Whoa... what happened last night? You remember leaving the waller around ten... Did you have one too many swigs of slop? How the heck did you end up in this stump? Where is everyone? Well, I guess it can't be helped. You'll just have to get started on the long, dusty, spike-filled road back to your pen. Mr. Bree Returning Home is an award-winning platform game by TawStudio Entertainment, taking home Best Art Game at the 2011 Brazilian Games Symposium. Only you can make sure this little piggy gets all the way home.
Mr. Bree Returning Home is a game about recollection. You start out barely able to think straight, let alone walk with the [arrow] keys. As the time and levels go on, though, you'll be able to remember such complicated maneuvers as jumping with the [spacebar], and ducking with [down]. The goal of each level is to make your way to the purple puzzle piece of your memory that lead you a little closer to home, as well as the secondary goal of getting the red puzzle piece that might remind you of how you got into this mess in the first place. And what stands in your way? Spikes. Oh, lord the spikes. Cold, unfeeling spikes. And if you're not careful, they'll have you screaming oink-le in second.
Protagonists starting with amnesia is a common game plot, but there's a reason for that: it works. Whether you're The Nameless One, a Tricky Ghost, a Knight of the Old Republic, or a suit-wearing piggy, there's something immensely driving about not knowing who you are, where you are, or, worst of all, what happened to those you love. The first mention of "Mrs. Bree and Little Bree" is an "Oh, it is ON!" moment that lasts for the entire game (especially when you get to the surprisingly spooky butchery levels). It's a good thing that the story is so compelling (and Bree's ongoing commentary so quirky and amusing), though, since the difficulty is definitely out there to rock you. The inspiration is clearly Super Meat Boy, in terms of both tightness of controls and potential for player punishment. It won't be easy to save your bacon, but those slightly-masochistic platformer fans among us should enjoy going whole hog on the challenge.
This is a great little game. I'm a sucker for upgradable skills. (No ability to jump at all at first? Great!)
Unfortunately, however, there doesn't seem to be any way to mute the music. (Am I missing it somewhere?) While it was charming at first, the short loops begin to grate after replaying some of the later levels in hopes of getting the "bad memory" collectibles. (That "Play With Headphones" notification also seems a bit misplaced.)
There's a mute button in the far upper left hand corner, just hover your mouse over it.
That said, the controls are godawful sloppy. For the level of precision this requires, they make it a nightmare. Just not fun.
Oh! There's a little menu overlay on the very top that I missed completely. Music successfully muted.
Also. waiting to get the double-jump before attempting to retrieve all the "bad memories" prior to that point would have made things a whole lot easier. Maybe I wouldn't have even gotten to the point where the music became so grating.
Fun at first, but am ready to quit level 8 due to impossibly sloppy controls on a precision-demanding screen...
@Modox:
What do you mean? The controls seem extremely tight to me...excellent, in fact! I'm just not good enough to play the whole thing through without rage-quitting a few times!
Level 10 was my limit...
"oink-le", eh? heh heh...well, I find platformers tre boring, but may have to try this one just because of that comment!
Grrr. About to rage-quit due to the horrible controls. They are alternately unresponsive or stick.
The controls seem fine to me, but the game is laggy to the point that the first bad memory level is almost unplayable.
Very frustrated on the wall jumping level. How the F do you get up there? I'm wall jumping all over the place, but never able to get up to the puzzle piece. Nice game, but it sucks when you can't finish a level after about 45 minutes of trying.
I want to like it, but the controls are pretty bad for me as well. The game's just so laggy, even on lowest quality. It's too bad because I really want to like this game, but by level 10, not being able to jump when I need to jump just made it unplayable.
Wow, this is *hard*.
However, it looks like there's a version 1.0.2 which, the developers say, re-balances levels (making them a little easier), reduces keyboard lag, allows you to use the up arrow for jumping, and makes wall jumping better. Maybe it would be better to link to that version?
[Done! Version 1.0.2 is now hosted here at JIG. -Jay]
Talk about total freaking rage quit. 2nd butcher level is ridiculous with the loose controls and the 1 pixel jump window, plus the inertia. I know I'll probably come back to it and get it first try later, but it does bring up the frustration with controls on games like this.
