Along Together

Here's a really good indie puzzle VR game. It's focused on guiding a kid through environmental puzzles. They start out extremely basic, only amounting to going through the motions. But there are some very clever puzzle designs that I really enjoyed.

Motion controllers are required, but interactions with puzzle elements are mostly "point & click", with some slight gesturing. Other than high-fiveing the kid, there are no real physical interactions.

That suits this game's perspective, actually. The camera moves automatically, so that's going to take some "VR legs" to not feel motion sickness. Movement is very gentle and I think most people will get used to it quickly.

Along Together is coming up on six years old, but it doesn't feel outdated to me. In fact, the simple and clean visuals let me try the Oculus Quest II's 120 Hz mode without any performance hiccups. This is just a relaxed and smooth game to play. I completed it and went back for all the achievements in one Saturday evening.

Great little VR puzzle game.

This game is cute.

The graphics are simple and everything runs smooth and looks superb, even the camera has nice sweeping motions as you follow your kid around.

The basic game play is you point to move your kid around the map, and they interact with objects, while you move the larger world intractable around. Early on this amounts to moving a log left and right, or spinning it to create a platform for your kid to walk across.

Just be aware that if you're new to VR, the camera does moves by itself so you may prefer to play seated until you've got your 'VR legs'. I didn't have any issue standing while playing, but it will leave you unsteady on your feet if you're not used to it.

Perfect game if you're into logical puzzles, they're not overly hard so would cater to adults and children alike.

Definitely one to pickup if you see it on sale.

Fun game! I want to reunite the kid with the dog!!

This is puzzle a game, where you will to interact with the world to clear the path for your character friend. I recommend not playing too many levels in a row, and to take breaks once in a while, for the best experience. This way, you will always come back to the game with a fresh perspective.

I also recommend playing this sitting down. The camera will move a bit when the character walks about, and it made me a bit dizzy at first, when I was standing. But sitting down on a chair, this is not an issue.

Very nice little adventure. Puzzles simple but enjoyable. Couple of bugs meant I had to restart 2 levels to get the dog to flick a switch. The collectibles are actually quite nostalgic and interactable on the level select screen so a bit more rewarding than usual pointless extras. It's a short nice little game.

Played on HTC Vive Pro/Index controllers/RTX2060Super

Oh the game is so cute, and well done.
The graphics are excellent and cartoony, the puzzles are quite easy but very fun.
I took me about 3 hours, but that was with replaying 1 'room' as I had missed the treasure in my first play of that 'room'.

I paid 3,99 euro's when it was on sale, and it's definitely worth the price.
Looking forward to playing the other games by this developer, and hope they'll have a sequel to 'Along Together' as I don't mind seeing more of the little girl and her dog (I guided the girl, might do a replay guiding the boy, but I don't think there will be any difference).

Truly adorable and very kid-friendly. The art style and gameplay is similar to Lucky's Tale (an Oculus exclusive) but it's slower and "safer", i.e. it's not a platformer where you die and re-spawn; it's more like a puzzle platformer that's designed to be fun and easy for younger kids. (I'd say roughly 6-8, depending on the kid.) Instead of falling and dying, or being eaten, or whatever, you just flail your arms and can't go past a fall point, or get "scared" by crows and can't go further until you deal with them. (With a satisfying slingshot.) Gameplay may be slow for those looking for a fast-paced platformer, but this is more of a relaxed puzzle-solver with platform elements that is sweet, very family-friendly, and something one can take their time with. Voice acting is similar to Shaun the Sheep: easily recognizable vocal "noises" that aren't really in any specific language.

PROS:
Pleasant, simple art style that will appeal to those liking art like Mario or low-poly styles. The gameplay is well thought out; when you solve a puzzle that results in something moving or opening, your character will point at it so you don't accidentally miss it because you were looking the wrong way. Nicely done. Supports the Valve Index without issues, though the in-game hints still show Vive wands. However, actual gameplay is just fine with the Index controllers.

CONS:
There are two potential issues: First, there is some auto-movement of the third-person camera that could potentially impact someone who hasn't yet developed their "VR legs" as it can be abrupt and unexpected. Sitting down helps with that but I could still see someone new to VR disliking that, even though the view shrinks to tunnel vision to minimize that impact, but it's still there. There is also some occasional, slight annoyance when attempting to control the character: sometimes it's hard to navigate narrow areas, and sometimes (usually with the slingshot) you get "stuck" trying to exit extra modes. That said, these are minor annoyances. You do have multiple control scheme options: point and click or joystick (still using VR controllers) that helps to mitigate this somewhat.

