Gomo

Developer: Fishcow Studio | Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment | Release Date: 2013 | Genre: Point & Click Adventure / Indie | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Gomo is a strange little creature that wakes up one day to find that his faithful dog, Dingo has been captured by aliens. Apparently the aliens want some rare crystal in exchange for Dingo so Gomo leaves his peaceful home behind and sets out on a surreal journey. While Gomo is not the first gaming protagonist to mount a pet rescue mission, he certainly is one of the more memorable.

Gomo’s journey plays out as a point and click adventure that will take you through more than 35 bizarre locations. The first destination is the subterranean mines where Gomo has to liberate the rare crystal, but the beauty of the game is that you never know what is going to happen next. The hand painted backdrops look like the illustrations from a children’s novel and Gomo, reminded me a lot of the Jeff Thomas webcomic characters, Pon and Zi.

I really liked the whimsical visual style and how the artists crammed lots of little details into each scene. While you are busy solving puzzles you might notice little red riding hood encountering a wolf in the background or a tiny stickman riding his sled down a mountain. You’ll also spot quite a few pop culture references which I am not going to spoil. This is definitely a game where you should take your time to soak in all the details instead of rushing through.

The animations are also very humorous with some of the best ones coming from Gomo. Since he is a little sackcloth type creature with a stitched mouth and arms five times longer than his legs just watching him navigate the environments  are funny. Every time Gomo picks up a new item he unzips his own back, stuffs the object inside himself and zip it back up. There is also plenty of slapstick humor with Gomo frequently taking a fall. The game uses a very limited color palette, but this adds to the unique visual style and doesn’t detract from the experience. The game unfortunately does not have widescreen support so playing on a high definition monitor result in a square block surrounded by big black bars.

The gameplay is very simple which leads me to believe that the game is aimed at either very young players or people who are new to the genre. The game is very linear, so you don’t have to worry about backtracking and all objects needed for a puzzle are usually just a few steps away. Gomo can only carry three items at a time and used objects are immediately discarded. I won’t spoil any of the puzzles, but be prepared to work with sheep, balloons, hamsters and bombs during the course of your adventure.

There is no speech or text in the game, but it is not needed as the story is so simple. The music is good and fits the game, but none of the tunes really stood out as memorable. There are plenty of sound effects, however, which younger players will love. The game uses a standard point & click interface and even has an “easy” mode which shows if you currently selected inventory item can interact with the object you are hovering your mouse cursor over.

As each scene is rather small and feature very little hotspots it is almost impossible to become stuck for long. You can’t look at or interact with any objects that are not related to the puzzle at hand and there are no item descriptions either. On the one hand, this means that you never have to pixel hunt in order to progress, but the downside is that the game can be completed quite comfortably in one sitting. During the course of the game you can unlock three mini-games that are accessible from the main menu, but these do not extend the longevity by much.

I would have loved for a longer adventure but quite enjoyed what was on offer and can’t argue with the budget price. If you have younger children or a significant other that you want to introduce to the genre then Gomo is perfect. If you are a veteran player or want an in-depth experience, then unfortunately the game might feel too short and simplistic, although it might just win you over with its charm. I definitely had fun playing Gomo but anyone still on the fence can head to the official website and play the demo straight from their browser to get a taste of the full game.