This is purely anecdotal, but anytime I hear anyone say they wish that Sony would make more games like they used to, they usually have a specific example in mind – often something PS2-era, but not always. My go-to example is a little more recent: I miss the kind of games Sony was releasing just before the release of the PS4. Specifically, I wish they’d release more games like Puppeteer, a gorgeous, inventive platformer that had the misfortune of releasing on September 10, 2013, a mere two months before the PS4 came out (and literally a week before GTA V first came out, which probably didn’t help matters).
I’m thinking of Puppeteer as I play Once Upon A Puppet, since the two games have a fair amount in common. Both, obviously, have puppets as main characters, and both look like they’re taking place on a stage as they unfold. Once Upon A Puppet’s world probably feels a little more expansive on account of the fact it’s 2.5D more than 2D, but in both cases you get the sense you’re watching a puppet show come to life.
Similarly, both games are platformers that demand you fully interact with the world around you. It’s not enough that you run and jump from one place to the next, in Once Upon A Puppet – as in its PS3 spiritual predecessor – you’re constantly looking for ways to manipulate your environment. Sometimes it’s as simple as dragging around a few platforms, but other times you’re pulling on levers to uncover hidden parts of the world.
More than either of those things, though, Once Upon A Puppet reminds me of Puppeteer because of its overall aesthetic – not just the fact both are about puppets, but the whole gorgeous look of the game, and the way that it’s able to go from light and whimsical to dark and mysterious without breaking stride. To be sure, that’s not something unique to these two games specifically, but when you factor in the rest of the similarities, it’s hard not to feel like the games share some DNA.
Of course, as noted above, Puppeteer had the misfortune of coming out at the tail-end of a generation, when people were eagerly awaiting the next one to start. Once Upon A Time has no such issues, so hopefully it meets a much more favourable fate.
Daedalic Entertainment provided us with a Once Upon A Puppet PC code for review purposes.
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