Macrotis: A Mother's Journey

Review

Welcome to Macrotis: A Mother's Journey. Behold a story about a family of Bilbies that live in the outback. The summer rains have arrived, and the mother bilby has recently given birth to a new daughter. The rains are normal during the summer, but this year is different. The storms have grown more and more violent as the days go by. Many have fled the area to safer ground, but with an infant and more children, the journey would be too dangerous, so they fortify their home to the best of their ability to ride out the storm. Soon a great flood hits the bilbies’ home; everyone is caught in it and being carried away by the current as she frantically tries to reach the children. The children are able to grab ahold of some debris from the fortifications they made, and get to safety. Mother bilby tries and tries to reach them, but she is unable to break free of the current and is washed away underground. Now our adventure begins as we take control of Mother bilby and try to get back to the children; how long they will remain safe is in question. We must hurry!

Released on Feb 08, 2019, by the developer Proud Dinosaurs, and published by Orsam Information Technologies. As their first release on Steam, they are off to a great start with a career as a developer. The title is a 2.5 D, adventure, puzzle, platforming indie game. Immerse yourself in a story with a passionate and touching storyline that will provide many hours of entertainment through 4 chapters. A  simply gorgeously-built world, and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack complement the gameplay. There is also partial controller support. I did have some issues moving levers with the controller registering correctly, though I was always able to get it to work with additional attempts moving my character a little. The mechanics of the title are very well-designed; as the game progresses more are added occasionally, which changes up the gameplay and increases the puzzle difficulty as more varied mechanics come into play. It also comes in 10 languages, with more to come.

We begin our adventure deep underground.  Our path back to the surface is not able to be climbed, so we must move deeper underground and look for a way out. We need to get back to the children as soon as possible. The first level has a built-in tutorial to introduce you to the beginning mechanics for the title, which to start with is just directional movement (jumping, climbing, sneak walking), and an ability to push and pull some objects. There are hidden collectibles spread across the levels to gather; keep a watchful eye out for them. In Chapter 2 we are introduced to a new character, a wizard who we inadvertently killed trying to escape from the first chapter. His spirit now talks to us and, we enter a pact to allow us to carry his spirit and magic within us. This adds in a whole new batch of mechanics that are utilized in making the puzzles you must get past to progress. Of course, this will increase the difficulty. You'll continue through to the last 2 levels.  Occasionally, when needed, you are bestowed with additional powers by the wizard, adding more mechanics to work with. This keeps the game fresh and intriguing. These I will let you discover for yourself.

I have to say, what a fantastic game! I simply loved it, even when some puzzles were frustrating. As you dig further into the game, the puzzles can become quite devious in their design. It will require using your intellect and thinking outside the box a little to get past these exceptionally well-designed puzzles. The gameplay is pretty intuitive, the most challenging of the puzzles will be towards the end of the title and the ends of levels. Always be on the lookout for the books hidden around every level. Their collection is required for 100% on the achievements for the title, which will more than likely require at least 2 playthroughs, unless you are a platforming wizard. I found I missed at least a book in some of the chapters. I will have to revisit to 100% the title. The main characters of the game, the bilbies, are based on actual animals that are currently listed as a vulnerable species in Australia. There are many settings you can adjust to customize for the experience, which allows a wide range of hardware to run, along with volume and language settings. My only issues with the release is that the controls are not re-bindable for the keyboard or controller, and the turning switches with an Xbox 360 controller were not always responsive. You could reposition and try again to get them to work. The hitbox may need some adjustments for it, as the controller is brand new. Still, it’s such an interesting game all around. Pretty sure it will be one of my top ten indies for the year. For their first title, I am awed with the overall quality and gameplay and applaud the developers. Thank you for the experience!

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!