Honk! by Alex Harby
Playtime: 1 hour, 15 minutes
TLDR: Time to pull on your clown shoes; the show must go on in the big top and only one person can save the day . . . the hero we need and deserve, Lola the circus clown!
Gamemechanical notes: Parser based. You can undo. There are hints and a walkthrough.
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Playing as Lola is just a delight. Everything you would want to explore in the circus is implemented. Yes you can drive your clown car to the various locations. Yes you can pie anyone in the face. Based on the “inventory” text you appear to be constantly juggling everything you are carrying. When the “Monster Manor” ride is mentioned, yes, you can go on the ride!
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There is something deeply satisfying about the structure for this game. The player character has to fix 3 different problems for 3 different friends. Sounds simple! No one is ever really in peril, yet I was extremely motivated to support my friends, and moved by their trust in my ability to help them.
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The NPCs are very funny and well-written (particularly the completely tactless goose-trainer).
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The performance mechanic worked very smoothly. The goose puzzle was an absolute banger.
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I did get stuck on a few of the puzzles, although there is a walkthrough so it wasn’t too frustrating. Mostly it was stuff that was close, although I am not sure, for example, that the basket balloon is intuitively the only way you could lift a rabbit up . . .
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About the ending: I loved everything up until the ending, and I thought the ending was solid but somehow not as engaging. Could there have been more interaction with the rest of the circus cast, maybe? Not sure I totally got what the MP was supposed to represent, and I didn’t really feel much tension about whether the audience would support the circus (they are people who are AT the circus, and also I just helped them see 3 amazing performances!).
One potential bug
I talked to Lola (myself) and it started a debugging conversation.