Its demo only took me 10 minutes, but this claymation picture book puzzle game inspired by medieval alchemy is one to watch out for
All Living Things is one of those games I had to check out based on its look alone. It's an interactive alchemical picture book with claymation art, and its demo has me looking forward to the full version of this short, experimental mood piece.
I'm just a simple country games journalist who doesn't know much about "hermetic alchemy," but by god can I recognize a vibe when I see one. All Living Things has utterly gorgeous art. Each one of its scenes is a wonderfully tactile toybox, and the combination of cryptic illuminated manuscript arcana with the sheer uncanniness of claymation is a winning one. It calls to mind something half-remembered from childhood, both nostalgic and unsettling, like that Mark Twain movie where they meet Satan.
The puzzles in the demo aren't too challenging, but I found them to be pleasing enough brain ticklers. Part of the appeal is definitely going in without explanation and just clicking around to figure out each scene as if it were a strange toy you found in the attic—even the start menu is a tiny puzzle, with symbols you have to click in the correct order to unlock the rest of the game, each one liquefying and reshaping as you select them in the correct order.
Digging into those mechanics more for those not averse to "spoilers," the game largely consists of clicking on elements of each scene in the correct order, with an incomplete scroll of esoteric writing offering clues as to how you should unpick each scene. You could brute force it if you wanted, but that'd be a waste of such a pleasant, meditative experience.
The demo of All Living Things features three puzzles of a planned 12, each one offering up a key to further unlock some sort of mysterious prize. I completed the demo in less than ten minutes, but I see this as an advantage: All Living Things is low-commitment, and demands only as much time as you're willing to put into it. Shortly after, I loaded it up again to show the first two puzzles to my fiancee. You can wishlist All Living Things and check out the demo for yourself over on Steam.
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