New Tim Schaefer Game - Stacking

[tgb]

Not so new, since it's been out on consoles for a year, but it just came to Steam. Anyway, it appears to be a unique puzzle/adventure game where all characters are matryoshka - Russian nesting dolls. All dolls have a special ability, and by jumping into a doll one size larger than yourself you take that doll over and can use that ability to solve puzzles and complete challenges.

Judging by this clip, it looks absolutely charming. I love the presentation, from the diarama-like backgrounds to the silent-movie styled cutscenes.

On sale on Steam for $10 at the moment, and I will be downloading it shortly.

[Canuck]

I bought the three game pack. I played the demo on the PS3 and had a lot of fun with it.

[Hipolito]

This game's still not new, but I played it recently. It was pretty fun at first. I liked exploring not just the lively, colorful scenarios but also the various identities I could assume by stacking into other dolls. The puzzles could be solved in multiple ways thanks to the variety of dolls, and it could be quite a challenge to figure out all the solutions. The hint system was helpful when I didn't feel like trying too hard.

The silent film cutscenes and the dolls' various comments were a good mix of silliness and satire. When you're just the default little kid, most of the adults won't take you seriously. But when you've stacked into older dolls, the adults tell you what's really on their mind, including their thoughts on the child labor situation that you're trying to save your family from.

I got pretty annoyed trying to find my way around, though. Not that the scenarios are mazelike, but I tend to get lost easily in games and being a tiny doll in a big world made things worse. Being able to find the nearest challenge with a press of the space bar did help a bit with navigation. But when I needed to find a particular doll to solve a puzzle, without remembering what the doll looked like or where it could be found, the situation got maddening.

For those who like collection-fests, Stacking might be a little more rewarding. If you find all the unique dolls, puzzle solutions, and "hijinks" in a scenario, your hobo pal will make a complete, shiny diorama of everything you found. I did this for one of the scenarios, just to see the complete diorama. It was nice, but not really worth the effort.

The last of the four scenarious was pretty disappointing. Instead of a neat world to explore like the earlier scenarios, it's just a linear series of puzzles, culminating in a baffling boss battle. Following that is "The Lost Hobo King" DLC, which came with my version of the game. It's a fantasy-themed scenario that has nothing to do with the main game's story, and isn't very interesting.

[Scoop20906]

Feel like I played this years ago on a console and I liked the puzzley aspect and cut scenes but I can't remember much more. Maybe I will pick up on steam again someday.