Time to Beat: 155 Minutes
Minit is a game developed by a
quartet of independent developers overseen by the publisher Devolver
Digital. As one can see by the time listed in minutes and not hours,
Minit's core game-play gimmick ensures a swift experience.
The player control a humanoid with a mouth like a duck's bill. After
leaving their house, the protagonist stumbles across a sword and
picks it up. Unfortunately it's a cursed sword that kills its bearer
every sixty seconds. Fortunately for the game (though not the poor
duck man) the wielder revives after each death, still holding the
accursed weapon.
Minit is reminiscent of the
original 2D Zelda games. The character wanders around a map
separated into distinct screens, fighting monsters, solving puzzles,
and collecting items. The protagonist swings their sword (or throws
it once they find the baseball glove), to defeat enemies, and dodges
their attacks. The protagonist's health is displayed as hearts,
which can be increased by finding secrets.
In addition to the glove and sword, the
player picks up other items. Some are active, like a watering can,
while others provide a passive bonus like the flashlight, which
illuminates dark areas. There's also coffee, swimming flippers,
coins, and multiple keys.
The main skill of Minit is
player memory. Since one only has sixty seconds to move from their
home the player needs to remember where things are, and what needs to
be completed. After exploring and exhausting the locations within
range of their house, the player travels to other bases, like the
hotel and the mobile home. Entering either of these sets it as the
player's default respawn location. From there the player explores
the new area for new and items.
Aside from activating items, the
player's only power is the ability to commit suicide. This is useful
when the player has only ten seconds left of life, and all nearby
objectives completed.
Ultimately the player's quest is to
destroy the cursed sword and free themselves from its cycle of death
and rebirth. A sinister force in the depths of a factory is
producing swords to devour the world in darkness. The final sequence
of puzzles involves destroying the machine at the heart of the
factory. The puzzles to destroy the machine forces the player stick
the sword into it. This causes an explosion which kills the player,
but leaves the sword stuck where the player wedged it in. The final
puzzle to retrieve it, and deal the killing blow, is both incredibly
frustrating but engagingly innovative. If you're stuck I encourage
you to keep trying. It is as convoluted as it appears, but remember,
it can be done in sixty seconds, so it isn't impossibly difficult.
The difficulty lies in that the initial path to the core of the
machine required cutting down objects with the sword, which the
player no longer has, so they must find a roundabout route.
The final boss is also enjoyable, and
is fought in three phases. Fortunately, Minit saves all
progress made against the boss, even if the player dies from his
attacks or runs out of time. So he is very easy, though one is
likely to die a number of times before beating him.
Right before finishing the game, it
became apparent how much remained to do. I hadn't purchased the
sneakers, or helped the sign builder complete his boat. I'm certain,
as the victory screen awarded me a 50% complete score, I could have
adventured more. For that, Minit includes a second run with a
playthrough plus difficulty, but I wasn't interested.
In conclusion, Minit implements
an interesting premise, but in actuality it limits, rather than
enhances the experience. Most players don't want simple puzzles made
more difficult by adding a rapidly ticking time bomb. Thankfully,
the developer at least implemented the idea well, in that every area
has a problem to clear, and it can be done with a reasonable amount
of time left over. It never felt as if it was difficult to finish a
puzzle, or that there wasn't enough time (except for the last
puzzle). But it broke up solving puzzles into a frustrating
repetition of find puzzle, look at puzzle, die. Return to puzzle,
attempt puzzle, die. Go back to puzzle, solve puzzle, die. Look
around for new puzzle, find puzzle, die. Go to puzzle, look at
puzzle, die... Like any puzzle game, some puzzles were easier to
solve, while others required multiple attempts. The saving grace is
that no puzzle was difficult enough that I felt compelled to look
online for the solution. Yes, the gameplay relies on a gimmick core,
which enhances and strangles the experience, but sometimes it
performs brilliantly.
Recent:
Relevant:
Comments
Post a Comment