Armikrog (Xbox One)

Geoffrey Wright | August 23, 2016 | Review | No Comments

In an industry were every major developer is trying to out do each other with graphics, it is always fresh to see someone doing something a little differently. Let me introduce you to a quirky little title that goes by the name of

Armikrog is a point and click adventure game that uses stop motion animation. Developed by Pencil Test Studios along with Doug TenNape (Earthworm Jim)l, Armikrog is the spiritual successor to The Neverhood, which too was created used stop motion.

The game follows Tommynaut, an explorer that has crash landed upon a planet called Spiro 5. Your journey from your crashed ships lands you in a fortress called Armikrog and your quest sees you travelling through the four towers that make up this strange fortress. Assisting you on your travels is your talking, flying dog Beak-Beak who happens to be colour blind. YOu can switch between these two characters at any time to solve the upcoming puzzles but when you control Beak-Beak the world is all in black and white.

You cannot speak about Armikrog (and The Neverhood) without discussing how it looks. Seriously, I cannot believe that this game was built entirely out of clay and by using the power of stop motion. It is a great achievement and all the scenes cut together perfectly. You can easily tell which scenes are “pre-rendered” but this is true for most games anyway. On top of that there is a really witty script that is delivered very well by all the characters in this bizarre world. My only issue is that the lip sync is really out and is very noticeable.

It is amazing as the game is only about four hours long but that can easily be extended depending on how quick you solve the puzzles. The difficulty of the game comes in the form of understanding what needs to be achieved. In a true point and click adventure game style, puzzles are solved across multiple screens of play. For some of the puzzles I even had to write down some clues on a piece of paper,said me thing which I have not done for a long time. But when it all comes together and you pass the puzzle, you get a great feeling of achievement inside.

What I liked about the puzzles was that they are not lucked based – ever solution feels logical. What also helps is that there is no inventory. Ever item you pick up has a use and nothing is wasted.

Traversing through the wonderfully built clay world is so simple. You are play on a 2D plane so you can really only move left and right between scenes wand th the occasional up and down. At first though, be and no able to go up and down is not obvious. Early in the game you are introduced to a tentacle monster that raises you up a single floor. I must have spent a good half an hour searching all the rooms on that floor until I discovered that I could go up one more floor (and vice versa). It is a small thing but discovering new areas is all the fun of point and click adventures.

Picking items up is also a key feature of the genre as they can be combined with in world objects to advance the story. There is no way of knowing what can be picked up as they blend so well into the background but clicking on every object in the world is another element that comes with a point and click adventure.

Armikrog is a short, wacky experience that will feed fans of classic point and click adventures. Obviously what makes it stand out from the crowd is the unique approach to the animation but other than that it is a basic adventure game with puzzles that should not give any veteran gamer too much trouble. Kick ass intro video though!