Tsioque starts us off with the tale of a Queen sworn to uphold the land! She rides out, far and away, and in her absence a scheming wizard whips up a diabolical plan to take over the castle. In the chaos, Princess Tsioque is thrown into a dungeon cell, and, equipped with only her wit to escape, must traverse the treacherous guarded castle, and stop the evil wizard! In this point-and-click adventure, you play as Princess Tsioque as she works her way through some sticky situations in a castle that’s filled to the brim with twists and turns!
The true heart of Tsioque lies within the amazing animations. Tsioque herself has this wonderful scowl of a stubborn and strong girl, which is a fantastic compliment to her over the top Powerpuff Girl eyes. Everything about Tsioque’s movements constantly cracked me up. She has an unwavering ferocity against every obstacle she comes across; ducking and sneaking past guards and even being imprisoned–she doesn’t bat an eyelid. In fact, the body language suggests that she’s not worried at all about her escape, journey, and that it’s only a matter of time until she inevitably gets what she wants.
Watch the Tsioque Kickstarter trailer #2 below:
The enemies are also hilarious. Bad guy peons that scratch their bums and cross their legs because they’re bursting for the bathroom (but can’t leave their guard post). Every little detail within Tsioque’s world is so carefully thought out and peppered with gentle dark humour. It’s something that I was so charmed to bits to see, often laughing out loud, and my kid (eight year old) was absolutely falling over themselves too. The transcending of the humour is so effortlessly done and genuinely great to enjoy.
In classic point-and-click games, there’s this nagging feeling to “over save” the game out of fear of losing progress. Sure, point-and-clicks have solutions that are easy reached…once they’re figured out. Tsioque is very generous in the auto-saving, which really gives you the freedom to experience every avenue–you don’t have to worry about getting captured because the game will instantly restart you to where you were before you clicked the dreaded dead end. It’s a fantastic way to take it all in without any of the fear that you’ll have to start from the beginning of the screen, or game and is something MUCH appreciated.
View some Tsioque screenshots in our gallery:
You’ll come across puzzles too, which add a bit a flavour to the mix. Using items out of your little satchel in the right spots is a lot of fun to do–and sometimes it takes a bit of collecting to get the right tool for the job. Exploring to find these objects is the very essence of Tsioque and coming from a notorious cutscene skipper, I wanted to search every nook and cranny if only to get an adorable animation out of it.
I honest can’t recommend Tsioque enough. It’s so brilliantly done and such a pleasure to play. I’ve played plenty of classic point-and-clicks, and Tsioque captures the root of the genre so incredibly well, that it’s hard to see how this one won’t be talked about for ages to come. If you are an adult, or if you’re a kid, you’ll no doubt enjoy the cheeky little story that Tsioque has to offer!
Tsioque was reviewed on PC/Steam using a digital code provided by the publisher.
Publisher: OhNoo Studio, Smile Developer: OhNoo Studio Release Date: November 7th, 2018 Reviewed On: PC/Steam
