About a Boy

This review was written using a pre-release key provided by the developer. At the time I completed the game, no achievements were awarded. About a Boy is a point-and-click “narrative-driven journey” about a boy with special abilities. The game begins with a cut scene that implies violence, and we see the boy run away. After that, you control the boy as he interacts with a handful of animal-faced characters, goes on a few fetch quests, visits a half dozen scenes, and completes about 12 mini-games (most of which are mechanical puzzles). Flash to a brief cut-scene and it’s game over. Hmm… Having finished this game, I have absolutely no idea what story it was trying to tell. There are no voice-overs. Instead, you have characters speaking gibberish when text conversations occur. As a result, I played with my headphones off. Your progress is autosaved on exit and there are 3 slots provided for manual saves. I would strongly recommend saving after each puzzle is completed to prevent rework. I made the mistake of saving while I was in the middle of a puzzle and ended up having to restart the entire game. About a Boy is short. It should take you between 1 and 2 hours to complete. M…

The game follows the journey of a young boy named Miro, who possesses a rare ability: he can see people as they truly are, and their faces turn into those of animals. But the boy is not happy with it because it reveals to him the terrifying reality of his abusive father. Unable to endure this any longer, Miro decides to flee his home in search of a city said to be inhabited by God, who is the only one he believes can truly help him. From the outset, it’s clear that English isn’t the game’s original language. While the overall story and dialogue are understandable, the translation often feels clumsy. Sentences can be awkward or poorly punctuated, especially when long phrases are broken up with too many commas. Thankfully, the spoken dialogue is delivered in charming, cartoon-style gibberish, so you’re spared from hearing the rough translation aloud. Gameplay is straightforward and minimalistic. As a point-and-click adventure, the game relies solely on mouse input. Players can click anywhere on the screen to make Miro walk, or double-click to make him run. However, the more efficient approach is to click directly on interactive hotspots, which simultaneously moves Miro and initiate…

Game was insanely short. Some of the puzzles were good but if there was supposed to be a story it just was not fleshed out enough to really land or even derive meaning from. The last puzzle was really difficult to honestly figure out. I don't mean that in a particularly good way though. Like the clues for the puzzle were just not really helpful. The game feels like a demo for an idea that still needs to be completely fleshed out. The art really drew me into the game and the atmosphere definitely felt interesting but the story and dialogue need a little more work. If I would give one recommendation it would be to add a mechanic similar to I have no mouth and I must scream with the book where it helps direct players though a small clue or anecdote. One puzzle I really want to note is the clock. If you're going to make a puzzle where someone has to use a clock for it please either make the numbers on it more visible or only use intervals of five. I should not have to brute force a puzzle because the numbers are barely visible. Also the chest in the church. You can let players hold onto clues to make it possible for them to reference without having to step out of the puzzle mini game…