Lil’ Guardsman is every part I like about indie video games.
It incorporates a charming hand-drawn Saturday morning cartoon-style aesthetic, an excellent sense of humour, a refreshingly non-violent gameplay conceit and a few catchy music. And better of all, it was made by Toronto’s personal Hilltop Studios.
In Lil’ Guardsman, you play as a 12-year-old woman named Lilith who has to fill in for her dad because the guardsman of a medieval fantasy metropolis generally known as the Sprawl. As you speak to every customer, you’ll have to make use of quite a lot of dialogue decisions and instruments to infer whether or not they need to be admitted or denied entry. In that sense, it’s just like Lucas Pope’s seminal puzzle sim 2014 Papers, Please, and Hilltop hasn’t shied away from that inspiration.
However the place Pope’s creation was a extra emotionally-charged story about growing empathy for immigrants, Hilltop has been open about its need to supply a extra lighthearted spin on that gameplay framework. In actual fact, the workforce drew inspiration from the so-called ‘cozy’ style to supply a way more laidback and purely entertaining recreation.
It’s an method that pays off splendidly. Working with native Torontonian comedians Matt Bernard and Jeremy Lapalme, Playtop has introduced such a lovably quirky sense of humour to Lil’ Guardsman. From our cheerfully sarcastic lead continuously mentioning the ridiculousness of being given a lot accountability (and even breaking the fourth wall at occasions) to the colorful forged of 100-plus knights, mages, goblins, vampires and other people who arrive on the gate with their justifiable share of bags, Lil’ Guardsman is chock full of caprice.
That staggering number of characters implies that no two interactions ever really feel the identical. Whether or not it’s a clumsy sorcerer attempting to (poorly) clarify that he has to get to a child’s celebration, a involved cyclops trying to retrieve her youngsters from a deadbeat ex, or a psychotic Snow White-esque lady singing about her crimes, I used to be persistently desperate to see who’d arrive subsequent. There are even a number of nighttime ranges by which the gate guests grow to be gleefully horror-themed to shake issues up much more.
Additional, every character is totally voiced by a gifted forged of Toronto-based actors, which is very commendable given the quantity of dialogue right here. For every customer, the questioning course of consists of three rounds earlier than you must decide, and you may solely execute one motion per spherical. This implies you’ll must resolve whether or not you need to instantly query the individual (which opens up branching ‘agree,’ ‘doubt’ or ‘tease’ responses) or use one among a number of instruments, together with an X-ray machine to find hidden objects (or individuals), fact spray to parse by way of lies or a decoder to work out in any other case illegible objects.
Which may sound like lots, however focusing every interplay on simply three rounds ensures each a gradual pacing and an approachable gameplay system. That’s as a result of the problem right here isn’t to make the “appropriate” resolution, as the sport carries on both method. As an alternative, you’re inspired to concentrate to advise or directions out of your bosses and suspicious behaviour from the guests themselves to realize a better rating. As an example, correctly utilizing the X-ray on a shady trenchcoat-adorned determine would possibly reveal there are two individuals beneath, and also you’ll obtain extra factors accordingly. Who you admit, deny or, when you get to a sure level, jail may also have an effect on the story afterward. A few of these characters will make extra sizeable adjustments, significantly in an inter-kingdom battle, whereas others will simply make enjoyable cameos in varied places.
It’s a welcome resolution to sustaining that cozy vibe whereas nonetheless rewarding gamers with completely different outcomes, each within the interim (seeing characters’ completely different witty responses to every part you do) and within the long-term story-altering sense. To additional encourage experimentation, Hilltop has even well included a rewind mechanic that’s baked into the narrative and permits you to swap up your decisions. Admittedly, there are a number of cases the place I made a selection that frustratingly led to an premature dying, however fortunately, your time with every customer is brief sufficient that little or no progress is definitely misplaced throughout these uncommon events.
Including to the comfy vibe are the moments of downtime that Lil’ has in between shifts in which you’ll go to completely different mounted areas of the Sprawl. Whereas there, you need to use gold earned by your larger rankings to improve your questioning gear, speak to NPCs and even decide up some non-compulsory story scenes that flesh out the world. As an example, sympathetically admitting some goblin teenagers let me go to a secret goblin assembly concerning the human-oppressed creatures planning a riot. These sorts of discoveries, coupled with Scott Christian’s snazzy lo-fi beats, supplied ample encouragement to see extra of the Sprawl.
Generally, you need critical “artworks” sorts of video games like Papers, Please, and typically, you need one thing a little bit extra enjoyable. That doesn’t imply, nonetheless, that the expertise must be any much less compelling in its personal method, and Lil’ Guardsman is proof constructive of that. From its sharp writing and artwork fashion to open-ended deduction gameplay and great audio from each the actors and composer, Lil’ Guardsman is among the most pleasant video games I’ve performed in current reminiscence.
Lil’ Guardsman is now obtainable on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Sequence X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Swap and PC (Steam).
Picture credit score: Hilltop/Versus Evil
