Boxville 2
Website: https://triomatica.games/boxville2/
Price: $5-7 USD
Blurb: “Two can friends had an important job from the mayor to set up fireworks for the city's celebration. But due to a mistake, the fireworks went off wrong, causing chaos in the city. Worse, one of the friends went missing. Now, the main character, a red can, has to explore different areas and secret spots in Boxville and even travel outside the city to fix everything and find his friend.“
I will say that I’m surprised that this game got a sequel. This may be that people are looking elsewhere for their gaming fixes, with the AAA studios pushing political messages in their games. People want to play games to have fun and take their minds off the crap in the real world, not be force-fed political propaganda. While *I failed to see the “fun” in this title, others may find it to be so, as the steam reviews are positive.
Installation:
The GOG installer works like a charm under Ubuntu 24.04, the minimum specs are also the recommended specs as the game does not require a lot to run. The game is also available on the Epic game store, but they do not offer a Linux version. You can install the demo on Steam right now.
Recommended system requirements: System: Ubuntu 20.04 or newer Processor: Intel Core i3 Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: Integrated Disk space: 2 GB of available space
You can launch it from the menu, once done.
Graphics:
This Indie title looks gorgeous (old-style soviet cartoons meet Machinarium if I had to give a one-liner). The cans look like they are going to leap off the screen at any moment, with hand-drawn backgrounds that are interesting. The animation is a little bit stiff, but as I may have pointed out, not a AAA-title, and if they were going for the retro soviet-era cartoons, they hit the nail on the head.
The quests or hints to the current puzzle are hand drawn, giving the game a personalized feel, though later on there are different quests/hints/puzzle indicators, whatever you want to call them.
A lot of the game is however cute as a button, with a blue can and his “dog”, a tuna can, who plays fetch in one scene, for instance.
Sounds:
The game relies on ASMR-type sounds to draw you into the game, and while it does work, the sounds need to be normalized as some are too loud and some too soft, meaning that when you pump up the volume for the soft ones, the others become irritating. The sounds are “real” too, meaning that when the can flips his lighter, you hear a lighter flip, not an approximation or a stand-in sound. I was a bit disappointed to hear a drone sound for the firework, though it was funny (I may need to explain that one, the studio is a Ukranian….). The soundscape itself is great, other than the volume issue. The game is not a “talkie”; it communicates with sounds and sketches only.
Gameplay:
Let me talk about the puzzles first, as the game is an adventure puzzle game. Where the first game in the series fell down here, (we reviewed it in 2022/3), this one has gone with making them even better. I always say, if your game is about driving, make the driving feel great; if the game is about shooting, make the shooting feel great, and these guys from Triomatica listened. The difference between this game and the last, when it comes to the puzzles, is chalk and cheese.
Ok, let me talk about the first part, I did not read any of the blurb before playing and jumped straight in. After all, I played the first one; it should be fine, right? Well, no, this one has a better “story” than the first one too, but it felt disjointed, as though the story was an afterthought (I’ll explain as we go..). Though what I’ll be telling you may be considered as “spoilers”, I don’t think they are, as it is all part of the first “gimme”.
We are treated to a scene with cans on a roof, planting a firework in some chewing gum and lighting it. For some reason, the cans hold on to the firework and one lets go and the other is blasted off to an island in the distance. The firework set the floor on fire (very slightly) and there is a broken hammer on the floor for you to collect. You collect the hammer and assemble it and pick up the gum from the floor. For some reason, you cannot walk over the tiny flames, even though you are made of Aluminium. You now need to bang the pipe with a hammer, and the water pressure spays all over the flames. You are then to use the gum to “seal” the hole. While the puzzle makes sense, it feels contrived.
I then walked the can down the ramp, and there was a cart with ice cream. I tried to pick one up, to find I could only move them, ah, another puzzle. If you now put these in order,(a number appears when you place them, with a chalkboard), you get a cone for free from the vendor. See where I’m going with this? There is nothing wrong with the puzzle or the mechanic, but why am I arranging ice cream cones and why am I getting one for free for doing so? If I walk down a level, there is a vending machine with someone next to it. If you click on it and shake it, out falls the master code. You put that into the vending machine keypad and out pops a lollipop. You hand said lollipop to the can loitering beside the vending machine, and so on. Same with the guy who gives you the balloon, you can randomly place the marbles on the board and when they go yellow, the guy gives me a balloon… Some of it was just pure fun, not a puzzle, like playing rock, paper, scissors on the remote island. :)
As I said, the puzzles are great, but it felt disjointed. As to the adventuring and exploring part, the game was about two hours long, with some change to spare. I’ll leave you to make that connection. If the game had a larger world and there was some more exploring to do, this game could have been punching way above its weight.
While my eyes did rove everywhere, drinking in the scenery, ultimately, the game has no replay value. It is a once off experience for two hours.
Regional pricing meant the game was pretty affordable, coming in at $68 NAD. As beautiful as the game looked, as nice as it sounded, I just had trouble getting immersed. Even after reading what the story is supposed to be, I could not fathom how a runaway firework scrambled the order of someone’s (somecan’s?) ice cream…
Should you disagree with anything: misc@fullcirclemagazine.org