I bought it to play with my 5-year-old and unfortunately it's just too advanced for her. That said, there is (almost: see cons, above) no reason I wouldn't recommend it. I refunded this game because of my daughter's age but I would absolutely recommend it for anyone older than 6 and I may well buy it again when she's older.

Very awesome game! And I am not a fan of puzzle games in general, due to my very impatient personality. I cannot afford to spend hours of my precious time trying to solve a puzzle....it's just too frustrating for me. So even if you do not like puzzle games, I will think this one will surprisingly impress you.

I just cannot understand the only two (2) negative reviews at the time of this writing. I did not experience anything that would cause me to write a negative review about this very creative and imaginative game by the Developer. By the way, this developer has a couple of other games that I purchased in a 3-Game bundle, and they are all fantastic, and very affordable when bundled.

It took me eight (8) hours to get through all three (3) levels, and I know people that have paid much more than the full retail price of $15 for that much time to complete a game. There is good replay value as well after sufficient time has passed, and you forget some of the puzzles. So I will likely come back to this one after some time passes...it was that much fun to play more than once.

Developer, if you are still out there, please keep your games coming. You are a very talented VR game creator.

Although charming, this VR platformer misses its mark by making redundant puzzles and not utilizing its VR capabilities.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game fit a nice cartoon world, but I have seen better. Definitely doesn't compare to the cartoon-realism in say Moss or the hyper-cartoon VR game Lucky's Tale. 1/2

Music/Sound Effects

Other than the music track rolling during the beginning and end credits, the music was average. As for the music track in the main menu, I actually thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and found it to be a good tune. Sound effects are very average. This includes carts rolling, cars crashing, and apples falling out of trees. 1/2

Storyline/Bugs

Story is basically nonexistent. Here is the story, you are a kid and you lost your dog. You have to find your dog through a series of areas. You find your dog. Game End. I found some bugs during the 3rd and final world during the junkyard section. This included map clipping and in one rare instance, a car totally bugged out. 0.5/2

Pacing

Pacing is not done too well, as the game fails to make use of VR mechanics to keep the game fresh. At the beginning of the game, I believed that the one interaction in the first level, "slingshot mechanic" was very unique and hoped for more things like that. The slingshot was re-used for all levels, and no other unique VR mechanics were introduced. The only things that were introduced were new puzzle ideas and level designs (which weren't all too different). 1/2

Gameplay/Length

Like I said in the pacing section, gameplay is very bland and the puzzles were at best, mediocre, as there was a lot of redundant back and forth. However, one thing I found very unique about this game were the 15 levels collectibles. Each collectible served as a toy that the kid that you play as could grab, when you travel back to hub treehouse, you are able to play with all your collectibles. This was a very unique mechanic, which I wish was slightly expanded upon. Length of the game is up to the player, but it took me approximately 2.6 hours to beat the game with only 2 collectibles missing. I'm guessing this game could definitely become 3 hours if you took the time to look for all collectibles. 1/2

FINAL VERDICT

Although charming and sweet, this game just isn't the right VR platformer on the market. With great titles such as Moss that are consistently being updated, I see no reason for you (the consumer) to buy this title. If it utilized more VR mechanics, perhaphs it could attain a higher score. For now, I give this game a 4.5/10 (BELOW AVERAGE).

Would recommend if on sale.

Pro:
- Relaxing, fun, easy to pick up.
- The puzzles are satisfying, even if not very challenging.
- The game looks pretty good, and the mechanics feel right most of the time.
- Some mild warm-and-fuzzies, given the premise of the game. Occasional interactions with the kid are a nice touch too.

Con:
- Pretty short, and probably not a lot of replay value.

Not my normal type of game. No blood, no horror, no online multiplayer, and yet I enjoyed the simple ride. You might say it’s a kiddie game, but at 52 I played it from start to finish and would recommend it to anyone for a nice change of pace game. Now time to get back to War Dust and Pavlov 😀

A nice game for kids.

You guide a child through levels that have objects that need to be arranged/moved in a certain way.

The only thing I did not like is how simple the graphics are.

Played On: HTC Vive

Rating: 4.0/5.0 - Excellent, highly worth playing.

Charming, wholesome, pleasant, engaging, and unique. A wonderful indie title. That said, be warned that this game isn't as evocative as you'd expect; it's target audience is definitely children. However, with the often thoughtful puzzles, the artistic style, the lovely soundtrack, and the bonus, if simple, scavenger hunt element, there's still plenty here for adults to enjoy if they're in the right mindset.

Negative points are that the first chapter in its entirety is a bit of a tutorial-esque wag and that the game is fairly short, clocking in at only 2-3hrs for a 100% completion with little replay value. Beyond chapter one the puzzles get better and require more and more spacial reasoning and logic though and chapter one isn't unpleasant by any means, just too easy.

