Hohokum (PS3 / Vita / PS4)

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSZ0cLRJWqk

Released today!

I played around forty five minutes and I am smitten. This is an incredibly imaginative game that has been a joy to experience so for. Bold technicolour visuals and a gorgeous soundscape provide many unique thrills, but as a game it's brave too. There are no elaborate mechanics: All you can do is move or move a bit faster, but the developers have come up with some great ways to interact with the world. Each room is effectively a puzzle box, and you're invited to poke around to see how everything works and what happens when you push the limits. This leads to some genuine surprises and moments of joy, and each place I've discovered so far has offered its own vibrant identity. It's all about discovering the weird rules of this weird world, and that's a very liberating feeling.

The game gives you no instructions or tutorial to speak of, and you're free to explore at will via multi-branching paths. There's a freedom and trust to the design that's very refreshing. There are hints of Katamari and Thatgamecompany games here, although it is its own beast.

Be warned that the game seems to be dividing critics - some embracing its surreal freeform gameplay and others frustrated by its aloofness. But for a tenner, it's worth the risk as far as I'm concerned, and its a fresh experience in terms of both aesthetics and design.

F1ngers

Looks interesting, reckon I'll pick it up.

But, was singing this as I watched it(childish, I know):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

eddhorse

Yep defo gonna get this, thanks Johnny.
Is it cross play and save?

johnny_ultimate

Yep it is cross buy and save!

Zeouterlimits

Based on what I played of it before, it's very cool looking but perhaps a bit thin mechanically.
I won't be rushing out to buy it, but would certainly give it a whirl if it came to PS+.

johnny_ultimate

Zeouterlimits wrote: »

Based on what I played of it before, it's very cool looking but perhaps a bit thin mechanically.
I won't be rushing out to buy it, but would certainly give it a whirl if it came to PS+.

It certainly is very basic mechanically, but the game doesn't pretend to be. I'd call it simple rather than simplistic - it is a pared down experience, but does so in order to allow the player the opportunity to drink in the world in a leisurely, playful way. It's a game all about exploration and discovery and play, and has pared everything down to offer than it a beautifully pure and exciting way. I don't think everyone would agree with that, and that's cool, but to me it offers a sense of childlike wonder and imagination that would probably only be diminished by more in-depth mechanics. The AV Club review sums it up eloquently.

As for PS+, Hohokum is the kind of game I am disinclined to wait for - it's the sort of experimental and unique experience that I want to support however I can, and a tenner is a very reasonable price indeed.

johnny_ultimate

Finished it today and I have no doubt this is among the few contenders for my own personal game of the year.

From a purely design perspective, the game never ceased to impress me. For all its simple joys, it's also deceptively radical. It is a subversion of and antidote to the bloat that defines much of contemporary game design. It boils the controls and mechanics down to their most fundamental elements, but at the same time finds a whole host of exciting and memorable ways to interact with the world. It's a fiendishly brilliant puzzle game that encourages the player to formulate solutions and experiment with the tools available - even if you're not doing exactly what you 'have' to, there's usually plenty of extra details in levels that entertain while you search for a solution. It helps that even if you're temporarily stuck the sound and visuals are rarely less than hypnotic. There's one or two solutions that are a little on the obtuse side - one involving vases particularly - and occasionally the execution is fidgety (one optional room had me searching for one or two nearly invisible white dots for five or ten minutes after I'd activated all the other ones). But these are small quirks in otherwise impeccable design.

The worlds and puzzles themselves have this delightfully surreal internal logic, and little self-contained narratives emerge as you traverse through them (my favourite was perhaps this hilariously oddball wedding reception you're tasked with fixing). The stories are usually simple and playful, but again the presentation is smart and subversive - there's no dialogue, no text to speak of (only the names of the other worms you rescue briefly flash on screen) and a bare minimum of cutscenes. Instead the details emerge organically as you explore and we're left to interpret the images for ourselves: that's really refreshing.

But while I think the game deserves some deeper analysis and praise than many critics have given it (although it's most definitely not a game for everyone), maybe what sold it to me most is the simplest thing of all - I just couldn't count the amount of times a flourish, detail or discovery put a big old smile on my face. Hohokum is a bold game in many ways, but most of all it's a whole lot of fun.

Generic Dreadhead

Your statements are interesting at this seems like something i'd like in a Flower kind of sense.... Put having just ponied up for a PS Plus sub, I can very much see this coming free down the line, and while i admire your willingness to pay for it, i cannot justify it

johnny_ultimate

Cormac... wrote: »

Put having just ponied up for a PS Plus sub, I can very much see this coming free down the line, and while i admire your willingness to pay for it, i cannot justify it

While I understand the sentiment here - and you're far from alone - I think this is one of the unfortunate side effects of Playstation Plus. I fear some players might take fewer risks on experimental, offbeat and smaller titles like Hohokum under the (likely correct) assumption they'll show up on PS Plus. I know I'm in a minority here, but they're precisely the games I think we need to support at launch as opposed to sequels and blockbusters. The usual AAA fare will sell regardless, but it's games like Hohokum that are pushing means of expression in gaming forward, but arguably the likes of PS Plus and Humble Bundle are eating into their market and distorting their 'worth'. It is absolutely understandable and logical to wait - financially it makes sense to wait (even if it's for a sale), and certainly I've discovered several games I wouldn't have otherwise through the cheap to free offerings. There's always a risk with games like this - especially with reviews across the board - and it's great that people get to play them through the increased exposure they get as a freebie. But I'll definitely be far more inclined to throw a tenner - which is IMO as reasonable a price as can be for a new game with so much care and attention put into it - at a game like Hohokum, even just to show appreciation for different sorts of games and show the likes of Sony that there's a market for them

Anyway, any excuse to bump this thread and hopefully flag this delightful game for more people