Tangle Towers – PC Review

Tangle Towers – PC Review

Genre: Adventure, Indie
Developer: SFB Games
Publisher: SFB Games
Release Date: October 22, 2019
Platform: Steam
Release Price: $19.99
Written by: Kiwi
Edited by: Bex

 

Tangle Tower is a cozy, Indie Game developed and published by SFB Games. Somehow, despite being a murder mystery and puzzle solving game, I found it to be extremely cozy and satisfying to play. It took me less than ten minutes to figure out every single control in the game, which is helped along by the fact that it’s only played using a mouse. The music, ambiance, voice acting, and overall sfx are amazing. I’ve not really played visual interactive novel type games, but this is something I will absolutely replay, most likely to try and speedrun it.

I’ve found the art style to be simplistic. For around twenty dollars, this is a simpler game, and a shorter one. I would suggest waiting until it goes on sale unless you’re planning to replay a game multiple times.

As for the characters and character design, it’s superbly done. Every single character has a distinct personality which is reflected in their design, voice acting, and emphasized by the cartoony art style. Just by taking a look at a character, even before talking to them, you can get a read on their personality. I personally have found the dynamic between the two main characters to be quite amusing. The sass and sarcasm runs rampant not just with them, but with the members of the Fellow and Pointer family as well. Everyone has something suspicious about them, and sometimes you will be left running in circles trying to get a clue.

 

As for the gameplay itself, I’ve found it to be quite satisfying with how much is based on checking everything many, many times. Everything is intuitive, and you are encouraged to click on every single possible part of the scene that makes up a room in the hopes that you could discover a new detail, raise suspicions, or learn something new. At times, I do wish that it was easier to know if you missed a detail in a room. It took me over an hour after searching a room to find, what I thought, was the final clue in there. I found some of the puzzle minigames to be frustrating, but once they click, they make perfect sense. I feel like this game was made for a wide variety of ages in mind. It’s child friendly, but not dumbed down in a way that could frustrate adults. I do have a few complaints with the story telling though, mainly that we occasionally get railroaded or blocked until something is completed.

As the story progresses, new things are unlocked, and I love how this game leans towards a slightly supernatural undercurrent in the setting. To progress, you have to complete all the suspicions, get all the clues, and complete other tasks. I like that they make you pay attention to everything, even if finding the final piece needed for a suspicion takes forever. It does make sense from a storytelling perspective though, and my annoyances with the occasional railroading are minimal.

There’s way more to the game than I thought there was when I first started it. The game gets a bit less cosy in the final stretch, and I can’t believe how many secrets are locked away in it. I would highly recommend this game for a rainy or stormy day, along with a mug of tea. The music is worth keeping turned up to add to the vibes. The game has a satisfying end, a good twist, everything I could want. I finished it within four hours on my first playthrough, so it’s a game that can be completed in one day.

Pros:

  • Cozy.
  • Encourages exploration
  • Beautiful sound design and art
  • Interesting puzzles
  • Many silly bits of dialogue and item interactions

Cons:

  • Sometimes you run into a wall and have to search everything again. And I mean, EVERYTHING
  • Shorter game
  • One ending
  • The treasure map puzzle
  • Weakish ending

Kiwi gives Tangle Towers a Drastik Measure of 8.7 out of 10 (87)