Game details Developer: Buried Signal

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Platform: Windows PC (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, iOS

Release Date: December 14, 2017

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Price: $14.99 (PC, Switch), $4.99 (iOS)

Links: Steam | GOG | Official Website Buried Signal: Annapurna Interactive: Windows PC (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, iOSDecember 14, 2017E for Everyone: $14.99 (PC, Switch), $4.99 (iOS)

After my last click of the mouse, the screen went to black, with only the word "Gorogoa" flashing. Those seven all-caps letters exploded out of the emptiness I'd just exposed by solving the final puzzle.

I nearly doubled over in my chair, overwhelmed with the emotion I felt trying to make sense of what had transpired. The game gave me some breathing room to do so, with a solemn song playing while credits rolled. After those, a single panel appeared. The game had begun again. Flipped to page one.

I describe this "ending" moment because it answers a critical concern about the puzzle game Gorogoa, which has been in development for an astonishing six years and was made almost entirely by one man, Jason Roberts. Gorogoa is, quite frankly, short. At the end of six years of development, Roberts has produced a little over two hours of gameplay.

But that's like saying your favorite illustrated book is only 24 pages or your favorite children's movie is only 70 minutes. Like those kinds of art, Roberts' creation stands out because it absolutely works as a "play it again" dive into spirituality, loss, and rebirth. Gorogoa's clever gameplay tricks and gorgeous, hand-drawn art will stay with you for a long time.

Panel placement











Roberts' creation raised eyebrows back in 2012 when he released a free, playable demo of its opening puzzle. Much of that original version still exists in the final Gorogoa, which starts out feeling like a successor to Myst. You see a hand-drawn boy studying at a desk, flipping through pages, until he pauses, awaiting your input. Aim your mouse until it turns from a cursor to a finger-shaped pointer, then click and prod the scene along.

What makes Gorogoa different from something like Myst becomes apparent almost immediately, when the panel you've been clicking shifts to the top-left of the screen. As it turns out, Gorogoa's playfield is a two-by-two grid of four panels. And now, when you click on that original panel, you lift its outer edge. Click-and-drag to drop that frame elsewhere on the grid to continue.

This trick is Gorogoa's alpha and omega. Sometimes, you'll pull a frame or border off of one panel to reveal an entirely new landscape underneath it, which you can click through to expose new puzzles. Other times, you'll realize that some of the panels' contents line up perfectly, perhaps in the shape of a door or a window, and you can combine them to make a new path. Still other times, you might notice that one panel's left edge is covered in symbols... which line up perfectly with another panel's right edge. Maybe you should arrange those panels to sit side-by-side in the two-by-two grid and see what happens.

Those are just a few of the awe-inspiring tricks that play out when clicking on panels, moving panels, combining panels, and more. Gorogoa's rules of engagement change at a moment's notice, and entire, elaborate scenes can vanish with a single puzzle-solving click, leading you to an altogether new mechanic and new panel-shifting rules.

Base camp







Gorogoa's best moments come when you click around the exact way Roberts intends for you to, at which point his illustrative handiwork explodes. 3D effects occasionally play out to punch up the transitions between his major puzzles, but for the most part, Gorogoa is all drawn by hand material. Roberts' artistic approach loudly resembles the works of children's book illustrator Graeme Base (Animalia, The Eleventh Hour), in that every scene is packed with intricate line work and hidden details. In many of its scenes, Gorogoa adds the bonus of exposing more art simply by clicking on a scene.

Roberts' use of hidden doodads can be slightly obnoxious if you're dead set on solving puzzles and not admiring beauty, as some of the click-to-zoom moments do nothing more than linger over an incredible piece of art. Gorogoa's "play it again" appeal helps here, as Roberts tells quite a story through his hundreds of unique panels. In the course of gameplay, Roberts does a remarkable job summoning older motifs and archetypes, like the chorus of a song, which works to ground the game's visual cornucopia. Still, the second (and even third) return to Gorogoa is nigh essential to understand its story and its characters. (Or is it just one character?)

At its worst, Gorogoa expects you to click through certain puzzles in an exact order and not necessarily with rhyme or reason as to why. In my first run-through, I ran into two "pause and come back" stumper points in which I already knew the solution, but not Roberts' preferred clicking path. These were annoying but tolerable. Otherwise, the game lays out plenty of clues and organic nudges to guide you through its ever-changing rules and systems. Part of Gorogoa's brevity is that its puzzles rarely get in the way of appreciating Roberts' visually rich world. (He's also careful to reduce clutter and over-complication; you won't find an "inventory" menu or any other outside system. Just click to navigate.)

Do you have kids? Buy and share Gorogoa as soon as you can. This game is admittedly dark and somber, but its saddest content is more of an issue of tone and confusion than outright inappropriate material, and its delightfully illustrated puzzles do not come more recommended for children. Hardcore puzzle fans, meanwhile, should do their best to take a breath while coming up with Gorogoa's solutions and admire the gorgeous story.

Should you rush along, feeling like a puzzle-solving genius, that's OK. Gorogoa will flip its own pages back to the beginning when you finish. And you should definitely play it again.

The good:

Arguably the prettiest hand-drawn, hand-illustrated video game ever made.

Panel-sorting system pays off as much with clever puzzles as it does with wonderful story-related revelations.

The bad:

Those moments when certain puzzles' solutions are obvious, but the exact clicking order isn't.

The ugly:

Even as a short-and-sweet game, it's hard to say goodbye to Gorogoa's story so soon.

Verdict: Buy.