Gadgetory

what's up Internet Kevin here bringing guys another indie game review and today we're talking about road not taken from spry Fox which is available on PC Mac and ps4 now at its heart road not taken' is a puzzle game but there's also a really heavy emphasis on its presentation and ambiance to really make it a much more memorable title right from the start it's fairly obvious that one of the game's biggest strengths is its aesthetic the art while somewhat simple is incredibly charming and while it is very childlike it's heavily balanced out by the mood the game's light story and music accents the basic premise is really quite simple and very grim you take on the role of the village Ranger a man or woman who sets out to the woods every harsh winter rescuing lost children saving them all doesn't it use some nice benefits but proceeding only requires that you save at minimum half of them giving the game a hint of story in the sense that sometimes sacrifices must be made or that you aren't always capable of saving everyone add in the music that strikes a balance between wistful and gloomy and you have a perfect storm of visuals and sound that really makes this game stand out now of course presentation alone is not enough to justify a full purchase for a lot of you out there so let's go ahead and talk about what this game has going on in the gameplay department the basics of road not taken' are pretty simple to pick up the game is divided into 15 chapters referencing years worth of time and each year as I said earlier you have to go out into the forest to rescue children in order to do so you must pick up objects and move them around either by consuming energy while carrying them or throw them as far as possible in a straight line once a child is found you can rescue them by taking them all the way back to the puzzles entrance or by finding a nearby parent to deliver them to what complicates this whole thing is the numerous different types of objects you'll encounter and have to interact with roads will only open when so many of the same object are stacked next to one another and sometimes pushing one object into another will create combined effects some of which are desirable and others which are not some objects move around the field some can only be moved under certain circumstances others transform under certain circumstances and not paying attention to what you place where just might end up accidentally creating dangerous enemies that can wreck your health now the important thing to note about all this is that each puzzle is randomized each year so that means that what objects you encounter aren't always going to be the same and sometimes depending on your play style you'll get the right mixture that makes it not that hard to deal with but at other times absolutely soul-crushing thankfully the game does give you some degree of control to try and manipulate the dungeon to your advantage as time goes on you'll unlock various items and tools to make trips easier including equippable items that grant some kind of benefit while solving the puzzle or being able to ban a couple obstacles that you find particularly annoying now the thing about this game is is that you're going to lose probably quite a lot up until you finally reach the final stages of the game and the thing about it is when you do die you're sent all the way back to year 1 to start the whole game over however with each failure the game does get a little easier certain data gets carried over between runs and you have a travelers log that updates whenever you learn a secret about how obstacles interact either through performing them on the spot or by making friends with local villagers between puzzles and getting random secrets from them as a reward you'll also keep what objects are bana between runs so with every playthrough you'll be getting more and more knowledge and options to make the later stages of the game less daunting so with all those mechanics out on the table how does this all actually end up working in practice well to be perfectly honest the game is something of a hit and miss with me now on the one hand the level of randomization and the fact that you accrue knowledge over time does make for a very fun kind of consistent challenge where you just do a little better each time you play the game and despite the fact that you're basically doing the same thing over and over again the game does really feel quite as monotonous as you think it would the problem though is that the randomization in this game is almost too wild at times and sometimes obstacles appear in just the right way to make it an utter pain for your weary and tired ranger after so many attempts and deaths you almost begin to feel as though the late game's difficulty has less to do with your knowledge of how to manipulate what objects and is more so based solely around what objects you end up having deal with in some runs the middle 5 levels can be surprisingly easy with other times having the sixth or seventh level just completely shut you down because you're stuck with just an utterly painful mixture of obstacles now don't get me wrong difficulty due to randomization isn't entirely a bad thing but when randomization alone is capable of completely stonewalling you then that becomes a problem especially in the situation where you need to clear 15 levels in a row without failure to complete the game now does this factor ruin the game no not really but it is something to be warned about especially for those you out there that don't like having this level of random chance affect the game's difficulty the randomness aside the game is a great time killer if you just want to play a puzzle game that can keep you on your toes and as I said earlier aesthetically it's beautiful is it worth fifteen dollars that's really up to you and your personal preference when it comes to puzzle games I enjoyed it and while not singing its prices super loud I felt I got my money's worth out of it it's worth noting too that if you own a ps4 and we're thinking of grabbing this game for it it is currently part of august's PlayStation Plus membership so if you remember you can just grab that for free right now and start playing well that was my review of road not taken' if you guys enjoy the video please make sure to let me know by hitting that thumbs up button as always it is very appreciated and if this is your first time checking out the channel and you liked what you saw hit that subscribe button too because I've got more content on the way if you guys want a more direct way of contacting me you can follow me on Twitter at Kevin Kenton or you can also hear my update thoughts on what games I'm playing and my responses different bits of gaming news I hope to see you guys soon with more great content but until then I'm Kevin Kenson and thanks for watching you