles.
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If you're a fan of 2D point'n'click adventures, especially when you grew up on Lucas Arts games like Day of the Tentacle and the Monkey Island series, The Wardrobe most certainly should be of interest to you.
I know, right? The title sucks big time. Who in his/her right mind would call a program after furniture, even though it makes sense after all? Maybe you've skipped it on sale like me because of that, maybe because some reviews are written from the perspective of players not familiar with the game mechanics of the glory days. Don't worry, The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition does a good job recapturing some of the old school flavour, without hurting too much, if you ask me, having played it on Nintendo Switch.
Also, judging from colourful screenshots, I wasn't too sure if The Wardrobe could be too friendly and bright for my taste. With the skeleton protagonist and overall Halloween theme, this adventure might have as well been the Grim Fandango us old school fans deserved but never got. The Wardrobe is neither of that precisely.
It is true though, that the incorporated tropes are as manifold as the popcultural references. Sarcastic humor and breaking of the fourth wall make The Wardrobe almost appear like the Deadpool of point'n'click adventures.
The Wardrobe delightfully challenges you to spot all the hidden quotes and objects ranging from games of course over movies like Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Matrix or Donnie Darko to shows like How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones or Stranger Things, to name some. They did not forget The Bride of Frankenstein and Stan & Ollie for us oldies though, included paintings like the poker playing dogs and it seems the dudes also like heavier tunes (Korn, Slipknot).
The respectable effort put into showing off the creators' cultural interest does not completely reflect in The Wardrobe's storytelling though. There's a short origin on how you became a skeleton and next moment you get out of your casket (wardrobe) to witness your friend's belongings being moved to another place.
There's a hint of haunting in here, based on friendship. The plum buddy Roland fed Skinny, the guy to become the skeleton, caused an allergic shock by accident. Struggle is now the move divides the two friends before Skinny can forgive Roland. And once we made it on the truck, we're far away from joining.
That's enough to visit a map full of places to meet an entertaining variety of unique characters and solve puzzles not without crossing the line of moon logic. I really appreciate CINIC Games have chosen to not make The Wardrobe too simple for the sake of pleasing the other half of players hating to walk back and forth checking for possible interactions to solve a puzzle.
In case of The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition on Nintendo Switch I can say they transferred the old routines in a more, but not most comfortable way - meaning it helps you can highlight all hotspots (by pressing R) and the interface is very usable but I felt lost twice, so I consulted a walkthrough as no hints are included directly. It plays alright via touchscreen, though as often I prefer my pro controller.
The included straightforward tutorial is actually funny. It is very easy being dropped into a dialogue situation first and then being forced to try the icons popping up by holding the A-button on a hotspot. There's the usual look, pick up, use or talk and sometimes only an action trigger. Left stick moves the cursor in a most convenient way and you really only need B additionally for menu, inventory and map. The Wardrobe may be one of the best controllable point'n'click ports to the Switch.
The start is actually so welcoming it was easy to forgive minor flaws and some matters of taste. One btw. was on my german Switch I could only change language from the main menu, so when I discovered there's only a mostly pleasant english dub in The Wardrobe, I was stuck with German subs, that I could turn off for translations, but still was facing german dialogue options which felt weird to me, as the texts of course still triggered Skinny talking english. So adjust that to your preference from the beginning and you'll be fine.
Having been growing up in Germany is also a crucial factor in my reception of The Wardrobe though, I think, being so heavily intertwined with the experience of popular culture. As much as I am interested and involved in consuming mostly the same works, my perspective and especially the environmental influence is different to those of the creators', whilst I've almost been growing up in the same neighborhood (and probably having traded similar Amiga games in school) as Jan "Poki" Müller-Michaelis, creator of games such as Edna & Harvey or Deponia.
So it's probably natural, as much as I think being able to progress what CINIC Games are trying to express, them being based in Italy could mean a totally different relation to possibly localized games that I'm missing out on. It's maybe for that reason I would always prefer a Poki game, also drawing a lot from the same influences like Lucas Arts, over an also entertaining The Wardrobe.
Even though CINIC Games try to lead players a little in subtext of interactions (implying you could combine items under other circumstances) the game doesn't encourage interactions as much as Edna & Harvey does for instance, to the point I missed trying combinations in the above mentioned cases of feeling lost. And that's in an adventure I found it easier to achieve results through actions within different time zones.
