Posted on: January 19, 2024
Mjauv
Verified ownerGames: 1030 Reviews: 74
Nice visuals hampered by bad puzzles
So, I just finished TPE (which I played on Nintendo Switch) and honestly, I very seldomly enjoyed the experience. TPE is an isometric puzzle adventure game where your protagonist, humming office guy we may call him, clocks out of his boring office job to head home and then... things happen. TPE is basically about office guy navigating through an increasingly absurd dystopian future while looking for his family. This means dark and mostly grey surroundings which office guy traverses while trying to figure out different puzzles. I'll put it bluntly: the puzzles are illogical garbage for the most part and I started accessing video guides after a while. For example: game wants you to break a window. It doesn't really give any clue about this: office guy can try interacting with window but without the proper tool he will simply shake his head and grunt (this is all he does if something is missing). So you look for maybe a rock or a brick. But you can't pick it up, not until you turned a light on or something. Sounds simple enough but the game gives you no clues whatsoever what it wants you to do and a lot of the times, you can't deduce from rational thinking what it wants you to do, especially when the game demand that you touch things in a specific order. All you get is head shake and grunt, ad naseum. TPE does have some better sections, especially towards the end of the game but then instead of bad puzzles, the game throws bad platforming sections your way. Completing the game was frustrating to say the least and despite the meager price tag, I honestly can't recommend this game, even at a steep discount. If the devs ditched gameplay challenges altogether and turned TPE into a walking sim with more focus on the absurd atmosphere, it might've been a decent experience but currently it ought to be renamed The Pissing Off Effect.
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