Engaging gathering and crafting system with alchemy as the game's main focus Atelier Lydie & Suelle focuses on gathering materials and synthesizing them into alchemy formulas as the main mechanics.Xbox 360, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Cloud Gaming You can lose yourself in the game for hours as you explore the fantasy-like levels, picking up resources from bushes, hacking away at trees, or mining them from rocks. You can take as long you want to gather the stuff you need before going back home to your alchemy lab, or your atelier. The puzzle-like 4x4 crafting grid has a neat strategy in how you can make the most out of your ingredients. If you just put your ingredients wherever on the grid, you'll end up with a bad product. Arranging your ingredients together in certain ways on the grid boosts the end product's effects, like putting them near green squares to improve your product's healing effect, which improves the item's overall quality. Going for quality gives you more experience points to level up and more money from the jobs you take on. Taking your time to gather the materials you need and synthesizing them into the best possible items pays off in the end.A cheerful kindergarten aesthetic and offbeat puzzles hide a surprisingly deft work of social satire in this indie adventure. Pikuniku is a game that has all the simple shapes and bright colors of a Nick Jr. It's got quirky controls, too, especially if you play with someone else. But Pikuniku is not the preschool romp that it first appears to be. In gameplay terms, you control Piku, a bright red blob with long spindly legs. At the start of the game you’re living in a cave, but are quickly introduced to the controls and nudged into the world outside by a friendly ghost. Piku can jump in a pleasingly balletic somersault, he can retract his legs to remain still, and he can kick out with those same legs in either direction to punt scenery items around the screen. He can also talk, which is essential as much of the game is driven by meeting peculiar characters and fulfilling their needs. To begin with, that means making peace with the lumpy inhabitants of a nearby village who fear Piku and consider him to be a “beast” of local myth. Performing helpful tasks, and making amends for accidents, you earn their trust and eventually gain the ability to venture further into the world, where new communities await – along with a steadily building storyline involving the mysterious Mr. Does this story lead to darker twists? Source: Devolver Digital Sunshine, his flying robots, and habit of showering the inhabitants of this curious world with gold coins. It does, although rest assured it remains family-friendly with no profanity or adult themes. There are moments of sardonic humor that may fly over younger kids’ heads, but nothing that might cause offense. In fact, the publisher describes it as a “delightful dystopia” and that seemingly contradictory phrase is actually rather accurate. The more you explore, the more tasks you perform, and the more you learn about Mr. Sunshine’s plan, you begin to uncover a sly social satire in which a selfish tycoon hoards the world’s resources for his own needs, while distracting the populace with shiny tokens and catchy slogans. There are also multiple points along your adventure where your assumptions about characters are challenged, or Piku himself is called out on behaviour that, while typical for a videogame, would be problematic in real life. One early example is a spider, who must be kicked across a ravine in order to replace a bridge that Piku broke. Quite rightly, the spider isn’t happy with this treatment, and brings it up every time you encounter him afterwards. Suffice to say, though the messaging isn’t heavy-handed and is always couched in the whimsical presentation, there are deeper issues at play here which can act as useful prompts for conversations with your kids about social responsibility and personal morality. But is it fun? Source: Devolver DigitalĪbsolutely. Pikuniku is a non-linear game, so unlike the strict left-to-right progression of a 2D Mario game, you’re free to explore wherever you want within the areas you’ve unlocked. This isn’t just something you can do, it’s something you’re actively encouraged to do, and some of the best secrets and surprises come when you wander off to see what else you can find in a previously visited location. There are lots of different gameplay styles rolled up in Pikuniku’s breezy world, ranging from a riff on arcade classic Dig Dug to a dance-off against a robot. However, where kids may struggle is in the game’s lack of direction.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |