Developer: Wreck Tangle Games
Publisher: Wreck Tangle Games
Release Date: 06/06/2022
Price: £7.19 / $7.99
Review Copy Provided By Wreck Tangle Games
Introducing: Quintus And The Absent Truth Review
This is the deceptively simple story of Alan Shaw, a composer, and musician who, along with the help of his little mouse buddy Quintus, must find his daughter and rescue her before time runs out. It’s not often you’re going to hear of a horror game that has a mouse as a co-protagonist, but here we are. With a blend of horror, puzzle solving, and a handful of platforming areas, Quintus presents one of the more unique horror titles on the market. At least it’s not another “Horror game with camera mechanics”, right? But as cute as Quintus may be, what is it like to spend time with him over the course of the story? Let’s take a closer look at this mind-bending little indie title and see what it’s all about.
The Little Mouse That Could
The biggest problem with story-heavy games and trying to review them is how much can you reveal. With Quintus, the answer really is precious little. A lot of the allure and drive of the game comes from slowly discovering the world you and your mouse inhabit and what exactly is going on. For a small title, it actually does set out to answer all the questions it puts forth, even when a few of those answers may have you scratching your head in amusement.
But for gamers who are not into the horror aspect, the good news is it’s very light. There are a couple of very minor jump scares and a couple of creepy moments, but overall it’s much more of an Adventure/Puzzle game. Even the relationship between a man and his mouse is covered before the final credits roll. It was actually refreshing for a game to come full circle and not leave us hanging for a sequel. Although prepare yourself, the game is broken up into chapters and each one ends on “To be continued…” save for that final act.
Happy Birthday, Lydia!
Quintus is told through first-person exploration with the usual trappings of a walking simulator. You get contextual prompts to Open or Examine, but the majority of the time you are walking. Very. Very. Slowly. Walking. There is a Run toggle, but the difference is negligible at the best of times. Half the time I felt like I was walking in pudding. But, the game does encourage you to take your time and explore all the nooks and crannies. You’re going to have to in order to make it out. While the game makes excellent use of the ‘Lights Lead Players” principle, sometimes you’ll set out to find an item and that item is so small on the screen as to be easily overlooked. You really have to slow down and pay attention.
Your time does eventually switch from Alan to Quintus and back and forth. It does a really good job of having a reason to go between the two and playing each was markedly different. There were a lot of things going through my head while playing, but I was never bored. Confounded. Confused. But never bored. The one really frustrating part of the game came in the form of first-person platforming. I don’t understand why we still do this, no one likes it and it hardly ever works. Considering how tiny some of the walkways were here, I found they pulled me out of the game and into my own head more than they served the narrative or the gameplay. Like the Mary-Jane sections of Spider-man, these were such a change of pace and added nothing but padding.
The Depths of a Musicians Mind
The game really rests on two factors: The character of Quintus himself and the Art Design. While it does get tiresome seeing only brown, the color is used to indicate you’re in the dark and the rooms become fully colorized once you turn the light on. Sort of. The overwhelming accent color seems to be red and they throw it on everything from carpet to some really demonic-looking effects for Quintus. Sure, there are tones of yellow and an occasional washed-out blue, but the color really never changes, but it is used in a very unique way. I wasn’t a huge fan of it over the entirety of my playtime, but I applaud the design choice.
Suitably so for a piano composer and performer, most of the music in the game was a simple piano and it really worked and never overpowered the game. I hardly ever compliment games on music, but the choices here were spot on. I could easily find myself listening to Alan’s music when I write!
A little Bit Of Cheese
Under the hood, my usual complaints do pop up again. I adore my Switch, I just wish it were more powerful. The lighting distance was an issue, especially when compared to consoles or PC versions. The cell shading effects helped do a lot of heavy lifting, but even on the console version, there were things like chain link fencing that were really difficult to make out. I found myself looking for a way to a building at one point by pressing against the fencing and hoping for the best. I was also able to clip my head through some bushes at one point.
Both the Run and Crouch features are hardly discernable when used, and the Lean Left and Lean Right buttons were literally never used in the game itself. There was also an inventory system that I never figured out how to really use or what things I was supposed to put in there because nothing required the typical “Use With” scenarios that typically come up. There are simply none of those interactions in this game.
All of these design choices make me wonder if there was supposed to be more that got cut and these vestigial remains never got trimmed out. None of this is a deal breaker, just weird choices.
Conclusion
It’s an inexpensive game that gives you a nice, wrapped-up story with a hint of horror and a smattering of puzzles. It was a great time waster when I only had a little time here and there to kick out another chapter. The whole game only takes a little over an hour to play and it’s broken up into five chunks of around 10-15 mins each. So while everyone else on the Internet is going crazy over a stray cat, you can be cozy at home with your new little mouse friend!
PROS
- Interesting Art Style
- Great Music
- Very Unique Story
CONS
- Slow Walking Speed
- Bland Color Pallette
- First-Person Platforming
Verdict
Quintus will keep you guessing and pulling your hair out in equal measure. You have never played a game quite like it.
