![]() ![]() Eight characters, 32 items, over 250 uniquely written and recorded exchanges just for inventory items. Tangle Tower has… I think I found one? It’s absolutely extraordinary – characters have unique dialogue written for every single item, and almost always dialogue, interactions with the lead characters, unique conversational discussions of the over 30 items, even if it’s just to explain that the item doesn’t mean anything to them. Generic nothing-responses, always an anti-climax, especially when the storyline has, accidentally or deliberately, implied there might be a connection. Almost every adventure ever manages to tarnish those moments with strings and strings of, “Well, I wouldn’t know anything about that”s or “Why are you asking me about that?”s. I mentioned at the start my love of those big long lists of things to ask of a new character. My favourite was Sarah Anne Williams’ Fifi, a really witty and engaging performance as a clearly Aspergic young woman. So it’s a pleasure that they’re more camped up, especially Tiana Camacho’s femme fatale Penelope Pointer. The rest of the cast are deliberate stereotypes, albeit interesting ones. In any other game Edwyn Tiong’s Grimoire would be heralded, but Connors’s delivery is so subtle and sublime that his fantastic performance ends up feeling a little ‘big’. Sally’s voice actor, Amber Lee Connors, is the stand-out performance, so meticulously faux-ambivalent, with just the slightest slip of a cool demeanour that gives away her passion. It’s damned strange how damned strange that feels to enjoy. And like friends they tease one another, but also have each other’s backs. They seem to… they seem to like each other! They’re friends. He’s not dumb and over-confident, she’s not snarky but always right. ![]() And perhaps most of all because they’re not always at each other’s throats, or putting each other down, or dripping in sarcasm, as seems to be the case in just about every other game ever. The relationship between Grimoire and Sally is at its core, the discussions between the two of them being constantly enjoyable. This is primarily about conversations, and thank goodness its conversations are its greatest achievement. And all of it is just so stunningly well written and acted. And dozens of items to discover and question each about, along with some classic puzzles to solve along the way. There are eight characters to meet, investigate, and learn about from all the others. The two towers are inhabited by a mixture of the descendants of two families, the Fellows and the Pointers, with all the overlaps and animosity you’d expect. Her death is especially mysterious since at first glance, the only realistic suspect for the crime is a knife-wielding… painting.Īnd if the name seems familiar, that’s because developers SFB Games (yeah, the people who made Snipperclips! And yet still this was ignored.) released Detective Grimoire in 2014 – an odd and muddled game that didn’t manage to pull similar ingredients together. Tangle Tower is a murder mystery, in which two detectives – Grimoire and Sally – visit a peculiar two-towered mansion, to solve the killing of Freya Fellow. ![]() ![]() I’m delighted to report it doesn’t appear to be possible to have too much of this good thing. Because Tangle Tower is a game almost entirely made of those moments. And I’ve never properly identified this before, never given my enjoyment of this specific aspect of the genre due consideration, until playing Tangle Tower. New tidbits are offered, new insight on items in my inventory, new clues for other puzzles, and new revelations on which to later question others. I can sit back a little, click through the topics, and let the conversational story soak over me. But across them all, there’s one particular aspect I always relish: that moment when you’ve got a new character to talk to, and a whole checklist of things to click through, an entire inventory of items to ask them about. From some of my all-time favourite games, to some of the worst rubbish I’ve ever had the misfortune to play. I’ve played an awful lot of point-and-click adventures over the last 30-something years. It’s a joy, some of the finest writing I can remember, accompanied by fantastic performances, excellent puzzles, and a murder mystery that twists and turns throughout its lengthy run. Tangle Tower is, without a doubt, one of my favourite games of 2019. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |