Monstrüous
Restore order in Mons trüous.
Ahideous and deadly, yet decidedly pitiful monster stands before you, waiting to turn your adventuring party to mush after just eight turns. What do you do—and, more specifically, when do you do it—to slay the creature and prevent this terrible fate? Monstrüous is a wonderfully fluid point-and-click puzzler that posits the above question, while revelling in the (often dismal) outcomes of your decisions. Rather than controlling the fourperson party directly, your sole interaction is deciding the order in which they perform their special moves. Will you have your amphibian bard dude summon a protective bubble right at the start, or a few turns in when the monster has a mean look on his face? Will you give the princess empowering coffee before you summon that fiery comet, or after those monstrous eggs have been laid at her feet? Your attacks have counters, as do the monster’s, and these need to be carefully choreographed in order to create the turn order that leads to success.
It’s a game of trial and error, then—but it’s rare that the error part is this much fun. This is a beautiful game, with a whimsical art style that reminds me of Adventure Time, and several hundred frames (surely) of slick animation. Every failed and successful attack, and every unforeseen death, triggers a charming bit of animation—really, seeing them all will be your main impetus for replaying the game.
Monstrüous takes me back to the glory days of flash games: To silly little experiences with terrifically fluid animation. It’s sweet, short and slight, and the perfect thing to occupy a rainy lunch hour.