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- Tender Claws
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- Tender Claws
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- Tender Claws
Wide Ocean Big Jacket
Released On: Feb 4, 2020
79
7.2
All Platforms
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
79
67% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
22% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
79
67% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
22% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It’s all pretty low stakes, and it’s extremely low stress. But that’s the point — it’s designed to be a relaxing game you can finish in a single sitting. It’s not about the change the world, but it should be enough to put a smile on your face…and yes, maybe just make you want to go camping.
Wide Ocean, Big Jacket is a brief experience, perhaps 90 minutes including extra scenes recently added via patch, but it’s just the right length for delivering a richly-colored snapshot into the lives of its subjects, and as a memento of this brief camping trip where four people connect, it’s just perfect.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
7.2
50% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
50% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 User Ratings
7.2
50% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
50% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
A brilliant walking simulator that broke my expectations. Deeply human dialogue, nice atmosphere, nice graphics, and what turns out to be the most immersive camping game I've ever had ends up to be the best game of this year so far for me.
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Nintendo Switch
A tiny piece of interactive fiction, way more "fiction" than "interactive", and little more than one hour long. In that hour, mostly occupied by dialogue, Wide Ocean Big Jacket tells a nice little story about growing out of childhood. It does that with an extremely lightweight touch that will leave you with a smile on your face. Although it deals with serious themes such as parenthood and relationships, this game is never on the nose, and never takes itself too seriously.
To be clear, Wide Ocean Big Jacket can hardly be called a "game". It's in the same category as "Florence": a short story narrated through the medium of interactivity. However, it's better than Florence at grasping that elusive bittersweet feeling of a slice of life passing by. It's hard to play this game without situating it in your own childhood, so that each little vignette fades to the colors of a cherished memory from your pre-teen years.
The authors struck a perfect tone with this thing, and I'm looking forward to their next work.
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Nintendo Switch
The game captures place and feeling through honing in on things that are singular, small, and warm.
The stakes aren't high, and given how ridiculously high the stakes often are in video game stories, I appreciate the humble slice-of-life premise. Still, I would have liked to see a little more ambition – something to wrap a bow on an otherwise pleasant present. I ended Wide Ocean Big Jacket feeling good, and it resonates, but at the same time, it's not necessarily an experience that will stick with me.
Wide Ocean Big Jacket is a game about what happens in between the life-changing moments. About how everyday interactions and conversations are interesting in their own way. It’s a memorable experience built around relatable characters, fun dialogue, and clever gameplay moments.
From a gameplay standpoint, Wide Ocean Big Jacket is an extremely simple game - with 'game' put between the biggest quote marks imaginable. As an experience, though, this is something else entirely. Turnfollow's tiny adventure is basically a funny, and occasionally very sweet, slice-of-life tale of four people enjoying themselves in the woods, while also dealing with some serious matters, but not in a very serious way. It's not a narrative-driven game. It is vacation in video game form - and only the good parts are included.
If you're looking for a relaxing, calm, amusing short story, Wide Ocean Big Jacket should be a perfect choice to help pass the hour.
So sad that this game is only 90 minutes. Definitely need to see more from these devs. Although it's short, the characters develope super obvious personalities that make it an immersive and memorable game. There's also a small option towards the end that gives you varying endings. Who doesn't love that?
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Nintendo Switch
The reviews made me think this game was going to be a lot more interesting than it was. It was kind of boring TBH. I didn’t like how I’d get stuck certain areas exploring. The dialog was eh. Didn’t seem like there was much of a point....
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Nintendo Switch
Summary Take part in a classic camping trip: Roast hot dogs on the fire, go birdwatching, tell ghost stories, grab a beverage from the cooler and do cartwheels on the beach. WOBJ is a short story game including 20 chapters, 4 playable characters, 10,000 words of dialog and 8 explorable areas, all rendered in a beautiful 2D/3D art style.
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Feb 4, 2020
Developer:
- Turnfollow
Publisher: Tender Claws
Genres:
