This is a quirky game with a good sense of fun, but with some aspects
adventurers need to be aware of, and one which might be a deal breaker.
First though, what is not to like about an office full of employees
all dressed in costumes, who would rather be doing something else,
anything else, other than working. A flying red ball provides the
opportunity for one such employee to leave their desk and follow,
working their way past all sorts of obstacles, as well as bosses who
want them back at their post in order to stay in pursuit.
There is no spoken word, but thought bubbles provide relevant
information, and the sound palette provides all you need to be part of
the goings on. The game world essentially side scrolls as you move
about, with short loads between some areas but nothing overwhelming. You
point and click, and gameplay (at least this aspect) is intuitive and
straightforward. As you collect items they will be used as required,
although there is some degree of selection on occasion.
The game world occupies a ribbon about two thirds screen size, but
despite not being full screen, it doesn’t feel small. Inventory items
appear in the space below, and top left is an icon giving access to a
menu.
The pursuit, and the environments through which it occurs, is rather
nonsensical, but just go with it. It isn’t meant to be serious, and
can be quite amusing. There is a lot of fun-poking at office culture,
and the graphical style is engaging in itself.
In the later stages you are accompanied by another character, and
co-operative gameplay ensues. You can also switch between them, and will
need to in order to solve some conundrums.
Speaking of which, these are both situational and out and out
puzzles. Solutions to the former can be goofy, but clicking about will
usually move you forward. The puzzles themselves vary from easy to not
at all, and are varied in design, and here is where the wariness aspects
arise.
A number of puzzles require you to be “correct” a certain number
of times in a row. Fail on number 5, and the puzzle resets and you go
again. It is generally not just a repeat of what you just played, so
your wits (and possibly your patience) may well be tested to get
through.
Some also have a limited number of tries before you have to start
again. A game of concentration for example, where you have to match
pairs by turning over cards, allows you a limited number of wrong pairs.
Fail to match them all before the limit is reached, and off you go
again.
To be fair, as indicated many are not hard, depending of course on
how your brain works. How you fare and what your puzzle solving ability
is like for each type of puzzle will be a factor in the potential
frustration levels. Most boomers will I think be fine. But there is
more.
You can’t save whenever you like. The game saves at certain points,
and these seem very limited. The result is that you may well have to do
a particular puzzle all over again, with all its foibles and
frustrations, if you decide to quit and haven’t reached a save point.
I couldn’t discern what those points might be, or identify when I had
reached one, so often I just kept playing. Other reviews suggest you
have to play all of a Chapter (there are three-ish so far) before it
will save, although the content has been coming in tranches so it may
well have been you needed to play the particular tranche. Regardless,
while the Chapters aren’t that long, the save points are not generous,
and as stated I certainly pushed through to the end on occasions.
The kill switch for a lot of boomers though will be the ATM puzzle in
Chapter 3.
The puzzle is a little platform game where you have to move and
jump/fly a small bird through obstacles without getting electrocuted,
and in a certain amount of time. I am not too bad at platforming, but
this was a challenge indeed. The time was largely irrelevant, as the
clock resets when you die (which I did a lot), and on successful
completion of a screen, and I rarely ran out of time. Mistiming and
being electrocuted was far more the issue.
One saving grace is that a successful completion of one screen won’t
see you thrown back to the very start if you die on a later one. Another
is that you can exit the puzzle and do something else, and when you come
back you will pick up at the screen you were last at, so long as you don’t
exit the game.
I spent a LOT of time on the first four screens of this puzzle, then
reached number five. It seemed a little benign by comparison, but then
the lights went out. Jumping onto moving platforms in the dark,
occasionally illuminated by a burst of light, was more than enough for
me. The fun had long been sucked out of my endeavours and I watched the
remainder on YouTube.
The game finished about 15 minutes YouTube time later, with more
content coming. I understand you pay for that content should you want to
continue your pursuit of the red flower.
There is a lot to like in this particular quest, but for many players
it will be overshadowed by the aspects I mentioned. Here’s hoping that
as future parts are released, developers tweak things (the Steam forums
suggest they are listening) and let the good stuff shine through.
I played on:
OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
Processor: Intel i7-6700 4GHz
