Most triple-A developers rarely get the chance to step outside of their wheelhouse. Once a series becomes popular, that is basically the only thing that studio will be working on until fans grow tired of it. Just ask the likes of Activision, Rockstar, and EA: all three are known for their yearly franchises that hardly ever dare to be different. That same thing can't be said of the indie space.
That brings us to our subject for today: Amanita Design. Primarily known for its point-and-click adventure titles, the studio's latest game is something entirely different. Creaks is a throwback to the classic days of "cinematic platformers" where puzzles were put front and center with little to no combat involved. Your brain is your deadliest tool and you'll be putting it to extensive use.
It may lack points for originality, but Creaks is another fine example of the stellar work that Amanita manages to make look effortless.
No Words Needed
Taking a cue from Amanita's other titles, Creaks is a game with zero dialogue. Characters will grunt and make funny noises, but that is the closest you'll get to anything approaching speech. This is a purely audio/visual game that depicts its plot through short cutscenes and contextual clues. This aesthetic choice follows through in the gameplay department, which is given short tutorials that use stenciled input icons to teach you instead of beating you over the head with drawn-out text boxes.
It's refreshing to experience a game that respects the player's intelligence. While there are maybe a few segments that could use a little clarification, you won't need to memorize intense button inputs or deal with skill trees and all that jazz. The formula gets established early on and the puzzle designers at Amanita are able to milk that concept for everything it is worth over the course of the five-hour story.
Said formula is that of a puzzle platformer in the vein of classics like Prince of Persia or Oddworld. A first for the studio, Creaks is actually an action game instead of a point-and-click title. What this means is that gamepad players won't have to worry about clunky controls as the result of a conversion from mouse and keyboard. The movement of your main character may feel a little stiff, but you'll be maneuvering in a deliberate manner across 2D environments and attempting to figure out solutions to puzzles that initially feel obtuse. Through the limited environmental interactivity, you'll eventually come across the answer and move onto the next room.
In some ways, it feels like a refinement of the formula that Jonathan Blow's Braid brought to the mainstream in 2008. It is game design 101, but something that so many larger titles often forget about when trying to push for "cinematic" immersion. Creaks wants you to have fun, first and foremost, and it puts classic design philosophy at the forefront.
The main hook for Creaks is that of the titular enemies. As you'll learn within minutes, shining a light on these foes turns them into harmless furniture that can then be utilized to reach higher places. There are a lot of twists on the idea with different enemy types and ways to manipulate their stationary selves that makes for a gripping campaign. I had a hard time prying myself away and was surprised at how quickly I got to the end credits. To say the pacing is stellar is almost an understatement.
Taking It All In
Much like Amanita's previous efforts, Creaks is brought to life through a beautiful hand-drawn art style. Optimized for play in 4K output, the ability to zoom in on the environment lets you soak in all of the detail that Amanita's artists have captured. That all of the rooms are small, self-contained areas means you won't be overwhelmed with spectacular sights all at once.
The style, itself, is something of a mixture between the cute and the spooky. Creaks is primarily a horror game, but you're obviously not supposed to be scared senseless. The ugly environments are deliberately so, rendered to make you feel uneasy while venturing further and further into this strange land. It's breathtaking, which is a word that should just be included in Amanita's official company description.
The same goes for the soundtrack, composed by Joe Acheson of Hidden Orchestra. There are a variety of styles here that each evokes a different feeling in the various environments. You'll hear creepy chords and pounding organs before transitioning to a new area and reveling in melancholic synth. A lot of the music was done in collaboration with longtime Amanita composer Tomas Dvorak and it absolutely sounds it. There's a hint of Machinarium in here.
'Nuff Said
Everything coalesces into a whole that is definitely much greater than its parts. Taken on their own, the various systems and ideas in Creaks aren't completely original. I can see a ton of inspiration from classic games and even some films. When everything clicks, Creaks is possibly the best game Amanita has currently created.
The only spot where others may disagree is with regards to difficulty. For one, the action-based nature of this title means your character can actually die. It's frustrating to come close to a solution and then get killed, but frequent checkpoints cut down on repetition. Secondly, there are a few enemy patterns that aren't discreetly spelled out, which led to me walking around confused for 15 minutes in one section. A hint system could have helped with that.
Those small flaws don't detract from what is a great little puzzle game, though. Amanita basically has a perfect track record when it comes to its different releases and Creaks does not break that trend. It certainly is something new for the studio that longtime fans may not immediately gel with, but those that have a love of the weird and creepy will find a lot to admire in Creaks.
A PC copy of Creaks was provided to TheGamer for this review. Creaks is now available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and iOS.
Creaks