Both concept and execution were good, just falling off at points. For the most part the interconnected map was well put together, with lots and lots of shortcuts opening up at good times while navigation was rarely too confusing. The game dragged on a bit in the midgame, particularly in the basement and early office sections, but the pacing was adequate overall.
The monologues the puppets gave became a bit repetitive during the first half of the game, which was a shame cause the new stuff that seemed to come toward the lategame was pretty fun and the few unique ones like the Craft Monster were cool too. I think the puppets were charming in general, so more stuff for them to say would have been awesome. They help bring the game into a healthy area somewhere between the continuum of Resident Evil 1 to Luigi's Mansion 1, and I appreciate it!
I think one of the parts I enjoyed most was getting to 'help' a lot of the big boss puppets. It injected a little more extra personality through unique interactions and I think the bit of characterization the protagonist got from it was nice, too. They weren't extremely deep conversations, no, but I think having a moment to remind the player of the puppets' innocent natures is a good idea and the game executed that well.
Otherwise the writing was a fairly standard modern indie affair, but I don't mean it in a bad way. It's got some heart to it and looks toward the light, neither of which I expected from a game that presents itself as a one-trick pony. I also wasn't really expecting the Vietnam War to be used as something of a central lore point, but hey, that was interesting.
To be honest I was hoping for a bit better gunplay than what we got. What the game has is adequate, but some things like wrench range and puppet arm ranges were particularly unintuitive. The actual weapons were not very distinct from one another, but with how few the game has it's not a big deal. I just wish the weapon felt more satisfying to the point where someone could conceivably spam chocolate bars and sprint around taking everyone down like a boomer shooter.
Getting the secret weapon was really cool, though! On Survival mode everything felt a bit too bullet spongy but not to a point of annoyance. Only the final boss really felt like a bit much, as without the secret weapon I couldn't imagine how I would have taken them down without it being a chore of a fight. Then again, apparently you can just run around until you can leave the boss arena. Eh.
The game's aesthetic isn't quite as unique as I'd hoped for but I think it puts forward plenty well the idea of a false cartoon world placed atop common real-world objects and locations. The puppets being alive and fully believing in all of it was a nice touch to add to that, making the cardboard and plywood vignettes feel a cool mix of real and fake.
I'm happy I decided to hop on this game right around launch! It was a welcome thing to play at nights while someone watched and working my way toward completing as much of it as possible in my run was fun. I think the devs have plenty of potential... they just ought to work a bit more on getting combat down.
The monologues the puppets gave became a bit repetitive during the first half of the game, which was a shame cause the new stuff that seemed to come toward the lategame was pretty fun and the few unique ones like the Craft Monster were cool too. I think the puppets were charming in general, so more stuff for them to say would have been awesome. They help bring the game into a healthy area somewhere between the continuum of Resident Evil 1 to Luigi's Mansion 1, and I appreciate it!
I think one of the parts I enjoyed most was getting to 'help' a lot of the big boss puppets. It injected a little more extra personality through unique interactions and I think the bit of characterization the protagonist got from it was nice, too. They weren't extremely deep conversations, no, but I think having a moment to remind the player of the puppets' innocent natures is a good idea and the game executed that well.
Otherwise the writing was a fairly standard modern indie affair, but I don't mean it in a bad way. It's got some heart to it and looks toward the light, neither of which I expected from a game that presents itself as a one-trick pony. I also wasn't really expecting the Vietnam War to be used as something of a central lore point, but hey, that was interesting.
To be honest I was hoping for a bit better gunplay than what we got. What the game has is adequate, but some things like wrench range and puppet arm ranges were particularly unintuitive. The actual weapons were not very distinct from one another, but with how few the game has it's not a big deal. I just wish the weapon felt more satisfying to the point where someone could conceivably spam chocolate bars and sprint around taking everyone down like a boomer shooter.
Getting the secret weapon was really cool, though! On Survival mode everything felt a bit too bullet spongy but not to a point of annoyance. Only the final boss really felt like a bit much, as without the secret weapon I couldn't imagine how I would have taken them down without it being a chore of a fight. Then again, apparently you can just run around until you can leave the boss arena. Eh.
The game's aesthetic isn't quite as unique as I'd hoped for but I think it puts forward plenty well the idea of a false cartoon world placed atop common real-world objects and locations. The puppets being alive and fully believing in all of it was a nice touch to add to that, making the cardboard and plywood vignettes feel a cool mix of real and fake.
I'm happy I decided to hop on this game right around launch! It was a welcome thing to play at nights while someone watched and working my way toward completing as much of it as possible in my run was fun. I think the devs have plenty of potential... they just ought to work a bit more on getting combat down.