So I wanted to start my very first Indie DB game with Creeping Claws, but the download is having some issues and I'm figuring it out...
After a half hour of that I wanted to play SOMETHING so I took a stab at Puppet 2.0
At first glance it's simple, pretty, easy to find what needs to be found, but it's a bit confusing. Am I being chased? Or on a timer? There's a clicking sound (I'm on a Mac) and I'm not sure if it means something or if it's part of the audio not working.
The game was fun. I do love scary survival games. It had a Slender feel, definitely, as a teddy bear "you" weaponized hunts you down. But you took pills and have just woken up so it's got an Amnesia feel to it as well. Unfortunately the bear doesn't have a sound for when it's closer and closer to you so I honestly thought at first that it would just innocently follow me around.
But after a few goes it's clear that this game is all about never backtracking and pushing the player to keep moving!
I'm not sure if the first two levels are actually supposed to be beaten. I know the third and final was so I might keep trying with the others. The first level seems to have a trick to it in the order of item discovery. I may be wrong on that, though. The second level (I'm convinced) is a troll level. You're sent to find 5 pages (#Slender) BUT I didn't find a fifth page: only a fake Ha Ha letter that I could neither pick up nor interact with.
BECAUSE the game is so much like Slender, and there aren't many reviews on it or links online, It's up-in-the-air whether the first two levels are beatable.
There is one very specific genre change that I need to mention. My character was able to run (as long as he wanted) ... which was great... however if I ran for too long my guy seemed to get motion sick, even when I stopped running. And it took longer and longer for him to get over it so that the screen returned to normal. This might have been a good thing in that it MADE me slow down of my own accord. I was aching to run the whole time but learned in level 2 that I needed to save it for emergencies.
Which brings me to level three: the emergency. The fact that this was wonderfully written really hits you in the third level IF you survive ;) The plot is twisted and adult. Darkly humorous.
WARNING: SPOILER
What's great about games where once you've survived, your power is taken away and your character doesn't "survive" is that it twists your stomach and heart in a knot: reminding you that you can still fail even after doing everything you could possibly do.
The fact that the character had amnesia makes it even crueler (and better) because YOU AND I, the players, haven't done anything wrong, and we haven't SEEN our character do anything wrong. but we all learn together that he's created a few monsters in his scientific anarchy. But our pride can't take it. If it were happening to someone in a movie we might think "they deserve to die," but because he's our main character AND has amnesia we try our best to get ourselves out scot-free on an insanity plead.
Anyway, I've got high hopes for the developer's future.
~J. Kline
!!!POST NOTE!!!: If there was anything I would recommend adding to the game, it would be to get rid of the text overlaying the hand-scribbled notes written by our character and instead opt for a voice-over reading it aloud. This brings forth more work to be done ("but it's not in spanish!" they cry) BUT it will help keep the player in the creepy world created. Typed text over the letters, scribbles, and notes brings players OUT of that world because it shows the developer had to sacrifice dramatics for usability.
