Developer: Flatter Than Earth
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
Once Upon a Puppet – Review
Step right up, as Daedalic Entertainment and Flatter Than Earth are inviting players to check out their latest, greatest piece of showmanship: Once Upon a Puppet! This fairy tale-like 2.5D platformer takes players to a theater-inspired world. The game’s key art certainly has a dramatic flair to it, but we’ve played enough games to know that that doesn’t guarantee the gameplay will match. Does Once Upon a Puppet deserve a round of applause, or are there any strings attached?
Story
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Once Upon a Puppet delivers a Pinocchio-like story about a living doll, since the game’s deuteragonist is barely noticeable at a glance. That’s the point though, as that second character is the hand controlling the puppet’s strings. It’s a Banjo-Kazooie or Yooka-Laylee kind of situation, although the names of our duo aren’t as fun to pronounce. Those names are Drev (the puppet) and Nieve (the hand). Our story begins with a chance meeting between our two heroes. The king has thrown the pair into the desolate Backstage, after becoming madly obsessed with his world needing to be perfect. A magic piece of string binds Drev and Nieve together, much to their dismay. What begins as an attempt to sever this bond becomes a quest to save the world. It turns out that the fate of our heroes isn’t just tied to one another, but to that of the king and his memories as well. What follows is a genuinely touching and well-written story that is likely to pull at your heartstrings. Better have those tissues ready.
Graphics
The art style of Once Upon a Puppet is reminiscent of that of It Takes Two, although in this case, the setting isn’t an oversized world populated by bugs and toys, but a theatre-inspired land. The art style is arguably Once Upon a Puppet’s standout feature. The environments are filled with details to really sell the puppet theatre setting, with painted backdrops, cardboard obstacles, and wooden scenery. Likewise, the characters that inhabit this world aren’t living creatures, but puppets. Even Nieve’s appearance isn’t organic, as she looks like a floating glove. The aesthetic is further reinforced by the literal stage lighting. The only thing dragging down Once Upon a Puppet’s visuals is the game’s inconsistent frame rate. Stutter and frame drops are too common and noticeable to ignore, somewhat breaking the illusion.
Sound
The emotional impact of Once Upon a Puppet’s story is further emphasized by Arkadiusz Reikowski’s beautiful soundtrack, which combines whimsical, cheerful tunes with melancholic intermezzos. The ambient sound effects are great as well, from the wooden rattling of Drev’s puppet body to the “fake” sounds made by stage props. Rounding things out is voice work. Once Upon a Puppet’s narrator does a stellar job of telling the tale, adding even more emotional depth to the story.
Gameplay
As Once Upon a Puppet is a 2.5D puzzle platformer, there are two things that it needs to get right when it comes to its gameplay: puzzles and platforming. In this case, one of these is clearly a stronger contender than the other. The puzzle side is the clear winner here, with solid challenges, although none of them are too mind-blowing. The levels take on the form of different stage plays that are being performed for the king. Each half of our hand-and-puppet pair is controlled separately, and this ties into the puzzles as well. It’s fairly standard stuff, like figuring out which levers to pull in which order, or dragging objects around to create a shadowy silhouette. New mechanics are introduced at a fairly steady pace in the first half of the game, with the second half relying on stuff you’ve familiarized yourself with in different combinations. Newly introduced skills aren’t just relevant for puzzles either, but for platforming as well, including a double jump and the ability to catapult yourself into the air using the string.
When it comes to the actual platforming, Once Upon a Puppet doesn’t quite hit the mark. Most enemies will one-shot Drev and Nieve, and need to be avoided at all costs. That’s fine in theory, but the game’s light platforming isn’t tight enough. Jumping feels very floaty and inaccurate. The camera can be all over the place, making it difficult to plan out moving across obstacles. It doesn’t help that little thought was put into the game’s pacing either. Save points are often right before lengthy conversation scenes, for example, meaning you do lose quite a bit of momentum if you die at the wrong spot. Once Upon a Puppet’s platforming keeps things light, and shouldn’t be a challenge to genre veterans, but more focused design could have alleviated a lot of potential frustration for more casual players. As it stands, the platforming is Once Upon a Puppet’s weakest element. Compared to the focus that was given to the storytelling and puzzles, it comes across as a mere afterthought.
With a runtime of a mere 6 to 8 hours, it’s difficult to justify Once Upon a Puppet’s RRP of €24.99. There is very little replay value here, with the only reason to go back to the game being to collect different outfits for Drev. That’s a shame, because we really would’ve liked to have spent more time in this world, even if it has more rough edges than it should. In theory, Once Upon a Time should be a game where the sum should be greater than the individual parts. In practice, however, the game excels at storytelling and creating a good atmosphere, but the gameplay is undercooked enough to detract from the whole experience. A longer version of the game, with an improved focus on the platformer elements, would have remedied that.
Conclusion
As much as it pains us to say this, Once Upon a Puppet is a mixed bag. The story, setting, and aesthetics completely enamored us. The puzzles didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen before, but they were perfectly serviceable. However, Once Upon a Puppet’s poor pacing, shoddy platforming, and occasionally poor visual performance were prominent enough to harm our overall enjoyment of the game. If these issues weren’t so prevalent, we’d overlook both the relatively short runtime and the relatively high price tag. As it stands, this is a title we’d recommend waiting on a sale for if it interests you. Hopefully, the game has received a performance patch by that point too.
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