![]() Gameplay and Puzzle/World Design Score – 4Īlongside gameplay is controls, and The Pedestrian’s controls are a largely standard affair. Some sign-posting that you’re on the right track would be a welcome addition, but not a fatal flaw to the unique gameplay present. They are fun and challenging, without being too obtuse in most cases. User-friendliness aside, though, the core puzzles and design of them -both individually, and relation to each other – deserve high praise. Without any hint system, or 'retry' mechanic (aside from cumbersomely manually retracting your errors), it is hard to know when you’re inadvertently shovelling deeper down the wrong hole. Exacerbating this problem is that sometimes you must temporarily use the ‘wrong’ logic to reset your position, whereas other times, breaking this logic is a huge error. Although the game does show you in advance of a connection what will ‘break’ the logic and reset your position through red flashes, there is no clear sign-posting that your current line of thinking is otherwise warm or cold. The inability to reset puzzle progress (i.e., a reset button, or a ‘restart puzzle’ option) also impedes the game, as it makes some of the more complex or sign-heavy puzzles frustratingly unforgiving. I believe that having X number of ’locked’ locations would help you could cycle through them with the d-pad (perhaps an invisible grid, 9 spots for 5 signs), which would allow the player to better try sequence their signs and recognise mistakes. With your 'eureka' moment, you might need to first move everything apart to make that one ‘final adjustment. ![]() On one hand, its helpful insofar that it allows you more physical space to work out your sequencing, but can also leave the player down the creek without a paddle when things went wrong. When navigating multi-sign puzzles, you can move your various signs wherever you like to make your logic connections, but they don’t lock into various positions on your screen (they can overlap, for example). Firstly, the number of signs/scenes you must manage becomes overwhelming quickly in the latter chapters. This unique delivery of the game makes mundane puzzle tropes - such as stacking boxes and avoiding lasers - unique and purposeful. I never found that my goal was confusing, which is testimony to the design and intrigue the developers have generated from each puzzle. These interconnected webs of puzzles typically flow beautifully into one another, and all to fulfil a greater means. Mechanics such as connecting doorways, stopping lasers, using boxes are introduced at a well-timed pace and occur often enough that the player becomes highly comfortable with them, but not too often that they boring or unchallenging. The Pedestrian is cleverly designed insofar that each series of interconnected signs nearly always present a unique, fun challenge that is both fun to complete in isolation and something part of a connected whole. This summarises the main loop of the game, and If you are to activate a jump pad to reach a box - for example - you must connect your various signs together in sequential order, utilising your logic sequence get you through points A > B > C to complete the puzzle and acquire the needed item. However, you must not only figure out what you need to do, but the order in which you must sequence your strategy. Amidst the seven core urban locations of the game, you progress from sign to sign, puzzle to puzzle, to ultimately solve a ‘central’ meta puzzle for that area, before taking a subway car to the next key location. The Pedestrian is a unique side scrolling platformer where you navigate a stick-figure across various puzzles embedded in signs, chalkboards, and digital user interfaces within a populated large-scale city. This is fitting because The Pedestrian’ core gameplay mechanics are fundamentally intertwined design of the world. However, in a puzzle-driven game with little narrative focus, I will instead consider world design amidst its gameplay. I do tend to be somewhat more lenient to smaller, independent, or one-person studios given the resources they would have over a bigger AAA studio.īy default, I will typically begin with a look at narrative in conjunction with the world design, as I find story, lore and the game's world should be reviewed in relation to the other before dissecting gameplay. The final review score is an aggregate of section scores. ![]() All gamers prioritise different things when considering their next game, and I believe reviews should try to sufficiently cover as many of these areas as possible. This is quite a detailed review where I break the game down into categories, provide a commentary of each section, and tie it together at the end. ![]() Reviewed on: Xbox Series X & Xbox Series S
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