Just when I thought I couldn’t loce the game more, they do this!
It’s hard to put into words how fantastic this game is. I know of three very different experiences the game offers, each of which is worthwhile on its own.
First, if you play with a kid who hasn’t been ruined by the kind of min/maxxing attitude that you develop when you play a video game, you’ll get stuff like: “let’s go to the top of the mountain because the sun is going down” or “let’s stay here to listen to music for 10 minutes” type stuff. It’s really hard to facilitate this type of play, and the game does it expertly.
Second, if you play with one other person, you get to get good. After a couple of puzzles you start working together like a well-oiled machine, and it’s very satisfying to feel this.
Third, if you play with a large group, you don’t become a well oiled machine at all, and every puzzle is a new chaotic mess of misscommunication with 3 people wanting to do x and 3 others y, and this is fun in it’s own right. In addition, with this setup, you can lose each other, and get lost and randomly encounter eachother. The game has a host of imperfect remote communication options, and they kind of make for a meta puzzle on their own.
I remember one session where someone joined late (so the rest of the group was already on the other side of the island). Our group knew he was around because he’d shot some fireworks, but we didn’t see him for quite a while. At some point we were waiting for the train, and as it approached the bell rang, which it doesn’t do unless someone’s on it. Our friend was on the train! It felt almost like the riders of rohan arriving at helm’s deep or something. Never experienced anything like it in a video game.
Just when I thought I couldn’t loce the game more, they do this!
It’s hard to put into words how fantastic this game is. I know of three very different experiences the game offers, each of which is worthwhile on its own.
First, if you play with a kid who hasn’t been ruined by the kind of min/maxxing attitude that you develop when you play a video game, you’ll get stuff like: “let’s go to the top of the mountain because the sun is going down” or “let’s stay here to listen to music for 10 minutes” type stuff. It’s really hard to facilitate this type of play, and the game does it expertly.
Second, if you play with one other person, you get to get good. After a couple of puzzles you start working together like a well-oiled machine, and it’s very satisfying to feel this.
Third, if you play with a large group, you don’t become a well oiled machine at all, and every puzzle is a new chaotic mess of misscommunication with 3 people wanting to do x and 3 others y, and this is fun in it’s own right. In addition, with this setup, you can lose each other, and get lost and randomly encounter eachother. The game has a host of imperfect remote communication options, and they kind of make for a meta puzzle on their own.
I remember one session where someone joined late (so the rest of the group was already on the other side of the island). Our group knew he was around because he’d shot some fireworks, but we didn’t see him for quite a while. At some point we were waiting for the train, and as it approached the bell rang, which it doesn’t do unless someone’s on it. Our friend was on the train! It felt almost like the riders of rohan arriving at helm’s deep or something. Never experienced anything like it in a video game.
Truly, truly a fantastic game.