Chuchel

Voices of: N/A
Developer: Amanita Design
Publisher: Amanita Design
Rating: E
Genre: Adventure
System: PC
2018

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Chuchel tries desperately to retrieve a cherry, despite insane obstacles in his way.

Review:
Tim: I've slowly been trying to broaden my video game horizons, so I played Chuchel, a cute little independent game from the Czech Republic. The best thing about it is that it's perfect for kids, so I played this one with my 6 year-old daughter. We had a lot of fun playing this silly, unique game. I wouldn't call it especially great, but it was fun and memorable. It's nice that the game doesn't require reading- so, although my daughter could read a lot of words, we didn't need to rely on that to have fun.

The story itself is straightforward- Chuchel is this dust-like creature and he's trying to get a cherry. It seems like no matter what he does, the cherry always escapes him. It might be plucked away by a giant, or snatched by his friend/pet thing. However it happens, the cherry always seems to be out of his reach. So, you play as Chuchel through 30 different levels, trying to get the cherry. The simplistic story sets up some really interesting puzzles. Some of them are quite easy- my daughter figured them out completely by herself. Some are pretty challenging- even with the hints, a few took multiple steps that you needed to complete in a specific order. Then, there's levels that are clear homages to games like Flappy Bird, Tetris, and Super Mario Bros.. My daughter usually wanted me to play those levels, which I was fine with. The rest of the game, she was totally in the driver's seat. Most of the levels are just point-and-click adventures, so she was able to run the show. I really enjoyed that there's no penalty for not getting a level right- this game is all about trial-and-error and a lot of the fun and humor comes from selecting the wrong things, or things in the wrong order. A number of times, my daughter laughed as she explored the sillier side of Chuchel's levels, regardless of whether it would complete the level or not.

The humor in this game is quite good- I'm not suggesting it's laugh-out-loud funny, but it was cute and humorous and the various pickles Chuchel finds itself in made my daughter laugh and stay engaged. We probably beat the game on the 6th or 7th time we played, so we'd complete 4-5 levels per session. Some of the stages are quite involved, some of them fly by very quickly. I thought the levels were designed well and the developers throw a lot into this game. It's zany and crazy and silly fun. The visuals were impressive for a smaller studio- nothing we haven't seen before, but nicely rendered. I liked the design of Chuchel, too. He'll never live among the top tier of video game characters, but was at least somewhat memorable. I did think it was interesting that his color was originally black, but due to feedback, the developers changed it to orange. I don't know enough to weigh in, but it was an interesting tidbit.

I wouldn't say I loved Chuchel, but I haven't found a lot of games my daughter and I can play, just the two of us. For that reason, I loved my time playing this. It was so fun to see her experiment, learn, and adapt to the various challenges. It was just challenging enough to keep her engaged, and by experimenting, she was able to finish many of the stages without any guidance or support from me. That was really cool to watch. So, the game itself is decent, but it created some great memories, so I'll always have a spot in my heart for this silly little game.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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