Game: Merrily Perilly
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle, Simulation, Role-Playing
System: Switch (also available on Steam and PlayStation)
Developer | Publisher: Top Hat Studios
Age Rating: US E10 | EU 3+
Price: US $4.99 | UK £4.49| EU € 4,99
Release Date: June 30 2021
Review code used with many thanks to Top Hat Studios.
Merrily Perilly can be put down as one of the silliest games I’ve ever played. The game is cartoony, colorful, full of life, and is short and sweet. There’s a lot of interesting ideas in this game, and it’s worth exploring if you like to laugh.
The Story and the Gameplay
Merrily Perilly is like the video game version of the movie Pure Luck with Martin Short. This very unlucky human wanders into town, literally dying of thirst. He finds a fountain to drink from, only to be bit by a snake. He manages to find the hospital and nurse to give him antivenom, but the medicine causes some nasty side effects…
Players have until the timer runs out in the upper left-hand corner of the screen to figure out the way to cure whatever ails them, which in turn will most likely cause some new illness to bring down our hero. You will be drowned, leeched to death, make a mess of your pants, poisoned, haunted, and so much more before figuring out how to get through the puzzle to the end.
Pros and Cons of Merrily Perilly
Merrily Perilly is good, goofy fun. It’s colorful and interesting. The main character manages to die and end the game in some hilariously awful ways, from being stung by bees to being blinded by mace. The only thing more fun than figuring out the puzzles yourself is to watch someone else play and stumble from death to death. The gameplay is unique and highly entertaining.
About the cons, the game is short and has little replayability. However, it is a great game to spring on all your friends, so it does continue to offer amusement long after you have finished all the puzzles for yourself. While it is only about 5 USD, players won’t get much playtime themselves out of this title.
For those players who like to have direction, this game will give them none whatsoever. There is no starting cutscene, no story, and no obvious goals. You come across items when you have certain debuffs, but the items are not explained.
There is also a point in which one of the characters uses a slur: she calls herself a G*psy, which is a slur for the Romani people. I hope that Top Hat will realize its error and update the game to reflect a less negative view towards the Romani. All it would have to do is change that one dialogue option to something less offensive.
Conclusion
All that being said, Merrily Perilly is probably the most fun I’ve had playing (and watching a game being played) in a long time. It’s silly, funny, colorful, and a real puzzle game. With the exception of the one dialogue option, the whole game is an absolute joy to play.
Final Verdict: I Like It A Lot.
