Release Date: 05/02/2021
Played On: Win
Available On: AA / Mac / NS / Win
Time Played: 2h 56m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Joon, Pol, Muutsch, Char & Torfi
Publisher: Noodlecake
I promise I'll post more about some bigger games eventually, but right now I'm having a great time going through all the lovely little indies I've never mentioned before. These days I think one of my favourite gaming things to do is try out new little ideas and experiences that would never make it as a blockbuster release. After all, the more mainstream something is, the less interesting it ends up being.
Sure, it's not a revolutionary idea, but when you have those multi-million dollar budgets and huge studios full of thousands of people, it stands to reason that risk isn't something you like to entertain. A big budget failure has a much greater impact on more people than someone's little passion project that may or may not ever see the light of day. As much as I love a big spectacle from a huge studio, I'm more often excited about one little piece of a strange indie title that manages to catch my attention.
This is how Nuts ended up on my radar, as I was listening to a gaming podcast that mentioned it, so I looked it up on Steam and was immediately taken by the screenshots I saw. We can often get confused about what constitutes "good" graphics, but I always fall back on how valuable a clear art style is over the quantity of polygons and fidelity of textures. If you have a striking style for your game, and it works well in that context, I'm going to be interested right away.
Even at a glance it's clear to see that Nuts is going for a very definitive art style, as it utilises a very small palette of colour and simple shapes to build its world. Every surface is given a flat texture that only changes colour slightly when the lighting shifts. Otherwise in many places, everything is painted with the same brush. In motion, the game ends up feeling like an incomplete drawing, as any details in the world are highlighted with contrasting lines.
While shifts in colour exist and help delineate different environments, the overall style goes a long way to cement you into the world and keep you grounded throughout. What's more, the lack of definition in places is hardly an accident, as it relates directly to the gameplay and acts as a challenging aspect to overcome.
After all, the game is about investigation and mystery, which can often be obfuscated by the flat scenery and undefined geometry. I was surprised on a number of occasions by just how disorienting it can be to try and navigate an environment without all the usual clues from lighting, textures, and tessellation. Considering this is a game where you spend most of your time exploring, it makes the overall map a whole lore more intriguing, and brings on a real sense of discovery.
The gameplay loop in Nuts is fairly straight forward, as we play a researcher who is employed to survey and record the movements of squirrels in a number of key locations. In each location it's up to us to find out where certain squirrels are coming from, and where they are hiding their stash of nuts.
Thankfully the really fun part is figuring all of this out through the use of stationary cameras that record movements overnight. During the day you get to set up three cameras in locations you choose, with the hope that they're looking at a place where those squirrels will be. It's not until the following morning that you're able to review the footage and discover if your camera placement was on the money, or way off the mark.
At first it's fairly easy to predict the movements of each squirrel, meaning that all you have to do is point the cameras and come back in the morning for the footage you expect to see. However, as the game progresses, so does the difficulty and each squirrel becomes much harder to follow. It's only through some clever camera placements that you'll be able to follow the movements of some of the more erratic creatures in the forest.
While this isn't the kind of game that's going to challenge you to the point of frustration, there were definitely a few times towards the end that I stopped to scratch my noggin and think about my next move. As each environment gets busier and begins to show the stress of humans and their impact on the area, it becomes harder and harder to track where the squirrels are going at night, and where they're hiding their precious nuts.
In fact, one of the coolest themes happening in Nuts, is a comment on the need for conservation and how human beings impact the natural environment with their waste. Some areas in the game are uninviting and oppressively filled with pollutants and human-made garbage that shapes the landscape in ugly ways. Tracking squirrels through these disgusting environments really highlights just how horrible our impact on the earth can be, and it's something I love seeing discussed in games.
In some ways Nuts reminded me a little of Firewatch, but only in the sense that you're left in a remote area on your own to perform a job. The sense of isolation isn't as strong in Nuts, but the sheer nature of being alone in a wild landscape is enough to inspire some kind of mysterious vibes as you romp around the area without another human for miles.
There's something I find very compelling about this kind of game, which dances close enough to reality to make sense, but winks at the unknown often enough to keep me on my toes. A game about surveying the movements of squirrels in remote forested areas might not sound like the most exciting elevator pitch in the world, but I'm here to tell you that it's a lot of fun and this is a game with a lot to offer.
Where Nuts really stands out among all the other indie gems available to us in the video game world, is that it takes a simple concept and really runs with it in every way. The gameplay loop of tracking squirrels with strategic camera placements is the kind of puzzle that really gets its hooks in you fast. I found myself constantly playing for "just a little longer" so I could refine my setup and discover the next piece of the puzzle. So it is that the progression throughout is paced really well, and there are even a few odd discoveries to be made along the way.
Add to that the excellent and striking art style that does a fine job of serving the gameplay and enhancing the overall experience and you have quite a special little game. This is one that I feel should be on more people's radars, as it ends up achieving a lot more than it set out to do, and is far more compelling and entertaining than it would ever seem to be on paper.
It's games like Nuts that remind me why I love trying out a heap of little indie games, because eventually I'll end up playing a game like this and be completely satisfied with the experience. I really don't want to spoil anything at all about the game, but let's just finish this off with the notion that not everything is as it seems. In fact, by the time those credits roll, you might end up having more questions than you when you started.
Not bad for a little game about squirrels.