Truberbrook Zeepond Review. Life is full of mysteries and surprises wouldn’t you say? As a matter of fact, it reminds me of a story which occurred in the 60’s of a young American scientist, with German origins, who won a holiday in the beautiful village of Truberbrook somewhere in Germany.

Narrative-driven point-and-click games are fairly easy to come by on the Switch. The newest addition, Trüberbrook, takes you back to 1967 Germany, and offers an engaging science-fiction interpretation of the era.

You play as Hans Tannhauser, a quantum physicist who has won a trip to the eponymous town of Trüberbrook under somewhat mysterious circumstances. You’ll meet a cast of entertaining characters during your vacation in this idyllic town, but be warned: not everything is as it seems.

As is typical for point-and-clicks, gameplay involves interacting with other characters and the environment in order to move the story forward. There’s a decent focus on puzzles, the successful completion of which will allow you to progress through the game. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Trüberbrook doesn’t really bring anything new to the table in this regard. However, this translates to familiar mechanics and a generally straightforward gameplay experience.

Unfortunately, though, Trüberbrook does fall victim to the same traps as a number of other point-and-clicks that wish to offer meaningful, stimulating gameplay without fundamentally reinvigorating the genre. Indeed, in its attempts to provide players with a challenge, the game simply resorts to puzzles based on unconventional combinations of objects and actions.

The result, of course, is that puzzle solutions are often not particularly predictable or easy to work out. If you find yourself stuck, you’ll often find yourself running through every single interaction option in a given context, often more than once, in search of a solution. This does have the effect of making gameplay feel a little sluggish at times, although the game makes up for it in other ways.

For instance, Trüberbrook certainly excels when it comes to its atmosphere. The game marries highly detailed backdrops with a unique animation style in order to create a world that’s bursting with character – perfect for the Nintendo Switch. The game’s audio is likewise fantastic, with a gorgeous soundtrack and outstanding voice acting bringing the world to life. The story is similarly engaging, even if a number of the plot points were left somewhat undeveloped. Everything is tied off by the game’s dry humour and well-timed non-sequiturs, which simply add to the charm.

Nevertheless, the game is admittedly held back by a host of technical problems. These range from mildly clunky controls to having an entire event sequence repeated (despite it not making narrative sense to do so) if you accidentally pick up a certain item twice. While these issues don’t render the game functionally unplayable, they do take some of the polish off what would otherwise have been a fairly robust entry into the genre.

At the end of the day, Trüberbrook doesn’t functionally reinvent the point-and-click narrative adventure. However, if you can look past its occasional lack of polish, the game’s excellent atmosphere and eccentric story make for a fairly decent experience.

Summary Sakura dungeon console commands.

While Trüberbrook suffers from a handful of technical issues and some occasionally sluggish gameplay, the story, atmosphere, and dry humour make for a largely enjoyable experience. However, if you don’t already love point-and-clicks, this one won’t change your mind.

Trüberbrook (Switch) Review

by Daan Koopman - April 16, 2019, 12:00 am PDT
Ford crate engines.

The 1960's German countryside can be engaging, but lacking in true moments.

When I played Trüberbrook last year, I was impressed. The handmade point and click game seemed like a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch, and I couldn't wait to see how the story would unfold. Everything in the world is made from real miniature models, with the rest being computer animated. The very inviting look and its abstract mystery-adventure atmosphere made me want to see how Trüberbrook would play out in the end. Initially, I was quite happy with the game, but it fell apart as I inched closer to the end.

Without spoiling too much, I would say that Trüberbrook consists of two different story arcs. The initial mystery of the game is tremendously exciting. Trüberbrook situates you in late 1960s West Germany where you play as a young American physicist, Hans Tannhauser. He happens to win a vacation to the aging resort of Trüberbrook and hopes to find some peace and quiet in these lush surroundings, but that plan soon goes awry. Strange things seem afoot in the town as a thief steals a piece the physicist is working on. Together with Gretchen, another scientist on the lookout for the truth, they try to uncover secrets that plague the town.

The opening hours of Trüberbrook feel like something not unlike a Twin Peaks episode. There are crazy labs, conspiracy theories, and a host of enjoyable characters. Every character that appears on screen is absolutely delightful, each with their own quirks that will make you smile. Hans is fantastic, too. He's trying to make sense of everything, while dictating it back to a voice recorder. Hans isn't one for sitting down and letting his curiosity fester. However, a robot in a laboratory named Barbarossa 2000 is my absolute highlight. The machine just wants a companion and befriends Hans at the end of a lengthy dialogue tree.

Sadly, the latter half of the adventure is somewhat of a letdown. While enjoyable, some answers ended up falling extremely flat. There are moments where the game builds up a moment, just before turning around and saying 'Nope!' Additionally, it feels as if Trüberbrook rushes towards the game's conclusion. Segments end long before they should in an effort to keep moving the action along. The initial set-up is incredibly strong, which makes those final hours so gut wrenching.

Across the eight hours of gameplay, the experience itself is quite fun. Point and click is a hard genre to get right on a console, but the developers tailor-made this one with that in mind. The various dialogue options are accessible and moving your cursor across the screen works surprisingly well. Next to the cursor, pressing a button will allow you to see everything that can be interacted with. This is particularly nice for players unfamiliar with the genre as they can think everything over at a glance. There isn't anything out of the ordinary really, but the puzzles do require some serious consideration. Some force you to keep special symbols in mind, while others rely on using specific items.

The only thing that I couldn't stand was the way the inventory was put together. Once you pick up something, you can't look it over again to know what you're carrying. In other games in the genre, it would be as simple as opening up a menu and dragging the cursor over the item. Trüberbrook, however, quickly flashes the item on screen and that is that. Hans also doesn't describe the items in question, which makes the situation all the more irritating. You can see little pictures when you're selecting the items, but that really isn't a solution to the overall problem.

The presentation of Trüberbrook is absolutely stunning. Like I mentioned in the opener, the game seamlessly combines miniature objects with computer-animated environments. The developers managed to bring classic western Germany alive with beautiful sights, sharp lighting effects, and tightly-knit segments. Trüberbrook runs surprisingly well on Nintendo Switch, and brings the entire PC experience over quite well. On top of that, the jazzy saxophone beats add much to the sense of mystery. The music compliments everything very nicely.

Trüberbrook is a good but not excellent point and click experience. The eight-hour journey has a fantastic start but is dragged down by some flat reveals and conclusions. The story feels really forced towards its conclusion, which is honestly quite undeserved. Trüberbrook's cast of colorful characters and its presentation are truly a delight, which help to elevate the proceedings. The only problem I had on the gameplay side was, quite frankly, a rather big one. The title's inventory system could use a bit of a tune-up to make it fully come into its own. If you can overlook these problems, Trüberbrook offers up fun moments all the way through.

Summary

Pros

• Simple yet effective point and click fun
• Stellar presentation
• Wonderful cast of characters

Cons

• Flat answers drag it down
• Inventory system could use work
• Story rushed to conclusion

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