[i]Played with WMR[/i]
In Kartong you are a miniature being who is trapped in a series of man-made mazes. It is indeed a bit creepy gameplay wise but there is also a surprising amount of light creativity within its story elements.
Each maze requires you to find a set amount of gears in order to unlock the gate, which are actually just giant forks, in order to advance to the next level. The process for acquiring these gears encourage the players to develop a keen sense of direction, a solid amount of situational awareness, and the proper dexterity skills needed to take down the monsters within the maze. Throughout the process of navigating the twenty different mazes that Kartong offers the amount of gears will slowly begin to increase requiring the player to further hone these skills as they progress.
Personally, I find the idea of being miniature and experiencing life at such a small scale to be an extremely fun concept and I think Kartong nails that idea with its own unique flares. After completing each level there are story elements that are shown on a mobile phone of an online entertainer talking to his community of followers by providing tutorials on how to develop their own mazes. I found this to be an amusing narrative and it really sells the purpose behind navigating the creepy and dreary mazes.
The enemy designs look slightly disturbing but are also artistically enjoyable while fitting the darker tone. For example, there is this rabbit that looks old, worn down, and uses a pair of scissors for both its right and left arm. This enemy really showcases the best this game has to offer in terms of its artistic design. The art style for the levels is entertaining as well. Various books, candles, sodapops, and cardboard buildings combine together to create a maze that definitely feels like a rugged arts and crafts project. In addition, selective lighting helps to enhance the creepy-vibe of the maze.
The combat system is ok at best, nothing really stands out aside from the artistic design of the weapons. An example of this is since you are miniature you have to use pins and matches in your crossbow. Striking a match to light it and then loading it up in the crossbow I found to be constantly amusing. Then there are also other miniature versions of weapons such as bomb shooting rocket launcher, a laser gun, and a nail shooting weapon. They sound exciting, but the impact that they have when firing doesn’t feel great. It is also annoying that enemies have a small invincibility period after you shoot them, so you are incentivized to wait a few seconds before firing your next shot.
There is also a stealth system intertwined with the movement system. This stealth system is used to avoid traps such as teeth clamps, mouse traps, and other booby traps within the maze. The red arrows indicate that you are moving in a non-stealthy manner and the blue arrows, which occurs after you have helped down the movement button for a longer period, indicates that you will move completely quietly. This is a solid system which encourages players to slow down and be careful when maneuvering around traps thus enhancing the immersion and tension of the game. An option to turn on locomotion, rather than the default teleportation is also available in the menu for players who prefer that method of movement.
One of the most disappointing aspects of Kartong was that fact that the same few enemies are used throughout the entire game. These same enemies are scaled up to be larger in later levels in order to show their increased power, but it would have been so much more exciting to see new enemies as the game progressed.
Overall, the artistic design and story narrative help to elevate the experience, while the movement system and maze levels assist in providing a solid gameplay foundation, yet the combat and limited enemy pool hold the game back from being good. However, the five-hour experience is still a worthwhile time killer.