First: if you are going to add a wall jump, leave the sticky wall drag thing out. All it does is hang you up when you are trying to make precise jumps close to walls, and ADDS another level of frustration to an already frustratingly hard (in a good way) platformer.
Second: well, there is no second. I think the rest of the game was set up to be the way it is on purpose, and I can handle that.
Beautiful art in this game, the levels are really nice too. But I'm with everyone else, there are some control issues.
Went to the Taw Studios site and saw the link for the trailer. This game is for hardcore platformers, from the looks of the 2nd half of the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmYCnuOyOoY&feature=player_embedded#!
That would be stuff I would struggle with all day long.
It looks like the Kongregate site is hosting v1.0.2; you can see the version number in the lower right hand side right after the initial load screen, where it says play.
I don't see a version number on the game hosted here. Jay?
[I just grabbed the file and hosted it this morning when I received word from the developer that the game had been released. I've just grabbed the latest and uploaded it again. It should be the very same version now. -Jay]
The new version must have made a big difference because I thought the difficulty as just right. There were a couple of tough spots (That first jump on the second butcher level was killer) but most of the time the checkpoints were very well placed to avoid rage quitting.
The new version does seem to be better.
But I'm stuck in level 11. He says "Guess it's time to wall jump" but I can't for the life of me find anything to wall jump on... (it's right after the first checkpoint, where you have spikes on the right, missles below, and a really high one block ledge on the left). What do I jump on to?
I'm having the same problem as argyblarg. Where am I supposed to wall jump off of? it was tricky enough to just get to that point. There must be a way up if people are going through the butcher levels...
Attempted level 11 again. I found that you need to use shift. *facepalm*
@argyblag: If you
hold down shift to run, you can jump to the block on the left (not the high one, the vertical one farther to the left).
I always hate wall jumping, but I like the rest of this game, so I want to keep playing!
Any advice for the last little bit of level 9? (The one where you get the wall jump power). I can't manage to get into the little corner where the memory piece is.
The controls do get unresponsive at times, but I've found clicking outside the game screen (to remove focus) and returning resets the controls. I got into the habit of resetting them every time I died.
Overall, great game. I especially liked how Mr. Bree talked to himself the entire way back, thus making the levels a bit more interesting.
I didn't like the first version, but that was a great game. Still a bit frustrating at times, but I didn't have much problems with the controls.
Fun game, but the drag that happens when you hit a wall without intending to do a wall jump is SO FRUSTRATING. Otherwise, it's fantastic.
Great game..
Worked flawlessly on Chrome (portable) with the quality turned down..No keyboard issues like I had using FF.
Hopefully they come out with a sequel or a prequel...
5/5
Okay, having run through this game..overall, I think it's pretty good. Most of it is just hard enough without being too hard for me.
What I would complain about the most is the near-constant, grating jabber from the main character, to the point where it seems some speeches are placed specifically to trap the curious player into dying because they stopped to read his nonsense, plus bizarre diction and grammar mistakes abound, but I guess this is actually from non-native English speakers (since the award it won was in Brazil)? But honestly, that isn't too hard to ignore, and it doesn't impact the gameplay if you don't let it, so that isn't huge.
The running feels a little slippery at times, making levels that require speed and precision simultaneously kind of annoying. But again, overall it's pretty good. It never gets totally impossible, and where it's at its hardest I was able to manage things with just a bit of practice.
I forgot one last thing in my prior comment. The ending is a little disappointing, it just shows him walking toward the house. I mean, given a few of the strange things he says toward the end like "I don't know Mrs. Bree's first name" or "why are these platforms floating in midair" or "why do I wear a cape" I was expecting, maybe, some kind of fourth-wall brain-twisting ending where he realizes he's a character in the video game with no actual future or something, or at least, to contradict that, a shot of what the rest of his family looks like. I just want a little bit more assurance that he didn't walk into his house and find everybody gone, or something horrible in there.
Agree with Lizz 100%. I don't understand why wall-jumping games can't just make it so that you only stick to walls while you're pressing left or right against it? Maybe something about that mechanic I don't get because I'm not a developer, but not every game has that problem.
Also, I like the little text boxes, but they're really easy to run past and not be able to read them unless you start the level over. I actually missed one on Lv 2 because it appeared above me while I was jumping up, and it disappeared before it was visible.
