5/1/2023 0 Comments Gorogoa reviewsIn the same way, many of the images connect in the puzzles, so too do the beats of the story. It never loses its main theme which is connectivity. While the general plot of a young boy collecting colorful orbs to either placate or completely stop a massive rainbow beast that appears in this world is easy enough to follow, the narrative can feel muddled throughout as the artwork tends to jump around to some wildly unexpected places. Going into this I wasn’t expecting a clear and easily understandable story as I have come to expect obtuse tales when dealing with story-driven indie puzzle games. But those instances of confusion are quickly followed by the lightbulb above my head the “ah-ha” moments of solution discovery I revel in as I successfully guide this young boy along his mission to collect five colored orbs. As the story moves along, the images and puzzle solutions become more intricate with so many moving pieces it can be easy to get lost. Tapping and moving every picture I discover is paramount to making it through each portion of the game. I find the experience is at its most genius when I’m forced to assemble an unexpected contraption needed to rotate a part of, or the entirety, of another image. Perhaps moving it to an open spot on the grid will reveal a blank frame I need to apply to another picture or maybe I have to zoom in on an image far enough to reveal a pivotal doorway. ![]() No two panels are alike and I don’t figure out just how versatile a single image is until I play around with it, exhausting every possible permutation. It can feel like madness at times but the way every solution coalesces continuously astounds me. Every hand-drawn image is more than it seems and they can be separated, rearranged, zoomed in and out of, and joined in a number of surprising ways. Simple to control on my iPad, the puzzles of Gorogoa revolve around manipulating pictures on a four-panel grid to help a young boy along on his travels. In my notes for this review, I wrote down ‘It’s like a mash-up of Framed and the Ting Tings “Shut Up and Let Me Go” music video’ and now that I’ve beat the game I stand by that odd simile. Spending seven years is a long damn time to work on a single game. It intrigued me, as did the art in the screenshots, and I felt I owed it to him in some way to play this passion project. I played with the hint system on, and outside of a few fleeting moments, the puzzles were mostly joyous conundrums that could be solved with tinkering or logic.I didn’t hear about Gorogoa until I read an article about its creator, Jason Roberts, and his seven-year journey developing this game. A hint system that can tell you what can be interacted with helps with the frustration, though that can be turned off if you want. They’re not easy, but they’re also not that hard either. Describing the puzzles in too much detail would be spoiling the magic, but the trials spread throughout this story are brilliant. ![]() It gets complicated as you start to blend realities and uncover all sorts of environments nestled in scenery, artwork, books, and more. Each of the five chapters involve going in and out of different scenes to direct the boy to a goal. Without giving much away, you guide a boy as he ventures to acquire five different pieces of fruit that will do something about an ominous dragon. It’s simple and immediate, providing little direction other than to explore and tinker. Gorogoa’s focus is on a unique storybook presentation that centers around tapping, dragging, and touching various scenes in a 2-by-2 grid. It’s got parallels in puzzle-centric art games like recent Switch release Rime, but those comparisons are primarily in tone and structure. While it could just be called a puzzle game, Gorogoa really is something else entirely, mixing novel puzzle mechanics with a beautiful hand-drawn presentation.
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