Take part in a magical tale that combines classic platforming with puppet-inspired gameplay, in a captivating story of friendship, self-discovery, and redemption. Wear the glove of Nieve, a stagehand exiled to the Understage, and wield control over Drev’s strings, a puppet magically bound to her. As they journey to return to the Frontstage above, they will retell forgotten stories, uncover shadowy secrets, and learn their fate is interwoven with the kingdom of theatre itself...

Once Upon a Puppet is a puzzle-platformer

Once Upon a Puppet is a puzzle-platformer set in the Understage, a dark and brooding place underneath the World Stage. Solve puzzles, move ever forward, talk with the world's inhabitants whilst tackling the environment's various monsters. Arrange and move props, backdrops and characters to rebuild theatrical stages, and re-enact scenes to unveil what befell the once proud World Stage.

You play as Nieve, a stagehand, who becomes inexplicably tied to Drev, a wooden puppet. As original and interesting as this may at first appear, it soon becomes clear that the puppetry aspect is irrelevant. You could as easily just be controlling Drev without Nieve's disembodied hand. Whilst the hand is used in order to manipulate items in the environment, these could just as easily be moved by Drev.

As beautifully designed and busy as the environments look, it doesn't take long to realise that you're simply going through the motions as you follow a very rigid path through the levels. The puzzles are pretty simple, but they do slowly ramp up in difficulty as you progress. The world's characters are numerous and can all be interacted with. They give snippets of a background to the world you inhabit. However, I soon found myself not bothering to engage them, as their chatter never seemed to impart useful information and just gets in the way of the gameplay. In fact, I half suspected it was simply a tool used in order to pad the gameplay out a little more.

In reality it's a run-of-the-mill platformer which is only really notable for it's trippy narrative and original artwork.

7

Nick Smithson