It is also a beautifully pixely game.
It also has me completely stumped, on one particular puzzle.
The Way Remastered is a retro-esque pixel puzzle based platformer that takes place in the future where humans have explored alien worlds and interplanetary travel seems to be relegated to either governments, or wealthy companies. So probably not unlike the Alien and Blade Runner universe. But The Way Remastered does not feel like it is trying to hang itself on nostalgia or require the player to be familiar with either of the aforementioned franchises, or any other franchises that come to mind.
I really want to talk about the opening scene, because it happens in the opening scene it is not so much a spoiler as if I told you who the Prince was, but it caught me so off guard that I was immediately taken with the game and I would rather not spoil that for anyone else coming blind into the game. So, let me just say that it was a very subdued and effective introduction to the world and main character.
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| The rumble of the doors opening is oddly satisfying. |
Playing TWR on the Switch was one of two catalysts for buying the game with the fact that it was 75% off being the second reason for picking it up. I had read that the game made excellent use of the HD Rumble feature in the Switch Joy-Cons and I thought that having a sensitive rumble feature utilized in a puzzle game would be a lot of fun; similar to how Bethesda integrated the HD Rumble in the lock picking mechanism in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and now I can pick master locks early in the game if I am careful enough and listen for the telltale "clack." So far however, the HD Rumble is more of an icing-on-the-cake feature than one that is utilized to solve puzzles. When automatic doors slide open there is a cascading vibration that goes up the Joy-Con, or landing jumps there is a weightier buzz towards the bottom of the controller. Playing in handheld mode definitely mixes the HD Rumble feature, but playing in docked mode with the Joy-Cons in separate hands down at my side is probably my preferable way to play.
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| Ugh! What does it all mean!? |
And as for the puzzle that has stopped my playing dead in its tracks is a bit of a doozy. The problem seems more of a communication issue with the developers trying to get across what they want the player to do in a way that the way to solve the puzzle is part of the background. I think. After numerous attempts lasting 15+ minutes each time, I decided that I would break and look up the solution to the puzzle online. Unfortunately, this particular puzzle, titled "The Abyss" has stumped nearly every person who has publicly talked about it. It involves hitting mirrors with a beam of light in order to make a pattern that is not entirely clear. And to be fair, the game does try to give you clues like when the character says out loud, "Mirror, mirror on the wall?" to get you to utilized the silver slice of mirror that will also reflect light to hit the panels that angle the red beams one of two ways.
So presently, I am in a bit of a pickle when it comes to recommending this game. Everything up until this doozey of a puzzle has me definitely recommending it to everyone who has a system that it will play on, which looks to be PC and Switch. But, I am sure there are people smarter than I who have gotten through the puzzle on the Switch, so I may just have to occasionally return to this alien planet to see if my brain is working in a way that helps me to solve this little humdinger. So yeah, I guess I would still recommend The Way Remastered. Here is to hoping.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental
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