Game of the Month #50 (March 2019): Thimbleweed park

In Thimbleweed Park, a dead body is the least of your problems. Switch between five playable characters to uncover the surreal secrets of this strange town in a modern mystery adventure game from the creators of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. The deeper you go, the weirder it gets.

For those that don't know yet this game is available for free on the unreal store up until the 7th March 2019

This is the URL for the Epic Games Store for the free game: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/thimbleweed-park/home

Just had my first play through just got to the clown flashback.

It really is pushing the old style of point and click. It's set in 32 bit and there is quiet a bit of screen tear in its animation. Still this is more of a observation then a fault so far in my opinion.

It's difficult to talk about point n clicks outside of the story and I need a bit more time with game to get an idea of the story as at the moment it's just setting up the premise. Still it feels like a successor to monkey island.

One thing I'm happy this game has is a hint system. I feel alot of point n clicks lack this feature and so it's always a good sign when the game offers one.

I love the easter eggs in this game:

I love the easter eggs in this game:

One thing about this is that alot of the voice recordings in the phone book and alot of the books found in the mansion library are from kickstarter backers. I thinks that's a real nifty extra placed into the game

I love the easter eggs in this game:

What a wonderful Doctor Who reference to one of my favorite episodes and my favorite Doctor as well. I keep hearing wonderful things about the game if you have enjoyed older adventure games. I'll have to look into this one.

Right i just completed the game. So some quick thoughts

I'm not sure about this game tbh it def has the feel of the old lucasarts games but at the same time it feels like it missing a few bits here and there in the conversations. Usually in these games they have funny quips if you answer an obvious answer incorrectly but in this game they would usually give the same stock answer.

The UI also feels outdated i have played other games where it can recognize interactions with items much better then the way this game does selection (big words at the bottom of the screen). Could this be the due to the lack of money due to the kickstarter?

Still in terms of kickstarter i feel this game kept itself in budget unlike the Broken age game.

The story feels all over the places. At first it starts as a murder mystery but that is thrown way after the first half of the game and I feel this should've been kept as the main pivot point throughout the whole game. In the end the game starts getting real meta where I don't think it deserved it, maybe if it was a bit more prevalent at the start of the game then it would've felt much more deserved, still I enjoyed how it used that meta in the credits.

Okay I've now written my review. Unfortunately it came down rather negatively:

Thumbleweed parks sets itself out to be a return to classic lucas arts point and clicks games but falls short of a story which leads nowhere.

The gameplay is setup with the old style of inventory available at the bottom of the screen and list of possible actions which the user can use. I feel that this works well enough but the actions could’ve been streamlined to know which items can work on which area.

The graphics are based around the old bit like style of Lucas art point and clicks and it works well with the game play as well as keeps the budget at a reasonable price (this was kick started after all) so that there aren’t any discrepancies in what could’ve been done with the graphics. It fits and I have no problems with it.

I’m thankful the game has a hint system and I wish more point and clicks had them. A lot of the time you really need a finger pointing you in the right direction. This isn’t the best system though for a hint system and I prefer the Sam and max telltale games version where max will sometimes drop hints when you haven’t completed a puzzle.

The biggest point in any of these games is the story and unfortunately I feel this is the weakest point in the whole game ultimately ruins it. It starts out fairly well with a decent premise and a series of weird characters like in the old Lucas arts game but it quickly drops the main premise to which you play the game for a series of throwaway objectives which ultimately leads to a quickly thrown together meta ending which is not really earned.

Ultimately Thumbleweed park is point and click decently made with a few outdated design decisions held back by a poor constructed story.

4/10

Currently in the Hotel during Chapter 3. I have mixed feelings, UI is extremely outdated - but I guess that's what they were going for. This is my first proper point-and-click game, I guess you can say I'm enjoying it but there are parts where I'm just annoyed at how clunky it can get

Okay I've now written my review. Unfortunately it came down rather negatively:

Thumbleweed parks sets itself out to be a return to classic lucas arts point and clicks games but falls short of a story which leads nowhere.

The gameplay is setup with the old style of inventory available at the bottom of the screen and list of possible actions which the user can use. I feel that this works well enough but the actions could’ve been streamlined to know which items can work on which area.

The graphics are based around the old bit like style of Lucas art point and clicks and it works well with the game play as well as keeps the budget at a reasonable price (this was kick started after all) so that there aren’t any discrepancies in what could’ve been done with the graphics. It fits and I have no problems with it.

I’m thankful the game has a hint system and I wish more point and clicks had them. A lot of the time you really need a finger pointing you in the right direction. This isn’t the best system though for a hint system and I prefer the Sam and max telltale games version where max will sometimes drop hints when you haven’t completed a puzzle.

The biggest point in any of these games is the story and unfortunately I feel this is the weakest point in the whole game ultimately ruins it. It starts out fairly well with a decent premise and a series of weird characters like in the old Lucas arts game but it quickly drops the main premise to which you play the game for a series of throwaway objectives which ultimately leads to a quickly thrown together meta ending which is not really earned.

Ultimately Thumbleweed park is point and click decently made with a few outdated design decisions held back by a poor constructed story.

4/10

I just wrapped up my playthrough last night, and I pretty much agree with everything you said (though I was generous enough to give it a 5). For me, the narrative problems hinged on two issues.

First, I was frustrated in the beginning by how interchangeable all the characters were outside of cutscenes. When a cutscene or flashback is playing, all the characters are fully individualized with their own personalities, but during actual gameplay they have almost all of the same dialogue options as each other. Sure, some characters can go places that other characters can't, but often it's completely arbitrary (e.g., why is Ransome the only one who can climb the radio tower?). The interactions between the characters are minimal too--basically boiled down to just handing each other items and saying generic things like "We've gotta work together to solve this murder." After a while I found Ransome the only really fun character to play as, because at least they let him have a consistent personality.

The second issue was the plot abandonment, which has already been talked about, but it's kind of a big deal, because it represents an abandonment of everything the game had set up previously. Whole characters are basically abandoned in the second half. Ray and Ransome don't get any development, Franklin gets forgotten once his main puzzle is solved, and even Reyes (who has the most interesting backstory and motivation) takes second chair to Delores, who basically becomes the main protagonist out of nowhere. Not only is it weak storytelling, but the puzzles suffer for it too; because they're no longer contributing to a tangible goal, they just feel like a series of random tasks meant to fill your inventory with items required for the endgame.

And then, in general, I think we can all agree that this kind of bland, last-minute meta twist is a pretty tired postmodern convention. Had this actually been released in 1987, it might have blown some minds, but I think consumers today are too savvy to be taken in by it.

There's still a lot to like here in the humor, the art, and some of the clever puzzle solutions, but caveat emptor.