Wide Ocean Big Jacket

Wide Ocean Big Jacket is one of the best short narrative games I’ve played in years. A realist drama about a small quasi-family on a camping trip, it’s very funny, shows how well games can tell stories, and comes with a depth-charge of feeling and meaning. Big ups to Turnfollow.

I quite enjoyed this, but be warned it is short. I cleared it out in 50 minutes, so the promise of "20 chapters with four playable characters" is technically true but might skew your expectations to a longer experience. Expecting a longer experience left me feeling let down when I finished but if you go into this knowing it'll kill an hour with a sweet and almost poignant slice of life story you'll enjoy it.

What a little gem this game is. No traditional gameplay, so no action, no puzzles, et cetera. You spend the vast majority of your time just moving the characters around and reading dialogue. But the writing is huh-larious, and the cast of characters are all charming, with Mord sort of stealing the show. I've already played through it thrice, and will probably play it again every few years for the rest of my dang life.

A simple narrative that made me cry.

We are in chilly, sad times and this was such a comforting little escape. The dialogue is a little Tumblry but then so am I. Built up in its warmth and honesty until it felt like one of the gentler Duplass Bros. productions. Made me want to experience camping with a partner at 13 in uhhh a parallel universe where circumstances were completely different. Absolutely loved it.

Wide Ocean Big Jacket feels like being invited into a small fragment of someone’s life. Just like Ben says, it feels like “a tiny little life.” It made me laugh, it made me feel tender, and it made me care about its characters in such a short time. Turnfollow always finds something special in moments like this, and this game left me with a really warm feeling. Very Wes Anderson in the best way. Wide Ocean Big Jacket se siente como ser invitado a un pequeño fragmento de la vida de alguien. Como dice Ben, se siente como “una pequeña vida”. Me hizo reír, me dio ternura y me hizo conectar con sus personajes en muy poco tiempo. Turnfollow siempre encuentra algo especial en momentos así, y este juego me dejó una sensación muy linda. Muy Wes Anderson, en el mejor sentido.

Got this game while on sale, and it's quite a good, short but sweet The story is about the experiences of 4 characters going on a camping trip, Brad and Cloanne (married, has a lot of experience camping), and Mord and Ben (best friends who recently coupled with Mord's initiative, doesn't camp much) In the game we take turns controlling the characters, and we can interact with the other characters or the environment, but what we can interact with is limited and can't be chosen, like when the option to interact is there, a pop up will show up, otherwise you can just roam around the environment but can't really do much, other than just seeing things for your own curiosity. Controls are mainly WSAD and E or spacebar The story focuses on the conversations between the characters, mostly light hearted chatter, but there were a few topics that can be considered important but not mentioned deeply, like [spoiler]Ben maybe going through a divorced parent situation, Cloanne doesn't want a child but Brad maybe does, and how Mord is figuring out about coupling[/spoiler]. The dialogues are well written, they seem natural like how a person would talk like in real life, and also reflects the character's personality well. I find the dialogues pretty funny, i kinda like Mord (eventhough i feel sometimes she's a bit rude to her uncle, but then again the uncle and aunt is pretty chill i guess; and she doesn't use public facilities properly lol ), but i find all the characters pretty likeable, except the mean teens (where are their tents btw??) There are so many funny scenes, like mr. glowbones, cooking (or more like burning) the hotdog, the flashlight thing and the stick in the stone, and many others XD In conclusion, i'd say this is good pick, short cozy game with funny dialogues, story is pretty linear, though you do have some choices in the game, which doesn't really affect the ending, just for your entertainment hahaahaaa [spoiler]glowbones placing spots are so funny i really can't[/spoiler]