The indie developers, Orangutan Matter, are off to a great start with the release of their first game, Unleaving. In Unleaving, you take the place of a young child who explores a surreal and mysterious world. While there is no dialogue, the story is told through its surreal visuals and text which appears in various sections. This 2D Puzzle Platformer isn’t a combat-focused game you occasionally have to face hounds. You don’t engage in combat but are more focused on trapping or tricking the hound into their own death. The game is one continuous process which isn’t split into levels. The main mechanics are based around grabbing things and basic jump mechanics. The general feel of the game is very similar to Limbo.
The visuals are what stand out the most in this game. It has an authentic hand-drawn style. With the previously mentioned lack of any dialogue or narration this gives the unique drawings an ability to tell the story themselves. The first act of this game in particular do such an incredible job of creating a melancholic feel. To match this, there is an incredible sound design that adds an eery yet mystical atmosphere. When the music does come in, it’s very impactful however I would’ve liked to hear more. It does feel like the non-musical periods of the game go on a bit too long where the game can feel a little bland.
The Gameplay is very simplistic to learn, you jump and grab things, as well as occasionally climbing. Most of the game will include finding puzzles that obstruct you from continuing the journey and finding a way to overcome them. I found some of these puzzles extremely difficult to work out. Yet when you do advance in the journey, it is a very rewarding and satisfying experience. However, I felt a lot of the platforming was unnecessarily difficult for my own taste. There was one instance that despite knowing how to get past the puzzle it would require extremely precise skill and coordination. The Autosave was generally great, I would almost always load into where I had exactly left off.
Narratively, this game didn’t do much for me, though I don’t think that was the main focus of the game. I didn’t really care or have much reason to care about my character or their journey. I wasn’t too interested in what was going to come next for this character or where the story was going. I think due to the puzzles taking quite a while to get through it led to long periods between seeing text, so I felt a bit disengaged.
Overall this game is a great opportunity to pick up and play whenever, it may be quite difficult but it’s generally quite a short game. The art style alone is fascinating enough to recommend this game alone. The storytelling is very ambitious but overall wasn’t very engaging and I would have liked to hear more of that beautiful soundtrack. Altogether, I’m still very excited to see what Orangutan Matter makes next.
