Quincy and Amber: Quest to Autumn

I'm really looking forward for the expanded version. :)

So Quincy and Amber is a demo of the game that's only about 15 minutes long. At the end, the player is told there will be 500% more puzzles and "an actual storyline," so I'm just going to assume that the dialogue and story is placeholder and isn't really designed for much comment. There's no combat, items, or databasing to discuss, and there are only two pieces of music, one of which is part of the RTP.

What there is, however, are some small but well-detailed maps set in a forested location, a pleasant background piece of music, and, at the heart of the game, a cooperative puzzle. Anyone who played Portal 2 will be very familiar with the basic idea at each screen - get both players from the start to the finish. In fact, even even the primary mechanic of each puzzle, which is that one person stands on a button which lowers a wall for another person to pass through so that they can, in turn, stand on a button to lower the appropriate wall for the other person, plays quite similarly to some of the more basic puzzles in Portal 2, as well.

The puzzles are pretty simple, but they work well for a two-player environment - most of the time, the pattern for who needs to stand where and in what order is generally pretty obvious, but this is what would presumably be the beginning of the game, so it's a good introduction to the way the rest of the game would probably play out. If the two-person dynamic expanded to something more complex, it would be a lot of fun for two players - but potentially a little schizophrenic for a single person trying to control both if they have to do two different things at the same time. I'd be curious to see where the rest of the puzzles in the game would go.

Being able to control two characters simultaneously is a very cool feature that I haven't seen in any other RM games, so I was pleased to see that it worked out so well. I never felt like it was just a gimmicky one-player game, it played and genuinely controlled like it was ready for two players.

There were a couple small issues. At the title screen, the game is called "Quincy and Esther," even though the actual download is called Quincy and Amber and, in game, the little sister is named Amber. Presumably Esther was an earlier name that was changed, but it's strange to see it emblazoned across the opening menu. The other thing is, on the docks puzzle, the single-square dock pieces make it look as if the character is walking in front of a backdrop of docks instead of actually on the planks. It's a little odd.

Other than that, there really isn't too much to say - it's a fun little demo that won't take much time to play through, and for what it is, it's well-executed. Both my partner and I were interested in having more puzzles to play through and will certainly be checking back in with the game as it continues its development.