And can we get a spoiler tag for Xindaris' last comment?
Aaaand my browser crashed while I was on the last level. When I came back, my data wasn't saved. I've never had a game like this not save my progress automatically, so I'm choosing to blame the developer. Thanks for wasting the last hour of my life even more than I was already.
If you beat all the butcher levels, you get an enhanced ending that has a bit more payoff.
I have to admit I was hoping to find...
That Mr Bree was the butcher and killed his wife and kids. That's pretty messed up isn't it?
Also if you are ever having trouble getting a memory piece
Wait until you get all the upgrades, especially the double jump, it makes things easier to control
One thing I found very frustrating was that there is no way to return to the menu. If you want to start a level over without completing it, you have to close the window and reopen it.
I could not figure out level 8.
I could not get past the end part with the blocks above your head that disappear if you touch them. After being forced to die many, many times (200 death achievement!) I had to quit.
Also, Jay, the comment system kept telling me I need an email address to comment, even though I was already logged in.
Are some of the spikes and platforms *supposed* to be off-screen? I'm trying to recover the bad memory piece on level 2, and Mr. Bree has crawled down a corridor I can't see. FML.
[Make sure your browser isn't zoomed. -Jay]
I've completed all the regular levels, and got the red puzzle pieces from all but one. (I know how to get the last one, I just haven't been able to successfully do it yet.)
For level 8:
If you move yourself right up to the edge of the pit and then just jump a little, you should be left with some usable platforms. Remember that you can jump farther by doing it from a run.
For level 9:
Try jumping from the left wall. It takes trial and error, but if you're at the right place, you can fling yourself up and over.
I think after I get that last puzzle piece, I'll be done with the game. The butchery levels are lovely, but without checkpoints they're just beyond my ability. I wish the developers would have added an optional easy mode for these levels, even with just the presence of checkpoints- I've gotten very invested in this little game, and the regular ending just feels incomplete. I'd love to know what the complete end is (I heard it's after the credits?) My friend and I predicted
that it's an Owl Creek Bridge plot twist- he didn't actually escape the butchery, and his return home is his dying dream. I'm also thinking he's a normal pig instead of a bipedal humanlike one, which would explain the lack of names for him and his family, and why the story ends when he approaches his home.
Can anyone confirm or deny?
For those wondering about the ending after the credits:
Mr. Bree makes it home safe and sound. We see him with his wife, apparently having nightmares about his ordeal. He wakes up and in a porcine fit of vengeance decides to go finish off the butcher with a scythe. The last shot is of him leaving his house. Mr. Bree is apparently not someone to mess with.
The wall jump controls are *horrible*. If you pull away from the wall before tapping the jump button again, he drops rather than jumps! But if you keep holding towards the wall more than a fraction of a second after pressing jump, then it slows down his horizontal progress... argh. Really irritating.
As for the rest of the game - well, it certainly deserves the "highdifficulty" tag. There's no way I'm getting half of those bad-memory pieces, so I guess I'm stuck without the proper ending.
Apart from the extremely high difficulty, it's pretty good fun.
@Bogcat: You can return to the menu by pressing Escape. There's even an achievement for quitting a level like that.
Nice - thought the difficulty was spot-on here, and more to the point the curve was very well done in terms of progression, i.e.
1) Simple completion of the levels
2) Collecting all of the
bad memory pieces
3) Finishing the
butchery
levels - I'd advise leaving the majority of these until you have all the upgrades
4) Finishing all levels with
zero deaths
5) Finishing
reverse mode
- actually pretty trivial after the previous two!
6) Finishing
hardcore mode
Took me to the very edge of rage-quitting a few times, particularly level 17, but it certainly helped that there is generally more than one level or task that can be worked on (excellent replay value), and I saw it through to the end. As previously mentioned, I also thought in terms of the ending that
the comments were building to an Owl Creek Bridge twist, but even having finished the extra modes there are no additional endings outside the normal ones
. Overall, a very enjoyable game I thought.
N.B. There's now a v1.0.35 with further fixes, particularly the timers, which I did think were a bit off!
[Thanks for pointing that out. I've uploaded the new version here at JIG. -Jay]
Update