While most co-op games allow players to go to their own corners and do their own things, Tick Tock: A Tale for Two naturally encourages players to work together to overcome puzzles.
Watching a trailer, or watching someone play Tick Tock: A Tale for Two can be a bit underwhelming. “Neat. A very pretty puzzle game. Moving on.” But it’s not until you get your hands on the game that you can truly see the brilliance at work.
Fully Cross-Platform, No Red Tape Required
This is a game that I would recommend playing with anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a gamer. But as someone who often tries to get my non-gamer family members to play games with me, I know how hard it is to play when people don’t have access to consoles, or each person has access to different platforms, etc., making it very difficult to play a game without dragging everyone to my place. Fortunately, that is not a problem here. Tick Tock: A Tale for Two will be available on mobile, PC, and Switch in 2019. This means that whether your family member has a smartphone, a tablet, a PC, or a Switch you will be able to play together. It doesn’t matter if it is an iPhone, Android, what-have-you, if you can download it, you can play it together.
In a day and age where cross-play is notoriously sticky because of compatibility, security, and miles of red tape, how did such a small studio accomplish such robust cross-play?
Easy. The devices don’t have to talk to each other.
Since the players are doing all the communicating, the game doesn’t need to do any fancy fondoogery in the background. Progress is kept in sync because one player can’t progress without the other. And save points throughout the game ensure that players can both hop back in where they left off. Voila! A simple solution to an otherwise complex problem.
A Story That is Just as Fun to Unlock as the Puzzles
Tick Tock: A Tale for Two isn’t just a pretty series of puzzles. There is also an intriguing underlying story at play. I don’t want to say too much for fear of spoiling it, but the story is intrinsically interwoven into the puzzles and the world, which meant that for every puzzle we solved we also uncovered a new piece of the story. Piecing the story together as we pieced the puzzles together felt very natural and rewarding. It started to make me question every riddle, every beautiful location, and how it would all tie together to take us one step closer to understanding this mysterious figure.
Verdict
Tick Tock: A Tale for Two is a fantastic, beautiful game that can bring you closer to your friends and loved ones in ways that other co-ops can only dream of. Unfortunately, as a puzzle game, replayability will be nearly nonexistent, but I am hopeful that Other Tales Interactive will be able to build on what they’ve started with Tick Tock: A Tale for Two.
