Do you remember those Russian stacking dolls that you may or may not have played with when you were younger? Well DoubleFine made a game about them. You play as young Charlie Blackmore as he goes on a quest to fine his kidnapped brothers and sisters that have been sent to work in various places for The Baron to pay back their father's loan.
The general atmosphere is cute, and reminiscent of old silent films. You have an upbeat orchestra playing while you're on your quest and it makes this game feel classy. There is no better way to describe the art style, from character design to the setting everything about this game feels like something you'd play if games were this sophisticated in the 60's or 70's.
Don't worry though this game doesn't sacrifice gameplay for art. Every doll in your adventure has a power and you will have fun finding out the abilities of all the dolls in the game. Some of them are super useful like a handyman that fixes broken equipment to the more humorous and silly, like the seductress or the doll that has the ability to pass gas.
One thing I really enjoy about Stacking is that there's multiple solutions for every puzzle in the game. There's no one particular answer to solve each problem. The game is even good at giving slight hints from the super obvious solutions to really obscure ones. By no means is this game hard but it gives you the option of finding all possible solutions for a problem or just the one. In addition to the main adventure you can go on little side quests to stack a particular group of dolls as well at perform different in-game actions that go towards your completion total.
The main quest will probably take you a good 6-8 hours, a solid 10 if you don't rush and you're a completionist. The Lost Hobo King DLC gives you a separate quest unrelated to the main and adds another hour ot two of play time. Also I should add that this game is pretty child friendly but you can enjoy it at any age if only for the uniqueness of the concept.
Graphics: (^__^) - It's nothing that will tax your VGA using the latest PhysX technology but I really appreciated the silent film graininess of the cutscenes or using certain dolls like the underwater diver and having my view switch to how things would look like wearing the clunky helmet.
Story: ^__^ - What starts off as a clique quest to rescue your siblings, turns into starting a revolution to end child labor. Each stage having it's own main objective to complete the story was never grossly complex or convoluted. The story was good but I had more fun discovering all the doll powers I could try.
Music: (^__^) - A wonderful instrumental score that grows on you because it just fits so well with the game. You've got a different idea of nostalgia going on besides the chiptuney stuff you find with most indie games these days.
Overall: (^__^) - I really loved this game and think anyone can appreciate this Double Fine adventure. Its something different. Not too complicated that you can't play for an hour or two, leave it for a day and pick up right where you left off. I highly recommend you either buy this game or find it on sale with a bunch of other Double Fine games.
Buy It on: Steam, Amazon, (activates on Steam)
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