[code]Curator page here-->[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37670120/] DaRevieweD #177 [/url]<-- [i]New review every Weekend[/i][/code]
[h1]"DON’T FORGET; CHEWS CAREFULLY-!!"[/h1]
[u] Here's The Thing:[/u]
You are Pinkston, delightful elephant by day and dreadful by night. En route to visit ancestors, he crushes and desecrates the graves and tombstones of others! By accident, but still spirits don’t take too kindly to that. And certainly not the Engineer, who takes it upon himself to maintain the peace~
[h1][u][+] PROS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:) APPLE OF MY- HI THERE~[/h1]
It has a point-and-click appeal where Pinkston cannot be controlled directly except through dangling an apple and dropping it wherever you want to lead him. Which sounds innocent and healthy enough, but the problem is his sheer size and weight, not to forget the self-obliviousness to his environments. At the slightest of touch; cracks will form and things will shatter. Meaning to say, ghosts will be pissed off and want to scare the trunk off him!
A gigantic part of the gameplay will involve you swaying the elephant, getting him to pass the graveyard’s gated plots as quietly and quickly as possible. The amount of chaotic strategizing and sudden keeping him on his toes is ridiculous, much like a comedic gold stealth scene of Tom and Jerry! Apples will mature and fall to the ground, ruining your path. Rats nibbling on the keys will make themselves known as Pinkston stamps all over like he owns the joint but will hide somewhere else while you’re busy tracking where the apples are…
There are five levels, including an in-your-face boss battle that will determine one of two endings. Each level has a devious way of introducing a new mechanic while juggling the ones you barely got over. Like what? Well let’s see; exploding apples, walking skellies to name but a few! They are guaranteed to flare up your OCD and stampede all over that perfect “run”. So, stay alert and there are always ways to counteract the threats, just got to let it CLICK~
[h1]TIPS:[/h1]
1) Apples are nutritious, but not here. You get my drift! No? [spoiler]An apple a day, keeps the bother away[/spoiler]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807762840
[h1]:) BITE MY TIME![/h1]
Let’s talk about Pinkston, I’m thinking of having him put down… for an award! He’s a walking, big piece of pink eye candy. Every hint of mannerism in his behavior is luring. From his tongue sticking out whenever he’s locked onto an apple! His precious shivering like clockwork when he realizes the food has disappeared. The jaunty and merry going about his day setting his eyes on the prize.
But really, all of the pixel art is appetizing and detailed enough that the elephant doesn’t hog the limelight with his unapologetic earthquake loudness and cacophony. Sure, the environment art of the levels got boring and the dead-of-night organ-like track kills you softly. However, they are all excused as a result of the game’s shorter duration and beckoning of attentiveness~
[h1]:) THE OUT-CIDER.[/h1]
The story is a fairly negligible aspect, but just like a ghost- the fact that it exists is enough y’know? The opening really sets you up to forgive that because of how likable the pair is. And the threats are shown right at the doorstep to the graveyard already, so none can’t say you weren’t warned! There’s a mixture of adventure, thriller and lightheartedness that bodes fine with the choice of aesthetics. Besides, the start and end sequences would satisfy that narrative hankering, while the gameplay itself is what prompts for seconds to begin with~
[h1]:) IT’S BETTER NOT KNOWING THE TOOT…[/h1]
Even with such a silly façade and cowardly protagonist, Elephant’s Graveyard wants you to remember it for its belonging to and doting contribution to the horror genre! It just goes about it in a different and child friendlier approach. Acting as a firm reminder; a warning if you will, to those wanting to be a grave robber. Or just those who have gone ages since their last visit that there is a time, place and conduct for paying respect to one’s forefathers. If one believes in that sort of thing, that is.
Pinkston, for instance is of the latter scenario. It begs the question- were the hauntings due to his “insolence” and blatant disregard of other graves apart from his family’s? Or his attachment to the materiality of the living a.k.a. the voracious need to eat to the point of flaunting it to those who no longer couldn’t? I could just be overthinking as I usually do, as it could just be a lively animation with a humorous and not taken-at-face-value ploy. Though it truly makes you think about the now and the thereafter…
It kind of resembled that grim, life-altering Tom and Jerry episode called “Heavenly Puss” which was one my earliest exposure to mortality, afterlife and other faiths. This whole game could be a stand-in explanation to children. Fortunately, it never got to the lengths of that morbidity. Instead, it was Pinkston’s ambiguous visit to the gravesite, to reconnect with the ones who came before him? Or maybe he’s contemplating something much darker?? Who knows! I admired how the outcome is contingent and rests on your performance. The one I got- although disappointing, concluded on a hopeful and peaceful note, which was more than I could ask for~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807766232
[h1][u][-] CONS;[/u][/h1]
[h1]:( GO TRUNK, YOU’RE HOME!![/h1]
Something that bugged me was the interface itself, specifically those pertaining to the outlines encircling around clickable objects when the crow hovers over them. Whose color get diminished or even lost when held against the cemetery’s cobblestone floors and white gates. A prominent example has to do with bringing the rat key to the padlock and not registering as an unlock! Which results in having to pick up and drop the rat repeatedly… Meanwhile Pinkston is doing his own thang.
Another is the decision of apples being hidden behind other objects and though still interactable through blindly clicking. I’d rather they just be consistently visible in the foreground at all times. In a similar vein, the imprecise hitbox to Pinkston when nearing urns and therefore the margin of error in destroying them grows out of proportion. As sometimes they won’t break when you’re positive they well should have. Or the inverse situation occurs in that they couldn’t have been any safer and yet they’re fragments by your feet!
[h1]BUGS:[/h1]
x Crashed once during the boss fight.
[h1]NITPICKS:[/h1]
~ Having to contend with the unskippable boss intro after every failed attempt.
~ How about making the key and lock animation automatic!?
[h1]"-BUT YOU’RE AN ELEPHANT SO…~"[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2807764492
[u]Last Words?[/u]
Your time with it shan’t be long, but its spirit goes on. Goofy, cuddly and godly animations! Things will go wrong so tread as light as possible. For a snack’s price, it’ll be the prime of your life~
If you’d like a comically spooky and not too lengthy detour of taming a rampant elephant while walking on eggshells... If you love pixel art that are a treat to the eyes and a mascot that you want to eat alive! Then Elephant’s Graveyard is the prime destination for you~
[h1]9.2 / 10[/h1]
[code]Props to good apple [b]Broelbrak[/b] for the apple-ling key~[/code]
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