Almost two years ago I created a review for a game called Apex Construct. Apex Construct was a PSVR adventure game that still stands up really well today, and since then the developers Fast Travel Games became one of my favorite PSVR developers. So when Fast Travel Games announced their new game The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets I was excited and confused, I wondered why would the developers make a new game drastically different then their previous one? But now the game is out for the PSVR (and all other major VR platforms), so, is The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets any good?
The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets is a PSVR puzzle game that has you traveling from world to world saving animals and finding collectibles. There is a story within the game, but since it isn’t very long I don’t want to say anything about it. It’s a fun and cute tale that has a good message, but isn’t going to blow you away by any means.
When you start the game you are put into a house that acts as the game’s hub. You can select which world you want to visit, see how many animals you’ve rescued, and how many coins you have collected. I’ll explain what the coins are later.
Like I mentioned earlier, this game is a puzzle game. The focus of the game is to create a casual puzzle game that doesn’t induce any stress or cause any frustration. For me it was refreshing playing a more casual puzzle game like this in Virtual Reality. The only thing you as a player can do is touch, pick up objects, and rotate the world. So it’s very simple to pick up and play. Each time you visit a world there are several trapped animals to save, and coins to collect. The coins can be found by touching a specific part of the world, you’ll know where to touch by seeing a small golden sparkle effect. The coins don’t have any use in the game, but were fun to collect and I ended up going for all of them.
The worlds you visit are basically small islands filled with various obstacles and objectives to conquer and complete. There are 5 different worlds to visit, and each world has their own unique mechanics and puzzles. But don’t let the cute animals and simplistic gameplay fool you, the puzzles can be difficult at times. The puzzles have the perfect amount of difficulty and I was never stuck at a puzzle for too long.
One of the game’s best aspects is its style. Some might see this as a game that appeals to children, but in my eyes it’s a style that can appeal to anyone, no matter the age. Which further adds to the accessibility and makes this a great title to show off to family and friends. The worlds are bright and each small world is packed with detail. The characters have an almost stop-motion looking animation style, and it looked great in VR. Another thing I didn’t expect is how clear the game looked, I couldn’t see any blur while playing the game. Another important aspect of the game, which enhances the beautiful worlds and style is the soundtrack. The soundtrack is composed by Wintergatan and fits the game perfectly, every track in the game is fantastic.
So Overall, The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets is great! Fast Travel Games has shown that they can make a great VR game no matter the genre or style. This is a great game with fun puzzles, a good art style, music, and controls. The game is on the shorter side though, it can be finished in around an hour and a half if you go for all of the coins. But the game is priced fairly for what you get. If you enjoy puzzle games or have people that you could show this to, you should definitely check out The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets.
