From the worm-like character stretching to the size of the planetary system in Noby Noby Boy, to the tiny Prince hoarding a spherical mass of objects and even buildings in Katamari Damacy, the heroes of Keita Takahashi’s video games mirror the creator’s whimsical imaginative and prescient. To a T is one more Takahashi title that matches that playful custom, properly, to a tee. The protagonist is a younger teen, aptly named Teen, whose physique is completely caught in a T-pose. However whereas they can wiggle their fingers slightly or transfer their wrists to achieve out for an merchandise, their elbows are woefully nonexistent.
That’s okay, although! Like most of Takahashi’s video games, To a T can also be a heartwarming story about self-acceptance. Prep, an indie pop band from England, even composed an infectious, chirpy theme tune for the sport about already being the proper form, it doesn’t matter what you appear like.
In a world the place elbows are very a lot an adjunct to every day life, Teen has to undergo some fairly unconventional routines because of their irreversibly stiff arms. For one factor, Teen can’t placed on garments, use the bathroom, and even dry their face on their very own. Even strolling down the road is usually a little cumbersome, since their outstretched arms imply they might inadvertently slap their arms into one other passerby. Luckily for Teen, they’ve a trusty sidekick — a canine named Canine — who’s greater than keen to assist them navigate these duties.
Take washing your face, which might initially be an unfamiliar affair. As Teen, you’ll must twist your higher physique, reaching your hand towards the faucet — one which’s uniquely designed for Teen’s predicament — and decrease your head, so the stream of water spurts upward to your face. Then, you’ll maintain your place till your face is clear and freed from persistent eye boogers. Brushing your tooth is one other fiddly routine. That is carried out by reaching for a toothbrush with a very lengthy deal with, getting Canine’s assist in squirting a little bit of toothpaste on it, after which scrubbing your tooth till they’re squeaky clear.
However these actions aren’t designed to be tedious; you aren’t fastidiously calibrating each small motion such as you would in physics video games like Bennett Foddy’s QWOP and Getting Over It. As a substitute, these are merely different types of routines you’ll must get used to. When your arms are resolutely perpendicular to your physique, these actions are simply all in a day’s work.
They’re additionally genuinely joyful, even when the actions can seem superfluous. Rinsing your mouth is a matter of wriggling the analog stick or path keys after which urgent one other button to spit the water out into the sink. However you too can shake your head whereas doing that, in order that your spit will trickle out like a meandering, miniature waterfall. Utilizing the bathroom permits you to mash a number of buttons, simply so you’ll be able to take heed to Teen huffing and grunting as they go about their enterprise behind closed doorways. There’s actually no level to doing so aside from guffawing at these sights and sounds, but it surely’s such a pleasant method of prodding on the recreation’s inherent silliness. That’s the wonder behind To a T — it has zero pretensions concerning the sort of recreation it’s attempting to be.
In truth, To a T later informs you that you could skip any of those routines in case you like. Need to eat breakfast with out brushing your tooth proper after? For those who can tolerate seeing inexperienced gunk caught in your tooth for the remainder of the day, go proper forward. The sport isn’t going to penalize you for skipping tooth brushing for a day — or two.
To a T is chockful of such diminutive joys. Breakfast consists of cereal and flavored milk on daily basis, akin to chocolate, matcha, and mango, and there’s a small thrill in discovering what these mixtures would style wish to Teen. In a single meal, Teen commented that the cereal tasted like rubbery tires, and in one other it was an explosion of unusual, sweet flavors. Whatever the style, they welcomed each mouthful of those sugary treats with gusto.
Exploring the neighborhood, notably on weekends, feels particularly liberating, as your day is seemingly full of countless prospects for enjoyable. Eateries provide minigames within the type of speed-eating contests, as you devour a large corn on the cob and even hailstorms of ice cream. There are cash to gather and uncover among the many shrubberies and rooftops, new retailers to have a look at, and interesting locales — from a lighthouse to a magical mushroom forest — to get misplaced in. Even attending college was an journey, although Teen was largely reluctant to move to class in his first few days because of relentless bullying, an issue that does get resolved.
Picture: Annapurna Interactive
Ultimately, Teen discovers an innate expertise for flying. By spinning on their toes like a ballerina, they acquire the power to traverse greater grounds. This talent does have a little bit of a studying curve, nevertheless. Because it seems, flying isn’t notably intuitive, and it took me a number of tries to get my ft off the bottom. However as with most gimmicks in To a T, failing isn’t actually that large of a deal-breaker. You’re free to wander round city nevertheless you like, be it flying, working, or driving a unicycle.
As you delve deeper into the sport, To a T spins an more and more ludicrous-yet-charming story, one which Takahashi himself has known as being quite “silly” in an interview. Having completed the sport, I can attest that one in every of its closing moments is, certainly, virtually irredeemably nonsensical. But it additionally made me crack a extremely broad smile, one thing I haven’t carried out whereas taking part in video games shortly.
Enjoying and making video games amid a politically fraught local weather could seem frivolous, and this is a matter that Takahashi talked about he was fighting when he was engaged on his earlier recreation, Wattam. However To a T’s central message of acceptance, and of discovering pleasure in life’s smallest moments, seems like a salve for these attempting instances. On the very least, its positivity gave me the impetus to maintain trudging on — hopefully it’ll do the identical for you, too.
To a T launches on Could twenty eighth on the PS5, Xbox, and PC.
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