Handcrafted adventure game Trüberbrook released
Ooh this is pretty
As an admirer of dioramas and dollhouses (I once almost cried over tiny objects in a dollhouse shop, which tragically would've seemed like an apocalyptic monsoon for the wee people), I have a soft spot for handcrafted games and so have kept an eye on Trüberbrook. The adventure game is set in a German village the developers made by hand, a collection of sets and scenes built on a diddy scale from crafting materials. I mean, I am also interested in it being an adventure game with a spooky sci-fi story set during the Cold War, but really I'm here for the sets. Though it'll be a real bonus if the story-o-puzzling is good and all.
Alice B liked a lot of what she saw when she played a preview version of Trüberbrook in 2018, which was bafflingly being demonstrated with bad gamepad controls rather than the classic adventure game mouseclicks it also supports.
"I liked it enough that the short demo I played really did feel short," she said. "In the space of about half an hour I saw a suspicious midnight theft and glowing footprints, a suspicious lake, references to suspicious scientists with frankly suspicious names, and discovered that even Hans's presence in the village was very obviously suspicious. I'm still interested to explore all these weird things. But Christ, I'm not doing it with a controller."
Sage words.
Trüberbrook is out now on Steam and on GOG, priced at £22.49/€26.99/$26.99 including its 10% launch discount. It's made by Btf and published by Headup.
If you like adventure games and you too get weak at the knees when you see miniature cups and cutlery and vacuum cleaners and workbenches and paint cans, do check out Lumino City and especially The Dream Machine. God, The Dream Machine is good. Harold Halibut is still coming too, despite its 2017 Kickstarter falling short.
Do also scroll down on Trüberbrook's Steam or GOG page for an excellent collection of GIFs demonstrating some of the technical trickery. I am delighted that lighting is done for real on the physical models.