This game is wonderfully strange and melancholy. A dark fairy tale with some deliciously different puzzle solving. While this is mostly intriguiing and satisfying it is also occassionally so open ended and obtuse that you can end up wandering aimlessly for a long time. One or three of the puzzles are a bit nasty, some of the clues are red herrings, misleading, or nearly inscrutable. A walkthrough is relatively shameless in some of these instances depending on your amount of patience. I would likely not have seen the ending without one, which would have been a shame since this game really does have a beautiful if grim aesthetic and tells a curious tale indeed.
It is a story that spirals and burrows. The gameplay is unique without being bulky or weird. Through exploration and activity you build a story that sparks a tang of emotion and pulls you in holding you until the end. There is a bit more to be had in another chapter that can be added. Not so much an action adventure as a suspenseful, fleshy and relateable tale with a strong kick of something strange.
These levels are tiny and sparse. What happened to the signature sound? The density? The mind boggling multitude of animations and actions? For the money get Hidden Folks and let this one slide. So much more game there. Burned through this in a few hours. Never did find everything in HF and played for days... Feels a little cash grabby tbh like they licensed it out and left town after the initial success.
Exactlyy what I hoped for. Jenny was thoroughly charming. The sets were beautiful and simple in a blend of minimalism and deep saturated color that many have attempted and few achieved. While the puzzles weren't mind bending they allowed the story to move at a pace that suited it instead of being pointless contrived distractions. I was drawn in and played through in one long session not counting a little sleep. I will be waiting cash in hand for part two as I am sure many others will. One of the games that makes it impossible to ignore that these things can be art as much as entertainment. For anyone who played without voices, that's too bad, they really nailed it on that end. Warm, intriguing and well told this is a breath of fresh air among so many titles that try to drag gravitas out of endless rewarmed cliches.
One extra point for being a beautifully painted title in the point and click tradition that looks like someone put time and money in and because I hope Daedalic does more like Deponia or Edna and Harvey. Instantly, exceptionally and perpetually disliked the protagonist. A grown man lisping like a fake, depressing little boy. Clicked through his dialogue for almost all of it. Some puzzles were worst case contrivances. Straight time theft. I generally don't pick up a walkthrough ran into 3 cases that fairly demanded one because my time was more valuable than any sense of accomplishment available and by the end I just wanted to get it over with and see if there was some redemption in the story line. Meh. On first attempt I discarded the game icon into the archived folder for finished games after about 5 minutes. Ran low on titles and gave it a second chance months later mainly because of other Daed games. Having played through I would warn you not to pick this up unless all other options are exhausted. Night of the Rabbit or any other Daedalic p'n'c's for example. Unwritten Tales... Anything...
This started a little slow and then grew on me. Ended up being a very cool story, and a compelling game that sucked me in until the very end. Charming and not nearly as cringy as I expected from the intro/cover art. Definitely worth a play through. Avoid part 2 like the plague though. The graphics improved but every other aspect fell through the floor, died and kicked up a stink.
This game is worse and less fun than the original. I have to wonder if they fired the first crew and hired hacks. The clues were often entirely absent and when they were there they were frequently misleading and or inscrutable. Guessed my way to the end out of sheer stubborness and encountered a puzzle that was basically broken. Pulled out a walkthrough against my will to get through the end chapter. Still failed with a clear walkthrough until I found hints from other players that had sorted out the problems with the design. Even then it still did not work for a while. Finished and was left with none of the joy from the first title. The main character was stripped of all humor and charm. The daughter was not terrible. Bad. Bad producers. Bad. Shame on you. To be fair it was very pretty in some places and occasionally tried to break out with some gameplay twists. Not enough to redeem what they did here.
This game was long, sweet and gorgeous and I have been charmed by the characters such that I want to see the next chapter. One of the best point and clicks ever despite a nasty bug in chpt 3 that you may or may not encounter which required a fix using an xml editor in order to not lose hours of progress. A google search showed the way and it worked. I have pasted the fix here, not sure who I borrowed it from but you can find the thread on steam forums - all credit to that guy; First you have to close the game then open the corresponding savegame in an editor. Search for Remove in that section Furthermore search for: and there add the following: in that section. The second readds the balloon to the inventory and the first removes it from the wheel. The first is required to trigger the electricity cable part. The second so that one can add the balloon.
To be certain, there are some puzzles that are a bit hare pulling. Bear with it, it tells a beatiful story and the time is well spent. It succeeds where many have fallen short in delivering a story in the grand old tradition that usually starts with once upon a time. Cheers.
