By Adam Smith on September 26th, 2011 at 12:02 pm.
RetroEpic Studios dropped me a line earlier to tell me that they’d released a new “sliding puzzle type game”. This filled me with dread because my brain isn’t wired to complete those things. I actually had to look up solutions on Youtube when Alice: Madness Returns decided it’d be a good idea for me to have a go at one of those infernal switcharoos. Thankfully, A Day In The Woods isn’t that kind of sliding block puzzle at all. Instead of making pictures, you’re making routes for Red Riding Hood to follow through the woods, so it’s about navigation of a single piece rather than rearrangement of a group. As an extra treat, the art design, which makes the whole thing look a bit like a fancy wooden gameboard, is beautiful. There’s a trailer yonder and you’ll find a link to the demo, for both Windows and OSX, on this page.
I’ve played through the demo and can definitely see myself going further. The complexity increases at a rate suitable for my tired, easily confused brain and it’s all very aesthetically pleasing. I’m also amused by the responses of the people in the houses Red visits along the way, which add further character to a game already brimming with it. Let’s just say there are a lot of people in the woods and some of them are not pleased to be mistaken for a granny.
If puzzles aren’t your thing though, there may be something in this missive for you yet! I very sensibly had a look at RetroEpic’s back catalogue and spent many a minute playing Para-Uber. Research into the company’s history, you understand. Free, online and with a similarly pleasing level of graphical detail as A Day In The Woods, it’s a game about shooting peoples’ parachutes and watching them plummet to a presumably deserved fate. It’s simple, yes, but it’s satisfying and slick. I would gladly be playing right now if I didn’t have words to write.
26/09/2011 at 12:13 godgoo says:
That looks so tactile! Lovely art style, I’ll be giving this a go.
26/09/2011 at 12:48 karry says:
“Red Sliding Hood”
Uhm…err….
26/09/2011 at 13:06 LionsPhil says:
Hmm?
26/09/2011 at 13:07 Lukasz says:
It sounds like one of those sliding erotic massages from Japan
26/09/2011 at 13:17 karry says:
More like it sounds like a description of clitoris. Dang it, see what you made me do ? The innuendo moment is over.
26/09/2011 at 12:54 Spooner says:
I thought the demo was very nice, but I did find some of the more grindy bits were less fun. Sometimes you end up sliding a lot of pieces to not go very far! That said, it seems to be extremely polished and excellent value!
26/09/2011 at 12:59 Ergates_Antius says:
Mmmmm, slidey…
26/09/2011 at 13:36 Jorum says:
That looks absolutely lovely.
And I suspect you paid them to make this game just so you could use that pun.
26/09/2011 at 15:20 Heliocentric says:
Feels more like s job than a game. Nicely made… Except how the menu slowly glides into view, never a good thing.
26/09/2011 at 15:38 mzcclin says:
http://dv.gd/fhv top sex film that every body will love them…….
26/09/2011 at 16:52 Vexing Vision says:
The art-style is outstanding. I’d love to have a fantasy-general-type game with this art-style, please!#
/Edit: Alright, having played the game – needs more death-animations. Or death-animations in general.
Also, I really don’t like this kind of puzzle, but the art style is absolutely outstanding.
26/09/2011 at 17:01 Hypocee says:
That ParaUber is a really magnificent little Paratrooper game, thanks for throwing it into the post. Every addition they’ve made is characterful and entertaining.
27/09/2011 at 14:19 Berzee says:
This game is awesome! :D I knew I would buy it about 5 levels into the demo. Excellent. =) Have you tried right-clicking and rotating the view? When I realized it was all a cardboard stage on a table I gasped in childlike delight.
27/09/2011 at 14:59 Berzee says:
Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a handcarved wooden set of this to play on your actual tabletop?
(A book of level setups could come with it, and a tiny music box lolz jk jk, or am i?)