#turnfollow

At the center of the short, highly focused gameplay experience of  Packing Up the Rest of Your Stuff on the Last Day at Your Old Apartment is the just barely imprecise packing system. Items mostly correspond to a given set of quadrilateral space, but the amount they’ll actually take up once in a box is difficult to determine until the player actually places said items in among the others. This, combined with the fact that many items will be unassuming or unseen until near the end of a given play session means that the player may even feel compelled to unpack everything and repack it all again. Saving this is the fact the player can get rid of any item they don’t want to keep via a donation bag.

With such varied activities and 4 characters to play as there was a big demand on animation in Wide Ocean Big Jacket. Which is why it’s so impressive how much personality they get out of the small key frame budget they give to each character, wether they are walking, hiking, or carrying things. There must be more than ten or so bespoke walk cycles in this game and it’s only 45 mins long. Most 20 hour games don’t come close to that.

The player swaps between the 4 protagonists of Wide Ocean Big Jacket with regular consistency, giving time to the player to view their experiences from each perspective, as well as from a set of shared perspectives when several of them are paired together for specific sections. This allows a rich set of relationships to be fleshed out over the course of the narrative, with each character feeling distinct not only in and unto themselves, but also in regards to how they interact with the other player characters in turn. This especially comes to a head when characters take time to think on prior conversations, and how these discussions change their understanding of themselves, their relationships, and what their future holds.

It’s out really soon too. On 4th of February.

The player's role in Little Party is that of the observer. They have tasks and push story moments forward through their interactions, but as the mother, they are not an actor, but an audience. This reinforces the relationship the player character has with her daughter and her friends- she offers support and words of encouragement, but the pride she feels in her child comes from an understanding that she is merely watching her progeny's ideals and goals come to fruition (even if her child doesn't see this herself).