It is a common fact that crosses cultural boundaries: Center faculty is tough. The awkward early teenage years makes everybody really feel self-conscious, like an outsider, whether or not it is an embarrassing pimple or your arms being completely locked in a stiff T-pose. To A T, a story journey from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, is a sweet-natured fable about rising up and accepting your self. However whereas the narrative and world you occupy are cute and quirky, the act of enjoying by no means feels as playful because it ought to.
You play as a created character accompanied by your trustworthy canine companion, each of whom you grant personalised names at first. Your arms are completely stretched outward, stiff as a board, for causes that you do not totally perceive. However you have made the perfect of it, studying to adapt with particular instruments like an extra-long spoon to eat your breakfast cereal. You’ll be able to flip sideways to shimmy your method via doorways. And your canine is outwardly well-trained sufficient that can assist you change garments or use the lavatory.
Naturally, this high quality makes you an outsider. All the pieces you do is simply barely awkward and tougher than it must be, and also you’re bullied relentlessly by the opposite youngsters at your faculty. The writing could be very sharp in capturing each the inherent silliness of schoolyard teasing and the best way it could possibly have an actual influence in your psychological well being, making you preoccupied with the taunting even when the bullies aren’t round. Your avatar is only a joyful, pleasant child who loves his favourite cereal mascot, tries to do effectively in class and at sports activities, and simply desires to slot in.
Whereas it explores grounded themes, the setting is a fantastical model of a Japanese village. It is occupied by anthropomorphic animals, most centrally a chipper giraffe who makes your sandwiches for lunch. As well as, this city is unmistakably impressed by the Japanese faculty expertise, together with the style of faculty uniforms and the requirement to alter out of your avenue sneakers into faculty sneakers while you arrive. However that additionally helps illustrate the universality of the theme–these emotions are one thing that any American, Japanese, or fantasy 13-year-old child can relate to.
All of that is rendered in a cute, vibrant visible model harking back to Saturday-morning cartoons, proper right down to having a consistently reiterated theme track centered across the on-the-nose lyric, “You’re the excellent form.” The characters themselves are composed of easy shapes with doodled faces like a Peanuts cartoon, and the world is vibrant and clear. There are even little humorous touches within the artwork model, like how your canine has an X on its butt, to assist complement the humorous writing. It is a mild model of humor: extra of a heat chuckle than a belly-laugh, however I smiled typically.
However whereas the themes and story are on level and the visible presentation is endearing, the act of enjoying To A T is way much less participating. For probably the most half you spend your time working from place to put to activate story factors, that are instructed via speech bubbles with Simlish-style speech. It is a stunning flip from the creator of Katamari Damacy, which was so centralized across the intuitive act of play.
There isn’t a particular factor you are doing in To A T, which leaves the expertise feeling a bit disjointed and bare-bones. You’ll be able to gather cash around the globe to spend in retailers for extra outfits, nearly each morning begins with a chance to eat cereal and brush your tooth, you select your outfit, and generally you will participate in a short minigame. Finally you acquire the power to fly brief distances, which may also help you attain new spots for cash. Nevertheless it by no means actually coheres into one thing that feels very compelling to play. Actually, my favourite episode was the one which put me into the position of one other character totally, as a result of the story of that chapter revolved round a central thriller and had a sequence of easy puzzles to resolve.
Then there are the ways in which To A T simply feels unintentionally awkward and irritating. I say unintentionally as a result of your T-pose lock is clearly meant to make all the things somewhat extra cumbersome, however different components of the sport really feel like they don’t seem to be meant to drive that time residence. It may be troublesome to seek out your method round city, particularly since there are strict guidelines about solely utilizing sidewalks. The digicam is mounted, however its place shifts itself when you spherical a flip, which could be disorienting. The sport appears to know this and has your canine act as a wayfinder to your subsequent goal, however even then I might regularly get circled and should test my map to reorient myself.
And whereas the story is charming, there is not a lot to it. The foremost battle resolves itself across the midway level of the eight-episode sequence, after which it begins to really feel a bit aimless earlier than coming again to hammer residence its message much more pointedly. The ultimate battle and supreme decision assist deliver the message residence and tie all the earlier chapters right into a tidy bow, but it surely’s not saying something that the majority gamers would not have already taken from the earlier chapters.
All of this left me lukewarm on To A T, and wanting to love it greater than I did. It is a cute and charming visible metaphor, with some insightful and humorous writing, and it is a pretty parable in regards to the struggles of rising up and feeling totally different. It is a very mild, likable story a few subject that video games do not typically discover. However the story would not have fairly sufficient heft to final via even the comparatively brief playtime, and the act of enjoying it typically feels tedious. There are particular person issues to love about To A T, however like its protagonist, it has some room to develop.