When Edna & Harvey rewards you by entertaining unique reactions to pretty much anything and is able to imperceptibly guide you through the game at the same time, The Wardrobe asks you to stop your impractical input or just doesn't react to some of the phone numbers you can call for instance, relying on relentlessness to find out a twist before the ending a few reviewers might have been skipping.
With those examples I'd like to point out the two different attempts of basically an escape scenario by Edna & Harvey enriching the genre by refining what I liked and polishing off struggles and The Wardrobe taking the, in my opinion, lesser sophisticated route of mostly throwing references at you while trying to please with what you already know and like. If that kind of gaming wasn't yours before though, there's nothing to make you change your mind.
Please get me right, I really like both games, but there's a reason I prefer one over the other. It's almost like judging on graphics for example. Both are hand drawn visuals executed well, in this case maybe Edna & Harvey could be described as pragmatic dilletantism and The Wardrobe as more refined comic art, but it depends on your personal reception what you like better.
Having said all that, The Wardrobe does never require you to save other than to pick up later, or at least I didn't find a way to mess up so badly I had to go back and try again. The game even usually erases inventory items once they fulfilled their purpose. It was maybe a 50/50 mix of puzzles that fell into place naturally and trial and error. You have to be prepared to revisit locations and then finally make sense of objects you spotted earlier, keeping you occupied enough for a game more or less at a sweet spot between too short and too long.
Had it been shorter, I wouldn't have felt like I got my money's worth. Any longer and there would have had to be a more captivating plot. Not that any old point'n'click adventure had that, but The Wardrobe that way is a bit like the Halloween party we visit in the game.
It's dressing up inspired by all those great franchises and meet in a house where fun things happen in all corners. Some of them you can miss if you don't look for them. You can only play with the props people brought, but there's no protocol other than enter the party and get along well enough to find a way back home in the end. It's a good night amongst old friends, nice chat as well, but nobody is available for a deep talk in the kitchen. You still like to show up to these occasions, but you know other parties are fresher and better organized.
That's what you should take The Wardrobe as, I guess, and being an indie game it does very well in capturing previous ideas and mix them at a high standard addressed to fans. There's nothing wrong with that, for that one playthrough you probably keep it at. And if you expect no more than that, you won't be disappointed. So good job, CINIC Games, I'd like to play another one, but also wouldn't mind you taking that experience to the next level.
I know, right? The title sucks big time. Who in his/her right mind would call a program after furniture, even though it makes sense after all? Maybe you've skipped it on sale like me because of that, maybe because some reviews are written from the perspective of players not familiar with the game mechanics of the glory days. Don't worry, The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition does a good job recapturing some of the old school flavour, without hurting too much, if you ask me, having played it on Nintendo Switch.
Also, judging from colourful screenshots, I wasn't too sure if The Wardrobe could be too friendly and bright for my taste. With the skeleton protagonist and overall Halloween theme, this adventure might have as well been the Grim Fandango us old school fans deserved but never got. The Wardrobe is neither of that precisely.
It is true though, that the incorporated tropes are as manifold as the popcultural references. Sarcastic humor and breaking of the fourth wall make The Wardrobe almost appear like the Deadpool of point'n'click adventures.
The Wardrobe delightfully challenges you to spot all the hidden quotes and objects ranging from games of course over movies like Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Matrix or Donnie Darko to shows like How I Met Your Mother, Game of Thrones or Stranger Things, to name some. They did not forget The Bride of Frankenstein and Stan & Ollie for us oldies though, included paintings like the poker playing dogs and it seems the dudes also like heavier tunes (Korn, Slipknot).
The respectable effort put into showing off the creators' cultural interest does not completely reflect in The Wardrobe's storytelling though. There's a short origin on how you became a skeleton and next moment you get out of your casket (wardrobe) to witness your friend's belongings being moved to another place.
There's a hint of haunting in here, based on friendship. The plum buddy Roland fed Skinny, the guy to become the skeleton, caused an allergic shock by accident. Struggle is now the move divides the two friends before Skinny can forgive Roland. And once we made it on the truck, we're far away from joining.
That's enough to visit a map full of places to meet an entertaining variety of unique characters and solve puzzles not without crossing the line of moon logic. I really appreciate CINIC Games have chosen to not make The Wardrobe too simple for the sake of pleasing the other half of players hating to walk back and forth checking for possible interactions to solve a puzzle.
