PC (meta) review: 'Wik & the Fable of Souls'

There was an era when games were original, fun, simple, deep, addictive and deeply rooted in their psychedelic fantasy roots. An era when reading a review just wasn't enough to actually make my poor young brain understand how the game played. An era when gaming journalism was at its infancy.

Funny thing is, the whole era came back to me with Wik & the Fable of Souls (Wik), when I first read about it in PCZone. It might have been nominated something along the lines of indy game of the month or weirdest character of the year, but actually understanding how Wik played and what exactly the bloody thing was all about, was nigh' on impossible. It looked intriguing though.

Fortunately I know all there is to it now.

Broadly speaking Wik is a platform/puzzle/action game, starring Wik and his tongue. Its visuals are beautiful, the gameplay is excellent, it features more than 100 levels, but this being two days after full-moon and less than a day before sailing away, my eloquence is at is nadir. Oh, and, as already mentioned, a puny traditional review won't help you understand the game's sheer brilliance.

So a meta-review (and a nice download) it is then... Or to be more precise, here's what the more (or less) esteemed gaming publications have to say about Wik:

Gamespot (9/10): "Wik & the Fable of Souls is a mix of challenging, intelligent gameplay and an intriguing, fairy-tale presentation that will appeal to just about anyone."

Game Chronicles (9.4/10): "It's hard to put a finger on what makes Wik & the Fable of Souls the stellar hit that it is. It could be the gorgeous visuals, even though the game takes place on static backgrounds. It could be the unlikely hero, Wik, who looks like a reject from the Oddworld series of games. Or perhaps it's the 120 levels of progressively challenging levels that blends classic arcade gameplay with thoughtful puzzle solving."

Eurogamer (8/10): "Wik the character is an Oddworld-looking frog-like creature who leaps from spot to spot and swings using his tongue like a trapeze. The idea is to use his unnatural agility to cartwheel through the air from platform to tree, grabbing up little green grubs, with all the action taking place on one screen of 2D play-area." (on the Xbox 360 version)

IGN (7.8/10): "It has an undeniably appealing visual style akin to the "Oddworld" titles back on PSOne. The game is mainly about controls, and after getting the hang of them you'll find the game pulls off what it's trying to do fairly well." (on the Xbox 360 version)

Gnome's Lair: that's a (nine) out of (ten).

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Related @ Gnome's Lair: Sensible Soccer 2006 and Knightsquire reviews, On Interactive Storytelling

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