Once Upon a Puppet tells the story of Drev and Nieve, two unlikely companions thrust together by fate and forced to unearth the secrets of their theatre-themed world. It offers a variety of environmental puzzles to solve, but by and large your enjoyment will be predicated on how engaging you find the game’s narrative.
Our protagonists must figure out what’s happened to the increasingly tyrannical King Caliban, who’s been banishing those who dissent to the Understage. It’s far from a complex tale (lasting around six hours), and feels straight out of an animated children’s film with themes of forgiveness and teamwork. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, and even younger audiences may find it a bit rote.
Still, it’s competently told, and the tone is well-balanced. It’s more Pixar than Saturday morning cartoon, allowing for adults to enjoy it while still being accessible to children. It’s by no means “kiddy”, and although it treads familiar ground, the story itself is presented well, with good pacing and well-written banter between the two leads.
While much of your enjoyment will be determined by whether the story grabs you, this is by no means a walking sim. You’ll be tasked with numerous puzzles throughout Puppet’s campaign, all asking you to use Drev and Nieve’s unique abilities to manipulate the environment. You won’t be too challenged by anything the game asks you to do, mostly dragging items into their designated spots. It’s far from stimulating, and can often feel like completing busy work just to get to the next cutscene.
Thankfully, developers Flatter Than Earth start introducing new gameplay mechanics in the Lost Acts, flashback sequences that reveal the backstory of the King and his son. You’ll get access to a bow, flashlight, and ice pick, as well as the ability to double jump (though your platforming prowess will never be truly tested). These open up the gameplay significantly, creating more thoughtful puzzles and helping you grab collectibles.
Throughout the environment, you’ll find a few different items to pick up, including stained glass pieces, character costumes, and props. Most glass shards are immediately visible within each level, but if you want to collect everything else, you’ll need to search a bit harder. This activity will likely be relegated to super fans and completionists, however, given that none of these collectibles impact gameplay in any way.
Something that becomes immediately apparent upon booting the game up are its terrible graphics; in the Switch version I played, it was very apparent that the 2017 hardware is aging. Lighting and shadows are extremely poor, and the resolution is putrid. Aliasing is impossible to ignore on a big screen, and pre-rendered cutscenes are compressed with frequent artifacting. It runs at thirty frames per second, and even then there are some minor dips. If you have interest in this game, I recommend you play it elsewhere.
The poor technical state of the game is only made disappointing because of the genuinely fantastic art design. The developers have crafted a host of beautiful environments (garish royal halls, snowy mountains, verdant forests, etc), all within an inspired stage-play aesthetic. It’s a refreshingly original setting for a video game, one that I’m sure shines on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Unfortunately, I did encounter a few bugs during my playthrough. Multiple times I clipped through the environment, making it impossible to proceed. Later, I had parts of the environment disappear completely, where I was then met with barren greyboxed walls. These glitches could be solved rather easily by pausing and restarting from the last checkpoint, but it was still annoying and a few more patches would certainly be appreciated.
There is a solid foundation here for Flatter Than Earth to build from, and I’m certainly curious to see what their next game looks like. As it stands now though, Once Upon A Puppet leaves quite a bit to be desired, and I think one playthrough will satisfy any interested parties.
