Wildwood Down review

• Reviews by Johnny Nys
• Published:

Amusingly inventive cartoon murder mystery with a standout main character is sure to leave you feeling uplifted

Developers Micah and Luke Orsie of Crashable Studios immediately captured my attention with the announcement of their first game, Wildwood Down. (No, it’s not a game about rabbits; you’ve got that confused with the Richard Adams book.) This is a comedic murder mystery with a distinctive art style, but what instantly made it so special is the fact that the Orsies made this game in collaboration with their lifelong friend, Daniel D’Agostino. Daniel has Down syndrome, and is the inspiration for the main character, even voicing him and helping to write the dialogue.

I live close to a care home for people with intellectual disabilities. Only some have Down syndrome, but they are all familiar faces in our community. We often take a walk in the home’s park where they tend animals. They are all friendly, social, and curious. One of the most famous Belgian films is The Eighth Day, featuring a man with Down syndrome in the lead. And a couple of my favorite enigmatic fictional characters are the two orderlies in Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital, both with Down syndrome as well. Needless to say, Wildwood Down was a game I just HAD to play.

Whether or not you share a similar personal connection to the subject matter, I’m happy to report that the team-up between Daniel and the Orsies has resulted in a hilarious point-and-click adventure game full of entertaining obstacles that often require thinking laterally. Daniel has a very particular, unusual view of the world, and when confronted with a great mystery, it’s often amazing how he deals with obstacles. I must admit the graphical style deterred me for a bit, but that’s purely a matter of taste, and I’m very glad I could see past that to enjoy the game’s well-written story that balances lots of humor – both slapstick and clever jokes – with a darker mystery, creative solutions to inventory puzzles, and a main character you can really root for.

The game starts with an introductory video of the real-life Daniel (older now than his teenaged in-game counterpart) in the lead, whetting your appetite for what’s to come. Digital Daniel is taking a trip to the titular Wildwood Down, New Jersey, to participate in the traditional Senior Week, a huge graduation party taking place on the seaside boardwalk. Driving the car is his sister Becca. Daniel shares the backseat with their mellow friend Dakota, while Becca’s jerky boyfriend Josh is riding shotgun.

I’ve often questioned women’s taste in men, and Josh is a doozy. Upon the group’s arrival, he has no problem enslaving Daniel for the first fetch quest he can think of: Go get some coffee and donuts! Admittedly, that was probably retaliation for me – controlling Daniel – stealing the goof’s cap and throwing it out the car window earlier because he was being extremely rude. That’s just the kind of guy Josh is.

The first puzzle you encounter immediately shows a clear love of classic adventure games. Just as Daniel is about to pay for the coffees, a seagull takes off with his mom’s credit card. Conveniently, the first prize for a local drinking contest is a slingshot, so Daniel has to find a way to rig the contest so he comes out victorious. Clearly shenanigans worthy of a main character with plenty of panache.

Many a puzzle goes in a direction you won’t immediately see coming. Several times I had to think outside of the box – or at least the kind of box I’m familiar with. Sometimes it pays to not play by the rules, and often you are able to do things you might have always wanted to do in adventure games but were never given the option. Wildwood Down is not only creative in its puzzle solutions, but also very humorous, often at the expense of a non-playable character or even Daniel himself falling or crashing into something. (Of course, this being a cartoon game, no one is ever seriously injured.) I can only imagine how much fun the developers must have had coming up with these puzzles.

The plot soon thickens, however, when night falls and the boys realize Becca hasn’t returned yet from feeding the parking meter. Talk on the street is that the area has recently been terrorized by a serial killer named the Boardwalk Butcher, and Daniel is quickly confronted by the truth behind these rumors in quite a shocking turn of events, which still succeeds in adding a pinch of humor to it.

To achieve his objectives, Daniel simply does what needs to be done, with no regard to possible consequences. But his gentle demeanor and the real Daniel’s ad lib reactions as voice actor to these situations make it even funnier. Daniel has this loveable Bart Simpson “I didn’t do it” vibe that makes him a strong protagonist. He is also in constant dialogue with his conscience, who also performs as a narrator of sorts. Since Daniel himself isn’t that much of a conversationalist, even though he can really take care of himself, this back and forth banter adds a fun layer to the story and provides a bit of signposting as well, giving at least some idea of what you are supposed to do next.

Daniel meets loads of people during his search for his sister. Miggy is my favorite: this eclectic boardwalk vendor is a perky blonde girl who always has something to say even when Daniel simply walks past her stall – and even her second stall after Daniel may or may not have been complicit in wreaking havoc with the first one. Old Willy Wyldes zooms around on his electric wheelchair and provides Daniel with a fast-travel map to navigate the boardwalk. Jolly police officer Huck tries to uphold the law but quickly dives in the sand whenever he thinks he’s hearing gunshots. All the voice actors do amazingly well in bringing their on-screen sprites to life. They act not as realistic human beings but as suitable cartoon characters; a little bit exaggerated but without ever going too far over the top.

