Test your puzzle-solving skills in a short, surreal adventure game as you work to unravel the mystery behind the Hospital.
Follow The Meaning
Developer: HiKing Mind Studio
Price: $5
Platform: PC (reviewed), Mac
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.
Follow the Meaning is a short point-and-click adventure game set in a hand-drawn world. You play a detective named Paul who receives a letter telling him something sinister is afoot at the Hospital. The Hospital, separated from the rest of the town by a giant wall, seems to have full authority in the area, and people treated there return without their memories. With this conspiracy as your lead, you begin your investigation.
In standard point-and-click format, you can click characters or objects in the environment to interact with them or pick up an item. Although they aren’t shown by default, a “hint” option in the settings allows you to highlight everything you can currently interact with if you’re having trouble figuring out how to proceed. The main character is shown on the screen in most locations, but when you click on one of these spots, you are instantly transported to it and shown the interaction. The lack of a walking animation might disappoint some players, but it does streamline the process.
Items you collect can be used with things in the environment to solve puzzles. These types of inventory puzzles are indicated to you by a visual of the item appearing. For example, at the start of the game, you need to get off the starting island and into the town. If you click on the boat, a picture of oars appears alongside it. This is your clue that you need to find oars. You’ll encounter other puzzles along the way as well – some of which are quite surreal. Although many of the puzzles are simple to figure out, the more bizarre ones can take some time as you adjust your thinking to match. You don’t want to apply real-world logic to the tasks ahead of you but rather ask yourself what the game wants you to do. This almost dreamlike quality is present throughout the game, from puzzle solutions to the nature of the world itself. It clearly has a specific audience in mind, one that likes clever puzzles and bizarre worlds.
The story is equally surreal, although there is a clear narrative as you pursue the conspiracy at the Hospital. It’s easy enough to follow the major beats and intriguing enough as you progress, but the final answers and ambiguous ending might leave you scratching your head. Since the game only takes about an hour and a half to beat, it requires the story progression to be fairly quick, but that works for the strange experience that it is.
Finally, there is one optional side activity to pursue, as a character in town has lost her cats. There are 8 cats to find throughout the world, with an achievement for each one. Unfortunately, if you finish the game before finding them all, there’s no way to go back without starting the game over from the beginning. Still, since Follow the Meaning is quite short, that’s not such a huge demand, although the game has little room for variance until the ending.
The Final Word
If you’re looking for something straightforward or with a long, detailed story, this isn’t the game for you. But if you want a short, surreal sequence of puzzles in an adventure game format, Follow the Meaning should get you thinking. It aims to do something specific, and it does it well, even if it might not be to everyone’s tastes.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