In case of The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition on Nintendo Switch I can say they transferred the old routines in a more, but not most comfortable way - meaning it helps you can highlight all hotspots (by pressing R) and the interface is very usable but I felt lost twice, so I consulted a walkthrough as no hints are included directly. It plays alright via touchscreen, though as often I prefer my pro controller.
The included straightforward tutorial is actually funny. It is very easy being dropped into a dialogue situation first and then being forced to try the icons popping up by holding the A-button on a hotspot. There's the usual look, pick up, use or talk and sometimes only an action trigger. Left stick moves the cursor in a most convenient way and you really only need B additionally for menu, inventory and map. The Wardrobe may be one of the best controllable point'n'click ports to the Switch.
The start is actually so welcoming it was easy to forgive minor flaws and some matters of taste. One btw. was on my german Switch I could only change language from the main menu, so when I discovered there's only a mostly pleasant english dub in The Wardrobe, I was stuck with German subs, that I could turn off for translations, but still was facing german dialogue options which felt weird to me, as the texts of course still triggered Skinny talking english. So adjust that to your preference from the beginning and you'll be fine.
Having been growing up in Germany is also a crucial factor in my reception of The Wardrobe though, I think, being so heavily intertwined with the experience of popular culture. As much as I am interested and involved in consuming mostly the same works, my perspective and especially the environmental influence is different to those of the creators', whilst I've almost been growing up in the same neighborhood (and probably having traded similar Amiga games in school) as Jan "Poki" Müller-Michaelis, creator of games such as Edna & Harvey or Deponia.
So it's probably natural, as much as I think being able to progress what CINIC Games are trying to express, them being based in Italy could mean a totally different relation to possibly localized games that I'm missing out on. It's maybe for that reason I would always prefer a Poki game, also drawing a lot from the same influences like Lucas Arts, over an also entertaining The Wardrobe.
Even though CINIC Games try to lead players a little in subtext of interactions (implying you could combine items under other circumstances) the game doesn't encourage interactions as much as Edna & Harvey does for instance, to the point I missed trying combinations in the above mentioned cases of feeling lost. And that's in an adventure I found it easier to achieve results through actions within different time zones.
When Edna & Harvey rewards you by entertaining unique reactions to pretty much anything and is able to imperceptibly guide you through the game at the same time, The Wardrobe asks you to stop your impractical input or just doesn't react to some of the phone numbers you can call for instance, relying on relentlessness to find out a twist before the ending a few reviewers might have been skipping.
With those examples I'd like to point out the two different attempts of basically an escape scenario by Edna & Harvey enriching the genre by refining what I liked and polishing off struggles and The Wardrobe taking the, in my opinion, lesser sophisticated route of mostly throwing references at you while trying to please with what you already know and like. If that kind of gaming wasn't yours before though, there's nothing to make you change your mind.
Please get me right, I really like both games, but there's a reason I prefer one over the other. It's almost like judging on graphics for example. Both are hand drawn visuals executed well, in this case maybe Edna & Harvey could be described as pragmatic dilletantism and The Wardrobe as more refined comic art, but it depends on your personal reception what you like better.
Having said all that, The Wardrobe does never require you to save other than to pick up later, or at least I didn't find a way to mess up so badly I had to go back and try again. The game even usually erases inventory items once they fulfilled their purpose. It was maybe a 50/50 mix of puzzles that fell into place naturally and trial and error. You have to be prepared to revisit locations and then finally make sense of objects you spotted earlier, keeping you occupied enough for a game more or less at a sweet spot between too short and too long.
Had it been shorter, I wouldn't have felt like I got my money's worth. Any longer and there would have had to be a more captivating plot. Not that any old point'n'click adventure had that, but The Wardrobe that way is a bit like the Halloween party we visit in the game.
It's dressing up inspired by all those great franchises and meet in a house where fun things happen in all corners. Some of them you can miss if you don't look for them. You can only play with the props people brought, but there's no protocol other than enter the party and get along well enough to find a way back home in the end. It's a good night amongst old friends, nice chat as well, but nobody is available for a deep talk in the kitchen. You still like to show up to these occasions, but you know other parties are fresher and better organized.
That's what you should take The Wardrobe as, I guess, and being an indie game it does very well in capturing previous ideas and mix them at a high standard addressed to fans. There's nothing wrong with that, for that one playthrough you probably keep it at. And if you expect no more than that, you won't be disappointed. So good job, CINIC Games, I'd like to play another one, but also wouldn't mind you taking that experience to the next level.