Overall, this is worth it at full price if it's for your kids and on sale if it's for yourself. Real solid title for youth development to the extent that I'd argue it should be nominated for an award in the category. Excellent learning/teaching tool.

A cute and enjoyable VR platformer. Takes about 2-3 hrs as some puzzles are pretty linear for adults. Gfx are crisp and colorful but not terribly detailed.

Really enjoyed being a benevolent and helping "god" for once instead of an agent of destruction. My other favorite is when the dog parallels the kid to "work together" to advance.

The hardest part: the optional Box Jump minigame :)

Easy fun. Found all the treasures and finished it in 2.7 hrs. Twenty is too expensive, wait for a sale.

I think this game would be great for kids. However, I´d like to point out that it is not really a game for adults. I say this because, somehow, the game´s trailer makes it look as if it would be, showing scenes of a game that while simple, might be beautifully evocative. Well, it is not, it´s just a kid´s game. Also, the trailer makes it look as if the game would have beautiful graphics that an adult might appreciate besides the simplicity of the game. Well, it doesn´t, it´s just a kid´s game. It is not evocative, and it is not beautiful, as i.e. Lucky's Tale is. It´s not a bad game, for kids in fact is great, but I think the trailer is somehow misleading. Also, I think the promotional picture is also missleading, because while the main characters are beautifully made, the landscape is not. Textures and models are very simple and low quality, except for the main characters.

8/10
This a really clever little platform puzzler game. Way better than Lucky's Tale. However, and it is a repeated problem with VR titles, at under 2 hours playtime it is way too short. I recommend this, but catch it at a bargain.

This is a great game! For all of the Windows Mixed Reality users out there it worked perfectly all the way through. The puzzles are satisfying; not too hard, nor too easy. The difficulty and length and complexity of the puzzles builds at a nice pace. It had about 3hrs of total playtime for me to solve all of the puzzles which to me felt just right! For me if it had more it would have been stretching it to be too long. OTOH if they released an expansion someday with more puzzles I would probably play it! There are also some fun collectables to unlock (including a classic gameboy with a cute playable custom game in it!) and a bunch of achievements (most of which I chose not to try to attain). They offer two control schemes: a point and click (sort of) and a platformer (sort of). I did about half of the game with the point and click and the other half with platformer. Above all it is super cute in every way and its clear that the devs but a lot of heart into this because it is just fun and chill to play.

Excellent game! its a puzzle platformer with a pointer. It has collectibles. graphics, sound, voice are excellent.

Great Game. Very fun, worth the money.
I went in blind and finished the game in 3.3 hours.
It's a platformer/puzzle game where you have to help the kid you pick move around the stage to help save Rishu, a very 'special' looking doggie. A nice change for VR when most of the games are shooters, weird tower defense games, or some that are just buggy messes. It is a great game for kids if that is something you are looking for. I have a lot of nephews and nieces and I'm sure they will have a blast playing it.

When starting you can pick either a boy or girl, kind of like pokemon. You then proceed right into a short tutorial to understand the controls and then you are good to go. I'm using the Vive so I can only speak for the controls using that and not other VR systems. The controls are mostly point and click, but you can swap them to the platformer setting which I tried half way through. Both settings are easy to use, so just pick whichever you find more confortable. I never ran into a problem with the controls getting in the way of actually enjoying the game, which is a big plus for me. The camera moves with the kid so you have no control over it. Dispite this, I never ran into a spot where it was a problem. Some of the special treasures you can collect actually abuse the fact that you can't look around corners without making the kid walk around it first.

Very great game to introduce first timers to VR. It's simple to understand and at the same time some of the stages take a while to understand and get through. I only wish there were more stages with more difficult puzzles. Some of the puzzles felt very linear and all you had to do was just move to the next button/switch/platform and activate it, then walk to the next one and repeat. Maybe they could even do a stage that requires you to control both kids at once? I may replay with the other kid and go for 100% achievement at some point.

There are very few bugs that I ran into, and all but one of the stages I did not have to 'retry', so there isn't a lot of room for error. The one stage I did with the crane magnets and the cars is a little goofy. I put the car in the wrong spot and when the magnet crane picked it back up it picked it up slightly off (as in the magnet clipped into the car) so then when I dropped it in the correct spot the car fell in such a way that I could not pick it back up again to finish the stage no matter what and I was forced to restart. Not sure if that was intentional or not but I probably spent 20 mins trying to figure the stage out before I restarted.
Edit: They fixed the problem with the cars after I posted this review, so ignore this last bit.

All in all a great game. Would love to see more games like this for VR.