Developer: Villa Gorilla
Publisher: Team 17
Genre: Pinball, Metroidvania
Gameplay Stats: 10 hours, 31/31 Achievements
To be honest, I heard some streamers talking about this game around when it came out, but I didn't really pay much attention until it won a BAFTA award in 2019. I recently got it in a Humble Bundle situation and decided I wanted to give it a go! I had some hesitations when I learned that it was essentially a pinball metroidvania game, was I right about them?
Visuals: This game really looks like it was made using the UbiArt framework but it wasn't. The aesthetic and the way that characters move is really similar, it looks like kind of a strange puppet show. Instead of fully 3d models, there are a few layers of 2d art that can move independently. It does stick to this look very faithfully! I didn't really like it when I booted up the game, but it definitely grew on me. I wouldn't call it a strength necessarily, but it's not a weakness. Generally speaking the visual language is very easy to understand. Its not hard to look at a screen and know which bits move and which bits do things if you interact with them. My only issue here was during my final collection phase where some of the language was lost up in the clouds. I couldn't see the white bumper against the white background!
Audio: This was a weird bimodal distribution in terms of how I felt about the music in the game. The music in the first couple areas is excellent. It's weird and pleasant. The last few areas had a similar thing going on! The entire middle of the game had extremely forgettable tunes that were kind of disappointing compared with the ones at either end. The audio language isn't really pleasant, but it's not really necessary. There aren't really enemies in the game, so there isn't much to convey to the player. The sound effects were fine. Lots of pinball noises which are made to be gratifying, so no complaints here. Not really any new ground explored though if you've played some pinball.
Plot: You gotta help solve the island mystery! It's not tough, I figured it out early and thought I was pretty smart. Before the big reveal they started doing some really heavy foreshadowing. I don't think anyone apart from a young kid would be very surprised about what was happening here. That being said, it does work as the McGuffin, although I don't really know that it was necessary or particularly interesting. Some of the side quests actually felt more satisfying than the main quest, but I've been seeing that more and more lately in video games. I don't know if it's a growing trend or if I am just becoming aware of it because of these reflections I do after completing games.
Gameplay: This is really the standout of the game here. I think that's probably apparent from the trailer and any of the media about the game. The pinball aspect feels really satisfying and enjoyable even if it does seem like there's a lot going on your first time entering a new board. There's nothing stopping you from holding the ball at the bottom to know what's going on though. I really like the Dark Souls-style shortcuts scattered about to keep you from having to replay too many of the sections which is nice. They also all seem to remember your progress, so you can blaze through what was once a pinball-based puzzle. I think the game is simplistic and pretty elegant for that reason.
Overall I enjoyed this game. I think I would have a tough time recommending it to someone though. The game is simple and doesn't overstay it's welcome, but it doesn't really do anything that I feel like people need to experience. If someone is looking for a quirky, short game that's definitely unique I could see myself recommending this one, but I don't know that I would go out of my way to recommend this one. [7/10]
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