Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading. In this installment, we’re covering Tin Hearts by developer Rogue Sun.
Tin Hearts: (The Explanation)
Tin Hearts is a puzzle platformer game with DNA from the 90s era Lemmings game. In Tin Hearts you guide dozens of toy soldiers through a toy store up and over shelves, across books, and more using a variety of blocks. Each level grows in complexity adding new abilities in the early game that span the varied levels while you move the story along.
The story of Tin Hearts is told through the eyes of the toy maker as you view past events with him and his daughter playing with toys and being inquisitive towards something he is building for her. The game continues to tell these vignettes throughout the story of Tin Hearts which is welcome as it helps to break up the pacing of the game.
Within the first few sections of playing, you gain the ability to possess objects like blocks that have shaped holes within them that can be settled into puzzle pieces. You can turn the blocks horizontally and vertically to match them up and set them in place. As the soldiers move in line, they bounce off the angled blocks heading straight ahead. If you aren’t careful your toy soldiers will drop off the tabletops and platforms they walk across and drop to the floor shattering into pieces.
Other abilities you gain are the ability to speed up time, move it forward and reverse. This is helpful in that slowing time allows you time to move pieces into their next position when you have a limited amount within the level. You can also reverse time after making a mistake when your soldiers fall to their death. You can freely walk around the levels in Tin Hearts which gives you opportunities to see the story unfold through ghostly flashbacks and also reach more blocks scattered throughout the room.
Tin Hearts has a simplistic graphical style which allows the game to stay focused on what matters, the path from the toy box to the end gate which you are leading your soldiers towards. The music in Tin Hearts is full of instrumental tunes that promote a peaceful feeling which I found to be soothing alongside the lower lit toy store you work in.There is a lot to enjoy in the early game of Tin Hearts. If the early levels prove to grow in complexity through the games 40+ puzzles the game is sure to be fun and challenging for you. I would recommend picking up Tin Hearts and supporting this Lemmings-like game if this sounds like something you are interested in.
Tin Hearts: (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Rogue Sun
Publisher: Wired Productions
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Puzzle, Platformer, Other
No. of Players: 1 player
Release Date: April 20, 2023 (EU & NA)
Price: $29.99
File Size: 6.8 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
