Since I started off my review of the Please, Touch the Artwork with a short list, it seems only fitting that I do so for its sequel. So, with that in mind, here are the three key things to know about Please, Touch The Artwork 2:
The first should be kind of obvious. Much like the previous game was inspired by the works of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, this time around the game is inspired by the works of Belgian artist James Ensor. I’m not going to pretend that I was familiar with his work going into Please, Touch The Artwork 2, but this game makes it clear that his brand of expressionism and surrealism translates just as well as Mondrian’s work did – if not better, because of how it’s adapted here.
Where Please, Touch The Artwork was all about matching colours in works that could’ve sprung forth from Mondrian’s mind, Please, Touch The Artwork 2 has you – or, more accurately, your skeleton avatar – wandering through Ensor’s work, fixing mistakes and gathering items. Along the way, you explore some of the most surreal, bizarre, occasionally grotesque scenes you could imagine. There’s Christ entering Brussels in a Mardi Gras parade. There are rotting fish lying on a cutting board, and live fish playing instruments. There are sting rays and little sting ray babies. And, of course, there are plenty of skulls and skeletons.
What makes it a game is that sometimes Christ and the sting ray and the rotting fish ask you to find certain objects, so your well-dressed skeleton then wanders through the other paintings, finding the objects in question. Is it hard? Definitely not, and the game gives out plenty of hints to ensure you never get stuck anywhere. But even though it’s not difficult, it’s still pleasant to have a reason to scour these beautiful masterpieces so thoroughly.
And, of course, it’s all free. There’s no cost to unlock the whole game, there’s no DLC. Please, Touch The Artwork 2 is a short game, so it’s not like the developer is giving away hours upon hours of content, but while it lasts – an hour or two, depending on how leisurely you stroll through the artwork – it’s thoroughly memorable.
Thomas Waterzooi provided us with a Please, Touch The Artwork 2 PC code for review purposes.
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