The Little Acre
PC, PS4, Xbox One
This beguiling, short-form, magical-realist adventure from Dublin-based Pewter Games opens with an immediately identifiable scene, as bumbling, jobseeking father Aidan attempts to get dressed without waking his daughter Lily. It’s a strong start, serving as an effective introduction to the game’s gentle point-andclick puzzles, as well as its rich vein of physical comedy and the warmth of its storytelling. The Little Acre’s lightweight challenge might mean it’s better suited to a younger audience, but any parent will experience a pang of recognition at having to surreptitiously retrieve an item of clothing from beneath their slumbering offspring. Granted, we’ve never had to rely on a dog’s halitosis to successfully pull off such a delicate operation, but it’s a solid punchline all the same.
What follows is a mostly lighthearted piece of whimsy that rattles along at a lively pace. Having set up the father-daughter dynamic, the game quickly establishes that Lily’s mother is recently deceased and Aidan’s inventor dad has gone missing. No sooner has he begun his search than he’s spirited away to another world, at which point control shifts to Lily, who must negotiate the tricky task of making her own porridge before hunting for her newly absent father. Meanwhile, her canine protector, the clearly long-suffering Dougal, attempts to first stop her setting fire to the house, and then prevent her from a precarious climb to fetch a fresh bag of porridge oats. It mightn’t sound too thrilling, but it’s a delightful set-piece elevated by sharp writing, robust voice work and wonderful animation. An executive producer credit for Charles Cecil isn’t the only reason Broken Sword comes to mind.
Control switches between the two for the rest of the game, but as the scenes grow shorter and the transitions more frequent, the narrative becomes a bit fragmented. Solutions to puzzles come quickly: partly because they’re consistently logical, if occasionally exacting about timing, but also because you’ll rarely be carrying more than three objects. Given the limited number of interaction spots, you’ll only need to try a handful of combinations before you stumble across the right one.
The stakes are raised in the closing stretch, but the drama is undercut by the story’s brevity. What at first seemed lean starts to feel rushed, and one emotional moment in particular isn’t quite earned: it comes too suddenly, is dealt with too abruptly, and is all but swept under the carpet by the end. Still, while not exactly a vintage point-and-click, this good-natured fable serves its purpose as a calling card for a developer whose talents are in ample evidence. Hopefully, this is a sign of better – and bigger – things to come.