Wide Ocean Big Jacket

Wide Ocean Big Jacket is one of the best short narrative games I’ve played in years. A realist drama about a small quasi-family on a camping trip, it’s very funny, shows how well games can tell stories, and comes with a depth-charge of feeling and meaning. Big ups to Turnfollow.

I quite enjoyed this, but be warned it is short. I cleared it out in 50 minutes, so the promise of "20 chapters with four playable characters" is technically true but might skew your expectations to a longer experience. Expecting a longer experience left me feeling let down when I finished but if you go into this knowing it'll kill an hour with a sweet and almost poignant slice of life story you'll enjoy it.

What a little gem this game is. No traditional gameplay, so no action, no puzzles, et cetera. You spend the vast majority of your time just moving the characters around and reading dialogue. But the writing is huh-larious, and the cast of characters are all charming, with Mord sort of stealing the show. I've already played through it thrice, and will probably play it again every few years for the rest of my dang life.

[EN QUELQUES MOTS : - TYPE : petit jeu indé "de camping" (honnêtement y a aucun gameplay, je sais pas si on peut dire que c'est un visual novel ?) - RÉSUMÉ : si vous avez un niveau d'anglais correct pour comprendre les blagues, vous allez vous marrer, satisfait ou remboursé. Les dialogues et personnages sont top. - DURÉE : 1h-1h15 avec les chapitres bonus - NOTE : 7/10] Techniquement, le jeu est aux fraises : y a pas de gameplay, y a quasi aucune animation, vous passez à travers les objets quand vous vous déplacez, on peut pas dire que ça soit particulièrement joli, même si les couleurs compensent et ça reste pas désagréable à regarder. Par contre, l'écriture est VRAIMENT excellente, c'est très rare que je rigole à voix haute et ce jeu y est arrivé. Plusieurs fois. Les persos sont très cools et les dialogues très bien écrits (un peu moins pour les deux petits vieux dans les chapitres bonus, mais cool quand même). Je recommande quand même un niveau d'anglais correct, car si on n'a aucun mal à comprendre les dialogues, les jeux de mots utilisent de l'argot et une certaine façon de parler rigolote qui vous passera au-dessus de la tête si vous avez un niveau d'anglais trop basique (et ça serait dommage, c'est tout l'intérêt du jeu). Je sais pas si ça vaut 6€60 pour un jeu si court (comptez 1h-1h15 avec les chapitres bonus), perso je l'ai eu à moitié prix. Mais c'était une expérience agréable, le genre de truc pour décompresser en fin de journée ou par un dimanche pluvieux. C'est pas un chef d'oeuvre à aller le crier sur les toits, mais quand même chaudement recommandé !

A simple narrative that made me cry.

We are in chilly, sad times and this was such a comforting little escape. The dialogue is a little Tumblry but then so am I. Built up in its warmth and honesty until it felt like one of the gentler Duplass Bros. productions. Made me want to experience camping with a partner at 13 in uhhh a parallel universe where circumstances were completely different. Absolutely loved it.

Got this game while on sale, and it's quite a good, short but sweet The story is about the experiences of 4 characters going on a camping trip, Brad and Cloanne (married, has a lot of experience camping), and Mord and Ben (best friends who recently coupled with Mord's initiative, doesn't camp much) In the game we take turns controlling the characters, and we can interact with the other characters or the environment, but what we can interact with is limited and can't be chosen, like when the option to interact is there, a pop up will show up, otherwise you can just roam around the environment but can't really do much, other than just seeing things for your own curiosity. Controls are mainly WSAD and E or spacebar The story focuses on the conversations between the characters, mostly light hearted chatter, but there were a few topics that can be considered important but not mentioned deeply, like [spoiler]Ben maybe going through a divorced parent situation, Cloanne doesn't want a child but Brad maybe does, and how Mord is figuring out about coupling[/spoiler]. The dialogues are well written, they seem natural like how a person would talk like in real life, and also reflects the character's personality well. I find the dialogues pretty funny, i kinda like Mord (eventhough i feel sometimes she's a bit rude to her uncle, but then again the uncle and aunt is pretty chill i guess; and she doesn't use public facilities properly lol ), but i find all the characters pretty likeable, except the mean teens (where are their tents btw??) There are so many funny scenes, like mr. glowbones, cooking (or more like burning) the hotdog, the flashlight thing and the stick in the stone, and many others XD In conclusion, i'd say this is good pick, short cozy game with funny dialogues, story is pretty linear, though you do have some choices in the game, which doesn't really affect the ending, just for your entertainment hahaahaaa [spoiler]glowbones placing spots are so funny i really can't[/spoiler]