Shindig is a game published and developed by Imaginary Friends Games LLP. It is a point-and-click adventure game. Available on Windows PC. The player is sent to an island to help plan a party for the island residents. The islands are full of colourful characters.
Shindig Gameplay
The gameplay is simple. In order to progress, you have to explore every nook and cranny of the areas available. And speak to all the residents and figure out what they need. Once you know their needs you can then try to find the objects.
The difficulty comes from trying to figure out where the items are and how to start progressing. Yet once you’ve figured out who you need to talk to, to get the first item. The ball does start to roll and you progress quickly through the first island. I did get stuck at the start of the game, but the radio that is in your hut provided some subtle tips.
Shindig Presentation
The graphic style reminds me of early flash games from the noughties. They’re simple, however, this makes it easier to discover what you need to click on to get items for quests. Initially, this put me off the game. But once I got started I looked past the graphics and started to enjoy the game. I would recommend giving it at least a chance as the story and the characters more than make up for the style.
The developers were also not shy of including photograph quality images in the game. This works well for the title and I won’t spoil the reason why. But it is explained in-game why a certain aspect is a photographic image.
The voice acting in Shindig is surprisingly well done. Which I didn’t expect at first glance. Each character has their own unique voice which reflects their personality. I very rarely skipped the dialogue. Which is unheard of for me. This was especially true since each character has their own quirks. One rhymes all their words, while another one would make really bad puns. The soundtrack is also great and very relaxing which suits the tone and atmosphere of the game. It didn’t get repetitive or frustrating to listen to.
Shindig Accessibility
Accessibility for a game hasn’t crossed my mind. Shindig brings this to the forefront. The subtitles aren’t just limited to dialogue. But also all sounds present in the game. Descriptions are very detailed and interesting to read even for those with no disabilities. So for the hearing impaired this should be a great game to play. I do wonder if other games do this with their accessibility options. I usually play with subtitles on but there usually isn’t an option for closed captions. Hopefully, more games in the future will include this option.
Final Verdict
This was a surprising game, to say the least, The graphics make you think this will be an average game across the board. But the characters and the voice acting really bring this up a notch. I played it with my young son (Almost two years old) and he enjoyed watching and trying to interact with the game. So I don’t believe this game is aimed at specifically my demographic. But, I can see the appeal and would be a great starter before progressing to the TellTale games or other story-driven titles. For that reason plus the accessibility options, this gets a solid 7. For me, if the graphics had been put in a different style that didn’t remind me of flash games this would have got a higher score.
