Cassette Boy forces you to see his world in a whole new way

It’s no secret Cassette boy Inspired by the classics. It is a top-down adventure game in a retro vein Legend of Zeldawhile your home base is a small city like in ancient cities Pokemon A complete game with a mother who always wishes you well. Evoking the game’s blocky 3D graphics Minecraftand you can save in campfires that reset the world, like a FromSoft game. It’s all in Cassette boy It even has a green color that reminds me of playing games on the original Game Boy. But despite all the obvious influences, it still feels unique: underneath that charming exterior, Cassette boy It’s a game full of clever puzzles that forced me to use my head in ways I never did before.

The main mechanic of the game revolves around an idea “Inspired by” Quantum Mechanics: If you can’t see something in game, it ceases to “exist” and remains in an essentially frozen state from the moment it appears off-screen. If you push a block behind a wall, it will no longer be “there”, and you can walk behind that wall without the box getting in the way. If the enemy goes completely behind the wall, he will become invisible, stop moving, and will not be able to harm you. Since it doesn’t exist, you can’t destroy it either. The game also lets you rotate the camera to eight different points; Imagine it’s on a compass, and with the click of a button, you can rotate it to “point” north, then northwest, then east, and so on. So, with this invisible enemy, if you turn the camera so that it’s not behind the wall, it “reappears” and becomes a physical being again.

cassette Boy then sets up a bunch of puzzles that force you to tinker with perspective to overcome obstacles. First, you’ll come across a button that makes a platform appear on the river when you press the button, and the button is next to a rock. Everyone who played A Zelda The game teaches that the usual solution is to move the rock to keep the button down. But you can’t catch the rock in Cassette boy; Instead, the solution is to press the button and then turn on the camera so that the rock completely hides the pressed button. This way, the button freezes while you hold it, allowing you to jump onto the platform to get to the other side of the river.

In addition to moving the camera, you’ll get tools like a bow and arrow to hit switches and enemies from a distance and cassette tapes that give you the ability to see through bombable walls or shrink yourself. When it all comes together, Cassette boy It’s really satisfying: when I was in the zone, I couldn’t wait to tackle each new room to solve puzzles and search for treasures hidden out of sight. There are also clever battles against giant, blocky bosses, all to earn Moon Fragments (the main MacGuffin you’re tasked with finding).

Sometimes, though, Cassette boy It can be obtuse. There are no maps to refer to. You often have to talk to exactly the right person at exactly the right time to move forward with the main quest, and you don’t have much of a clue as to who that person is other than a speech bubble above their head. After you collect a Moon Fragment, the game will take you back to the main town but won’t tell you where to go, so I often get frustrated when I have to search for all the townsfolk over and over again. Some of the puzzles absolutely blew me away, and I usually had a walkthrough for the full game unlocked during my nearly eight-hour playthrough so I could pick up hints on how to progress next.

But I also think all this dullness is intentional, and goes back to the game’s inspirations. With the elderly Zelda and Pokemon Games, I have fond memories of wandering around, getting lost, and eventually finding my way back on track with a sigh of relief. With all the time I spent struggling, I had to learn my way around those worlds, and now I can remember how to get through the hardest parts of those games even though I haven’t played them in years. (Even developers Breath of the wild I think it can be a flop “A very positive thing.”)

Cassette boy Evoking old school spirit. Even when it got me down, I usually didn’t mind struggling, and it helped me learn my way. Typically, I realize that finding the right way forward requires a new perspective.

^{Cassette boy Available now on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.}