Where Cards Fall
A stylish and haunting point-and-click puzzle game
Price
Arcade subscription
Requirements macos 10.13 or later, 64-bit processor • 501.8 MB
Learn more wherecardsfall.com
Available from
Mac App Store
WINNER OF AN APPLE DESIGN AWARD, Where Cards Fall is a delightfully odd coming-of-age adventure in which the central character must navigate through the insecurities and emotions of high school that are played out in strange, dialogue-less dream sequences. The cards from the title come in the form of stacks dotted through the terrain. You can click on a stack to move it into a key position and then expand it so that the cards form a structure that bridges gaps, allowing you to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’.
When you have used a stack, you can click on the wall to collapse it and then drag it to a new position, and so on until you get to the end of the level. The narrative is driven along by flashback scenes that play in between the levels and also it uses indistinguishable grunts instead of actual dialogue. But it is testament to the power of the visuals that you seem to understand exactly what is going on without a comprehensible word being uttered.
The game uses a point-and-click interface, which is generally fine, but at times it certainly didn’t work as smoothly as we would expect, it’s as if your Mac is constantly working on memory-intensive tasks in the background, making the responsiveness feel laggy. Aside from that, it is a very atmospheric and compelling game with a decent challenge.
“You can understand exactly what is going on without a comprehensible word being uttered”