Thimbleweed Park

Developer : Terrible Toybox

Publisher : Terrible Toybox

Year: 2017

Back in the early years of 1990s, point-and-click adventure games were the kings. Despite their simplistic mechanics due to the technical limitations of their time, they were brilliant, and required you to focus on your character's surroundings, and think logically and critically to solve the constant puzzles the games threw at you.

The downside of these games were the fact that some of their puzzles could only be solved by sheer luck, or if you were psychic, and could read the designer's mind to find out what the heck they were thinking about, so you could realize you should step on a cat's tail to make it yell, so the wind out of its maw hit the fan, which in turned powered up the engine. I'm not even talking about the older adventure games where even the lucky solutions were literally impossible.

But overall, these games were a blast to play (still are). Especially when they were designed well, and tuned down the ridiculous puzzles. Two game developers were among the ones responsible for the genre's successful evolution. Ron Gilbert, and Gary Winnick who helped create some legendary adventure games.

After a long hiatus, this amazing duo created another point-and-click adventure game, Thimbleweed Park, in 2017 (with the help of an awesome crowdfunding). If you are curious to find out if they still had their mojo after all those years, read on.

The Spiritual Successor

If you have ever played Maniac Mansion, or the classic Day of the Tentacle, you will immediately pick up that this was meant to be a spiritual successor to those games. Just like them, the game has goofy humor, and fourth wall breaks, and more similarly you control five characters (two initially) to solve puzzles, and advance the story. They all have their own unique personalities and talents, and while you can generally progress with any of these characters, each of them are needed at specific stages of the game. So sometimes teamwork will be required, and you will have to think like you have an adventuring party at your hands.

All of these characters have their own reasons to care about what is going on in the game, which gives meaning to their creation, so they do not feel like they were put there just to make the gameplay complex.

The Puzzles

As I was playing the game, the most critical questions in my mind were if the game had logical puzzles that you could solve without hints, or random luck, and if the humor was good. In just about an hour I found the answer to both of them was a resounding 'yes'. While there may be puzzles that can make you yell 'how the hell was I gonna think that?', you can actually solve every puzzle in the game by careful attention to your surroundings, and listening to what the characters say. The experience of the developers clearly shows.

Due to the nature of this genre you will probably be stuck as I did, at least several times in the game. But as I figured out what to do in the game (which sometimes took HOURS), I never felt that any of the puzzles were unfair. Granted, I was forged in the fires of old obscure adventure games (I am with Thimbleweed Park on this one, so looking at you Sierra), so I knew the sometimes wild logic of the genre, but I believe anyone who enjoys puzzle solving can find the solutions without walkthroughs. Which makes this game gain a lot of score in my eyes. Besides, the game has an easy mode, and I recommend it if you have never played adventure games before.

I absolutely loved how intricate some of the puzzles were, and how they did not cause any dead ends (the 'pigeons' tell you it will be this way, and they are right). The web of gameplay was really woven well, and I marvelled at its complexity at parts. I guess we can say the developers have created a good "puzzle dependency chart" like you see in the game.

The Humor

As I have said the game is really funny. Even though you need to have played the old classic adventure games to get some of the jokes, it has some universally great lines, and humorous, goofy parts. Ransome the swearing clown steals most of the show, but all the characters add to it. There are a lot of hilarious moments to lighten up the mood, and make you smile even if you are hopelessly stuck. This is also thanks to the fact that the voice actors did an amazing job, and they delivered their lines perfectly, in tune with their characters. They really helped giving the characters life, so shoutout to them. 

The game makes fun of its own genre, audience, and even stereotypes, without being really offensive. That is a well-walked balance right there. And if you are really offended, in Ransome's words it's on you.

The Negatives 

The only negative criticism I have for the game is how it gets derailed in the final stages. Both in terms of the puzzles, and the game's storyline. I found it a huge letdown, and I was disappointed when I completed the game. I don't want to write too much about it due to not wanting to give spoilers, suffice to say the ending makes the whole adventure feel almost meaningless, and a lot of questions remain unanswered.

However this is in the end my subjective take on it, and there seem to be people that don't mind the ending. So see for yourself.

The Verdict

Despite the bad taste left in my mouth with the ending, I am really glad to say this is a really well-made adventure game. Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick have struck again. It has all the characteristics of an amazing adventure experience without the usual bullcraps, and illogical obscure puzzles. If you have played adventure games before, and didn't like them I doubt your opinion will change. But if you are fond of them definitely try Thimbleweed Park. And if you enjoy solving puzzles, but never tried this genre before, this is a pretty good one to start! Just start in easy mode though.

Rating : B+