The game takes place across three days and three nights. Some locations you will visit in sunny daylight, others in the dark. You start off on one part of the boardwalk for the first cycle, with streetlights still giving the place a warm and bustling appearance during the nightly hours. Later you will have to find your way into the permanently closed aquarium and get to explore a lighthouse. Eventually you will wind up on another part of the boardwalk with new locations and characters, as well as an underground beach rave and the amusement park pier.

Wildwood Down

Genre:	Comedy, Mystery
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Stylized
Gameplay:	Puzzle, Quest
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Medium (5-10 hours)
Action:	Timed events, Chase
Difficulty:	Medium
Theme:	Missing persons

The graphics style of Wildwood Down definitely took some getting used to for me. It’s a 3D world but inhabited by 2D cardboard cut-out type pixel art characters, like flat versions of Minecraft people. It’s a stylistic choice, which is not my personal cup of Twisters Tea (a popular beverage in the game) but some will surely like it, and even for those who don’t, it doesn’t detract from the gaming experience. In fact, I had so much fun playing as Daniel that his and the other characters’ appearance was quickly pushed to the back of my mind. Only in extreme close-ups does the pixel art turn people into an ugly mess of blocky colors where you can hardly discern an eye from a nose. A beautiful addition, though, is a snapshot of Dan in the lower right corner whenever he feels a strong emotion. These portraits are of a more detailed pixel art style, far less chunky and with a more realistic appearance.

The game is elaborately animated with tourists traversing the boardwalk, seagulls soaring in the air, clouds drifting by, campfires crackling, and waves splashing on the shore, all standing out in the same pixel art style as the characters, and with accompanying sound effects. The music goes from relaxing reggae to the hard rock of Josh’s band the Spore Lords (music written and performed by another Orsie brother), and is sometimes even reminiscent of James Bond spy movies. Every scene and location has its signature soundtrack, complementing the scenery to make an excellent audiovisual whole.

Even after Daniel has discovered where his sister is, there are quite a few challenges left. There’s a mirror maze you have to traverse, and a warehouse filled with guards you have to avoid and even cleverly subdue by controlling the available machinery. A wannabe detective thinks Daniel himself is the serial killer, so you have to outsmart him as well. Then there’s an entire wrestling competition you have to win, and I really enjoyed the clever way it was put together.

First you have to learn special moves by providing your sensei-of-the-moment with inspirational photographs. Each opponent can only be defeated with one of these moves, so you have to pay attention to which one might work. But not before you stun them by attacking them several times in a row, selecting menu commands to hit them high, medium or low depending on their unique behavior. You are the only one to attack, but you have limited time to do so. Fail to attack correctly, and your opponent will retaliate. Succeed and you’ll get to select your finishing move at your leisure. These confrontations aren’t particularly hard, but it’s actually worth losing a fight first, because the animated cutscenes are so funny and brilliantly executed, like the special moves in a Final Fantasy game. If you do lose, you can simply try again by entering the wrestling ring until you have defeated everyone.

There are several more of these timed though well-integrated mini-games and action sequences throughout the game. For instance, you will have to play some arcade machines to win prize tickets, which you can then exchange for handy items. However, in a smart move by the developers, you can choose to turn these off and just play the game in full narrative mode, where Daniel will win automatically.

I played Wildwood Down with all its bells and whistles and had a great time doing so, though I should warn people who are prone to motion sickness: there’s one sequence where you have to stealthily avoid a bad guy whilst solving a puzzle. Here the camera changes from a typical adventure game side view to following Daniel around in a 3D environment, action game style, which I had to complete in two sittings since I started feeling really queasy. Thankfully there’s an option to skip this entire section for those who really can’t handle it. But I hope everyone gives it a try, because it’s really fun and provides a great feeling of accomplishment once you succeed.

While exploring Wildwood Down at your leisure, the game utilizes a simple one-click interface. There’s a hotspot highlighter and I must admit I did use it several times to make sure I didn’t miss anything, since I was often stuck for a way to solve a particular puzzle. A cardboard box icon in the bottom left corner opens up your inventory and reveals buttons for the menu settings and the fast-travel map. A right-click lets you further examine an inventory item you’ve collected, which is often necessary to find hidden stuff.

There’s also an in-game hint system available through a lightbulb button in the inventory box. It’s not tiered, so you only get one piece of advice on what it is you have to do next without giving away HOW you have to accomplish it exactly. It doesn’t really feel like cheating, since it’s still up to you to make the right connection.

Along with a checkpoint-based autosave function, the game offers five manual save slots, which I gladly used since the game occupied me for an incredibly entertaining ten hours. Every time I thought I’d reached the end, another challenge would pop up, but without once feeling tiresome or making me wish the credits had rolled instead.

Final Verdict

Wildwood Down’s hero Daniel is such a kind and endearing character, so concerned for his sister and friends that he always wants to do the right thing, though he’s not afraid to bend the rules once in a while when necessary. After all, sometimes the end justifies the means! This leads to some great adventure puzzling and (skippable) mini-games as you try to hunt down the serial killer menacing the boardwalk. While its choice of graphical design might not be to everyone’s taste, the many other fun elements of Daniel’s amusing adventure more than makes up for that. Everyone who wants to get down with this wildly comedic thriller will be wonderfully surprised at every turn.

Johnny played Wildwood Down on PC using a review code provided by the game’s publisher.