Dominique Pamplemousse and Dominique Pamplemousse in "Combinatorial Explosion!"
This is the direct sequel to the original Dominique Pamplemousse game, which is an issue as the original game had two different endings. Hence we are now stuck with two versions of the protagonist, one for each ending decision. Upon realizing this fact about their existence the pair decide upon the only sane course of action: determining which of the two is in fact the canon version.
So yes, this is pretty much another Dominique Pamplemousse game in terms of tone, a mix of absurdity and comedy with pretty likable if downtrodden lead… except there are two of them now. That said it plays a good bit different than the original which was very much a claymation point & click musical adventure game. This one has pretty much removed all of the adventure game bits in favor of moving very much towards being a visual novel. I think this helped the experience as the original wasn’t particularly great at being that, this basically streamlines the experience and allows you to get to the clever writing, odd encounters and bizarre character designs much quicker. The other change is that while the original game committed to being a musical with probably 90+% of the lines being sing here it is at most 20% which is a shame. I get that it is likely much harder the prior way but it sadly loses a bit of its personality due to this, although I must admit that it has a surprisingly catchy ending tune.
So you basically run through several distinct encounters trying to figure out who is canon, no one really helps you, the game makes a few observations or comments along the way and it is over in maybe an hour… but it’s a pretty good hour. It is less ambitious than the original and the ending is something I am torn on, but maybe it’s not the destination but the journey that ultimately matters. It’s not a perfected ideal thing but I think that’s half the point and I wish there were more things like it out there.
Micron
Micron is a puzzle game built around the same basic concept seen in many “reflect the light beam/laser so it hits a certain point” puzzles that manages to establish its own identity by replacing the lasers with distinct balls/bullets. They fire at a set rate from either one or more origin points and hence introduce a timing element to the proceedings which ends up making a tremendous difference that allows all sorts of different puzzles to be built around it.
You are given a certain number of mirrors to deflect the shots with that you have to place in real time, and because of this it is possible to create a path that hits a certain switch, then place an additional mirror in the path to redirect it elsewhere now that you no longer have to worry about the original switch. Once you figure this out the game will create puzzles where multiple switches have to be hit at the same time, or where hitting a switch causes one door to open and another to close and you have to time your way through said doors in time with the switch being hit. It sounds tricky in writing but in practice it becomes fairly intuitive… and yet there will still be some puzzles that will feel very “I have no idea how the heck I can not only do this but have it times correctly.” In terms of puzzle games its first chunk (51 puzzles long) is pretty breeze but it will bite you at times in its second half, a few of them are definitely above average difficulty but you can generally skip them if you want to move on.
What really makes the game sing though is that this game is legitimately musical. You start with a base beat as the shots fire from their origin point, with extra beats being added each time a shot is reflected off a mirror or hits a switch, culminating in a legit song when you have the solution laid out as you have to hit the exit point five times in order to exit giving you a quick loop to enjoy. If playing with a controller that rumbles it thumps with each of these beats and hell… if it worked with the trance vibrator it’d probably have more of a following >_>
It adds in different colored shots that can only pass through lasers of the same color and a few other twists along the way, if one doesn’t get too stuck it is probably good for a few hours of puzzling. I admit that I walked in expecting it to be a bit simpler and derivative but it surprised me by being one of the stronger puzzle games I’ve come across in the bundle so far while being much more distinctive than I thought a game of this ilk could be.