I have always liked point and click adventure games ever since I was young, and the genre always has had a special place in my heart. As such, TSIOQUE had my interest. It has an art style that reminds me of my absolute favourite of the genre, The Curse of Monkey Island, and I wondered if the game would give me a similar experience.

The game has an interesting premise of a princess who must stop a usurper to her family throne. Nothing novel but the writing definitely has a sense of charm to it. That combined with the storytelling techniques being done like a storybook fairytale did help to endear TSIOQUE a bit. There was a twist in the narrative later on that I will not spoil, but the story doesn’t get complaints from me.

Unfortunately, the game itself was just a letdown as far as I am concerned. While some of the puzzles are fine, many just feel frustrating and unintuitive. I often had no clue what to do, and I play a lot of point and click games, so that is telling. To once again compare TSIOQUE to my favourite series of the genre, the legendary Monkey Island series. Monkey Island would give you subtle hints about what to do. You still felt accomplishment when you solved the puzzles, because the hints were so subtle and well done. You were not given the full solution, but the games made sure you would figure it out eventually.  

TSIOQUE on the other hand, feels needlessly obtuse with its puzzles. I got fed up several times and resorted to a walkthrough and this soured me on the experience. It was not a case of myself feeling stupid for not figuring out a simple solution, but instead getting angry over a solution that was not clear. These issues didn’t happen late in the game either, but rather started right at the beginning.

I wanted to like TSIOQUE. It has a great art style and a very charming story. But the flaws were just too much for me, and I could not enjoy it. I do not recommend checking out the game, because TSIOQUE just feels too over-designed for its own good.

 


TSIOQUE. – $13.99 Steam version.

Publisher:  OhNoo Studio

Release Date: Nov 7, 2018.

A Review Copy was Provide by the Developer