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Genre: Adventure Developer & Publisher: Triomatica Games Released: Septembeer 20, 2022 Requirements: OS: Windows 10 Processor: Minimum, Intel Core i3 2 Ghtz; Recommended, Intel Core i5 3 Ghtz Graphics: Minimum, Nvidia GTX 750/AMD Radeon RX Vega7; Recommended, Nvidia GTX 1050/AMD Radeon R9 280
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By flotsam
Triomatica Games When I reviewed Boxville 2 not too long ago I hadn’t played the original, but I bought it on the strength of my positive experience and got around to firing it up recently. Let me tell you about it. You play as a can, the soft drink type, and you live in a city of boxes. A ‘quake’ of some sort shakes you and your can-ine pet Rusty from the comfort of your home, and a further ruckus tips you both and then just Rusty somewhere down below. You have time for a brief sob, and then it's stoically on to reunite yourself with your pet. In the sequel you are a red can. This time you are blue, and Rusty is a small round tuna can sort of pet (and definitely a dog). Whilst Rusty is the goal, it is Blue that is the central character. Navigating Boxville is entirely point-and-click, and it’s a rather delightful place to explore. There is a soft and watery coloured visual aesthetic, as well as a picture book simplistic complexity to the environment. Most scenes (all maybe?) are limited to what you see on the screen but just click the arrow left or right and move to the next part of the location. Alternatively you can walk within a scene by clicking the little feet icon that appears. Blue won’t run though (cans generally don’t) so don’t bother double clicking. Ditto jumping to an exit. There is no spoken word, rather you converse with your fellow cans via pictograms drawn on pieces of cardboard. I thought on the whole they provided a more than sufficient explanation of what I needed to know, but there is some interpretation required. Ambient sound and a largely soothing soundtrack provide the audio side of things, and both work together to help bring life to Boxville. Blue progresses through the games by doing things for other cans in return for things ‘he’ needs, or in some other way working around where being a can won’t let him go. Much of that involves gathering and using items, although I never had more than about 4 or 5 at any one time which constrained the conundrum solving. That said, I did need a prod or two, but it isn’t an overly difficult game. That includes the non-inventory puzzling, and there are more than a few of these. Place cogs, rewire conduits, join up pipes; these are familiar, but some have been tweaked. There are also others where clues exist in the environment, and still others where you are on your own (although as always I might have missed something). I quite enjoyed the mix and the juxtaposition with the inventory conundrums. Only one puzzle irked me and it turns out it might not be required (I got a ‘secret achievement’ for having done it). Regardless, and whilst it isn’t that difficult, it involves solving nine pictograms in a row, and getting any one wrong makes you start again. It is also randomised, and when you get to eight and fail twice, the irksomeness ramps up. But I drew my breath and calmed my nerves and sorted it out. It is in fact a rather good puzzle. The default cursor is a little wire hand, which will pulsate when poised over something that can be taken or interacted with. You can’t highlight hotspots so explore carefully. Be aware also that if you need an inventory item at any particular spot you won’t get any curser feedback to tell you that is required. That tripped me up more than once. The game saves on exit, and there is a single save slot so you can’t go back to load earlier save points. That didn’t matter to me but it might to you. Needless to say, Blue finds his dog, but there is a nice touch at the end. Three or so hours should see you though. I have very much enjoyed both my visits to Boxville. I played on: OS: Windows 11, 64 Bit Processor: Intel i7-9700K 3.7GHz RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB
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