Carto Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Carto
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4, Xbox and PC)
Developers | Publishers: Sunhead Games|Humble Games
Age Rating: US E (Everyone) | EU 3+
Price: US $19.99 |UK £17.99 |EU € 17,99
Release Date: October 27th 2020

Review code kindly provided by Sunhead Games

With such a wide array of puzzle games to choose from on the Switch, it can be hard for any to stand out from the crowd. Carto strives to do just that, with its own inventive twist on the genre.  It beckons with a thoroughly charming art-style and and a pleasant soundtrack, to go with the relaxing puzzle mechanics. You’ll encounter a nice cast of quirky characters along your journey, too. 🙂

Carto review LadiesGamers
Quirky Cast of Characters

Far From Home

Carto, the title character, is a curious young girl with powerful map-manipulation abilities. She comes by her talents naturally, as her Granny happens to be a gifted cartographer as well. One day, a map mishap occurs aboard their floating airship, and the two become separated during a subsequent violent storm. Carto has been hurled to the land below and now she must somehow make her way back to her dear Granny. In the meantime, she has much exploring & puzzle-solving to do!

Carto review LadiesGamers
Sliding Tiles to Solve the Puzzle

First, let me just start off by saying I love the look of this game. Its hand-drawn, lovingly-rendered graphics are a cut above most of its indie counterparts. The soothing beats and nature sounds that accompany your travels are also instantly engaging. There’s a variety of lush biomes to traverse, with forest & meadows, snowy mountains, and desert hills among them. Although much of the landscape is empty, the painterly environments are nonetheless pleasing to the eye.

Carto review LadiesGamers
Painterly Environments

Making Moves and Finding Your Groove

At the outset, Carto finds a scrolled-up map near her arrival point. Opening it, you’ll see that the game-world is laid out in square tiles which can be rearranged at will. By shifting or rotating these tiles, you can control the map and open up new paths or even reveal hidden areas. The catch is that their borders must match up with those of the tiles adjacent to them. So, if there’s water on one side of a square, that side has to align with a similar-edged piece. The same goes for borders of grassland, road, etc. You can then drop the tile into place on the map “grid.” The quest is to continually find new pieces of map as you explore. These will be discovered along the way, with each new area you unlock.

Carto review LadiesGamers
Constantly Changing the Terrain

Whenever you manipulate the Tetris-like configuration of squares, you’re changing the terrain on the ground. Huts and other structures may suddenly appear, areas will connect allowing Carto to proceed where she previously could not, and the way forward will open up. Every new section is a little puzzle, ones which start out easy at the beginning of the game and become increasingly more challenging as you progress.

By checking your surroundings you may find a clue for what you need to do, or get a hint from talking to one of the colorful locals. There is little hand-holding in this game, and the advice can be vague. You may find yourself frustrated at times, with the lack of guidance, and Carto wandering aimlessly in search of a solution. Since the map-based puzzles are the central focus of the game, you’ll require quite a bit of “outside-the-box” thinking and perhaps some luck, as well.

Carto review LadiesGamers
Map Based Puzzles

Friendships and Far-Flung Locales

As you travel, you’ll get to meet plenty of interesting characters, some of whom will enlist your help. You may be tasked with relocating a lost villager back to their home. This can be as simple as opening the map screen, then transporting the tile of land they’re standing on to a new spot over yonder. (There’s no telling how some of these denizens adjust to the ever-shifting ground under their feet! But none I met seemed to so much as raise as an eyebrow.)

At one point, you meet a kind teenage girl who’s reluctantly about to head out into the great unknown, on a solo trip. You befriend each other and agree to sail across the sea together. It’s a sweet little moment, in between the puzzling, one that highlights the themes of friendship & connection in the game.

Carto review LadiesGamers
Unlikely Friendships

The storytelling in Carto is basically expressed in speech bubbles of dialogue with those you meet. And all the characters I’ve come across so far are a pretty spirited bunch. There seems to be a lot of thought put into fleshing out this offbeat world.

There’s no combat or perishing, no danger. But there’s warmth, good humor, and moments to make you smile. One that I enjoyed involved luring some wayward sheep back to their lackadaisical shepherd boy. It was brief, but a very cute mini assignment.. There are people and things to locate, and using the map to connect or uncover them is your goal. You will cross mysterious woods, desert, and both grassy and snowy regions, all in a quest to ever expand the map. And reunite with Granny, of course!

Conclusion

Carto has a lot of heart at its core, with its endearing title character and family-driven narrative. The map-altering mechanic is user-friendly and offers a unique approach to the puzzle-adventure genre. While deceptively simple on its face, there are some challenges ahead and the going can get tough at times. With every map “riddle,” there seems to be but one solution to allow progression. The joy is in solving a particularly vexing one, when it all lines up just as it should.

The main drawback was that at times, things felt somewhat disconnected and flat. The developers clearly wanted a game that was puzzle-driven, first and foremost, and the exploration elements aren’t nearly as developed. But Carto has so much charm and wholesome appeal, that it’s genuinely easy to like. The storybook visuals are so pretty and I love the upbeat soundtrack.

The perfect cozy game to curl up in a blanket with, on a rainy afternoon!

Final Verdict: I like it a lot!

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