Developed and Published by Cactus Production Entertainment, An Everyday Story is a 2.5D story-driven puzzle platformer which follows a story of loss and acceptance.
We have all heard the exaggerated expression, “It was so boring, I fell asleep.” Well, I have got the puzzle platformer for you!
Here I was, keyboard on my lap, game on the screen before me, ready to embark on an emotional journey of love and loss shown via the medium of little toys, through the narrative voice of a heavy-tone dude whose name I could not find, and…. ZZZZZ….
A Cradle of Tedium
An Everyday story is a man’s recollection, describing his loved ones and how he lost them. As much as that sounds like a chilling tale of acceptance, the dialogue at play is anything but.
You see, from the beginning, we are given the impression that the story would be told via these little toys (more on that later) but there is not a single moment where the narrator won’t stop talking and let you decipher what is happening. Above all that, it’s the dialogue that sounds like nonsensical rambling that often has very little relevance to the story and even then, it is just monotone and boring.
I’ll give him a point for the voice. He has this heavy and soothing voice that makes you sleepy. But then again, A soothing voice speaking boring dribble is not a way to get someone invested but a very promising technique to put someone to sleep. Which, I will tell you, this game achieved at one point.
Without the Game or the Play
There are three toys: A paper mache bat, a Toy soldier with a little bayonet, and a little boat that does not need water to ride. You will switch between these three toys over and over again throughout this game to solve puzzles. You do not choose when to switch, the story driven game will do that for you.
Now, when I said puzzles, I did not mean actual brainy hurty puzzles like The World of Goo or Talos Principle.
No, I meant obvious and plain, just do the thing, puzzles which in my humble opinion, are worse torture than those walking simulators Bloober Team used to make before Silent Hill 2.
I won’t spoil anything for you if you intend on torturing yourself but let me describe a puzzle from this game: So you turn into this all-surface boat and land inside a tub with low water. In this tub, there are 3 faucets. The goal is to sail over to each faucet and pull it with your Hookshot. Don’t be fooled by the hookshot, it does not add to anything.
The three hours that it takes to finish this story driven game are not short enough. Every second that I had to play this puzzle platformer, I regretted it so much that I wanted to rip my hair out. I would rather have it as a 5-minute experience and get all that wasted time back for something more important. Like trying to lick my elbow.
An Everyday Disappointment
In the end, “An Everyday Story” manages to do what few games can: drain the very essence of enjoyment and leave you questioning the point of it all.
The story is very bland, the narrator makes you want to sleep(quite literally at one point), and the gameplay is worse than those child-occupying phone apps that get downloaded in the thousands on mothers’ phones worldwide.
If you are looking for a story driven puzzle platformer that might put you into a deep, existential coma, then congratulations, this is your ticket. Otherwise, you’d be better off finding something that respects your time.
