Stacking, from Double Fine

Rob_Merritt · January 20, 2011, 9:41am

Cool, even better.

Rorschach · January 20, 2011, 10:27am

Count me in for this one as well.

John_Many_Jars · January 20, 2011, 2:32pm

Not the first downloadable console game from the past year that looks very interesting. Alas, I have no consoles but my Atari.

Rock8man · February 7, 2011, 12:26pm

This game is out this week. Let’s get the word out and get excited people! Come on!

Man_Raised_By_Puffin · February 7, 2011, 12:46pm

Cheers for the heads-up (wasn’t expecting it for another month or so), ordering funbucks now.

Jazar · February 7, 2011, 12:54pm

FYI Anyone who is on or is considering Playstation Plus gets Stacking day and date of release on PSN for free.

Skorin · February 7, 2011, 1:19pm

If you get a free game through Playstation Plus, do you get to keep it after you unsubscribe?

forgeforsaken · February 7, 2011, 1:23pm

I believe the answer is no.

Jazar · February 7, 2011, 1:40pm

Not if it’s free. If you buy it from a PS+ discount then yes.

Rock8man · February 7, 2011, 8:12pm

Sadly, there seems to be no publicity for this game at all. Heck, even Tom didn’t mention it on his weekly wallet threat level.

Andrew · February 8, 2011, 3:02am

There’s this Youtube video (a stop motion film made with the nesting dolls) that’s kind of like a promo!

Delta · February 8, 2011, 3:36am

I am so hyped for this game. Seriously. Everything I’ve seen so far suggests that if Double Fine pull it off (which I’ve never seen them fail to do) this might be one of my favourite games ever made.

EDIT: Oh, I’m watching the demo, and loving it even more. An ‘aging illusionist whose sole power is to make people look like Argyll’? This is going to be awesome.

Kaigen · February 9, 2011, 11:25am

I decided to take advantage of the Free w/ PSN deal. I really love it. Like most Double Fine games, it’s incredibly clever, charming and funny. The idea of jumping in and out of different dolls reminds me of Hitman or Messiah, but obviously without the shootiness, and much more simple and puzzle based. It’s clever, but nothing too groundbreaking or challenging and highly enjoyable. Double Fine just has a way of making me smile more than any other developer can.

checker · February 9, 2011, 1:29pm

Weird that the game has no metacritic page.

Chris

Rock8man · February 9, 2011, 2:00pm

Yeah, it’s a complete stealth release with almost no publicity. Eurogamer loved it.

Christian Donlan:

Factor in a detailed, optional hint system and Stacking’s never a particularly difficult game to work through, but the emphasis isn’t on solving the series of gentle problems you’re faced with so much as trying to find all of the possible solutions available – a design that actively encourages a second play-through and an addled imagination. It makes for a short but wide adventure, with each of the handful of rambling environments packed with optional extras, including secondary challenges, special dolls to track down, sets to collect and Hi-Jinks, which are cryptic little tasks that reward unusual use of certain abilities.

As downloads go, this is generous and imaginative, then, and the richness of the world is more than enough to make up for an occasionally tricksy camera, a fair amount of backtracking and a tendency to pad things out as it heads towards the final act. Stacking’s sweet, thoughtful, and perfect to play if you’re bored of the usual videogame destinations.

Inactiviste · February 9, 2011, 2:41pm

Tried the demo, bought it. I usually regret buying Doublefine Games, but that one seems really nice, I love the art style and as at is more or less an adventure game, the gameplay might just work. The stacking mechanism are pretty clever.

Congregard · February 9, 2011, 5:47pm

I can’t imagine why it doesn’t show up in a search, but it definitely has a page.

Cyrano · February 9, 2011, 11:29pm

My wife and I spent over a half hour trying to solve the first puzzle – looking for the key master – only to learn from the official forums that the key master not spawning is a common bug. Really, Double Fine, the very first puzzle?

RepoMan · February 10, 2011, 8:49am

Damn, that’s one beautiful demo. I LOVE the Terrence and Philip animation style, and the silent-movie cutscenes, and the really nice shading on their smooth rounded little heads. My wife and I had quite a fun time, though we only got the easiest solution to the Lounge Problem… we were able to entice the guard away from the door by two other dolls, but we couldn’t figure out how to capitalize on that situation. What’d I miss?

Wow, glad we didn’t get hit by the keymaster bug. That’s pretty lousy alright. Perhaps they can patch it, it being downloadable and all…

malkav11 · February 10, 2011, 11:10am

The guard only relates to one solution. There is an environmental feature nearby that figures in the other two.