Sunhead Games' Carto is a new map-manipulating puzzle-adventure title that takes a unique approach to the genre. It follows a young girl, Carto, who is separated from her grandmother during a storm and must find her way back to their airship using her cartography skills. Along the way, she encounters a mysterious world full of quirky characters and tasks to complete on her journey.
To explore the world, you'll need to pick up, place and manipulate different pieces of the map. By laying new pieces on the grid (or moving ones that are already there), Carto can travel to new areas and complete objectives, bringing her one step closer to reuniting with her family. Beyond its simple premise, Carto is a gentle, relaxing indie game, though one that will make you think.
Carto is simultaneously an incredibly simple game and a challenging one. On one hand, there are no combat or platforming challenges that require players to have perfect timing and coordination. There's rarely anything particularly strenuous or dangerous to encounter, and even the big brown bear just wants a hug. But while players may not encounter a difficult boss battle or a hard-to-time jump, Carto's puzzles provide numerous challenges that must be overcome using logic and following environmental clues.
In a way, Carto's map is just as much of a character as any of the people or animals you'll come across. You can move pieces pretty much anywhere you want; the only restriction is that different environments (like forests, plains and oceans) and paths must line up.
Carto isn't a game that holds your hand and tells you exactly where you need to go next. A character might tell you that what you're looking for is, say, in the center of a forest. From there, it's up to you to figure out that you need to move and rotate map pieces so the the forest sections all surround a blank space. Once you do that, the blank space will become a new map piece containing what you need.
This lack of guidance can be frustrating at times, especially if you're not playing an entire chapter in one sitting. If you're not paying attention you'll likely find yourself rotating the same map piece, wandering the world trying to make anything happen or searching for some clue you may have missed.
That's not to say that Carto is by any means poorly designed. The game is full of environmental clues and subtle hints, and part of the challenge (and the fun) is learning to look for and pick up on them. It also makes solving puzzles feel incredibly rewarding. Even if you struggle with a particular section, after figuring it out, you'll likely come away understanding what you should have done from the start. You may realize after the fact that what sounded like a throwaway line from an NPC was actually the solution all along, a good reminder to pay attention moving forward.
Still, there were some puzzles, especially in the latter half of the game, that could have used additional clues and perhaps even a bit guidance for stumped players. There are a couple of late-game challenges where players will probably figure out pretty quickly that the game wants them to manipulate the map in a certain way or make a specific pattern; however with little indication of how to actually accomplish that with what they've been given, it'll take some time to solve the puzzle. For players who like to get lost in puzzles and solve them for themselves, this is great, but other players may find it more frustrating than fun.
There are ups and downs to the hands-off approach, but one positive is that it makes the world more immersive. While Carto's exploration and puzzle-based gameplay is really the star here, the game's charming and quirky world also deserves attention. Its art style and music are soothing and gentle, and each of the game's chapters takes place in a different biome with its own distinct culture and characters. As bizarre as some elements of this world are, Carto's interactions with the people she meets, helps and befriends on her journey bring it all to life.
Overall, Carto offers a charming and adorable adventure with puzzles like no other. It's the kind of game that requires you to think, preferring to use environmental clues and hints rather than giving explicit directions explaining where to go and what to do next. This approach can be frustrating at times, but with so many ways to play around with Carto's map, players will be able to eventually find the solution they're looking for. And it's a great feeling when you do.
Carto will be available on October 27 on Steam, the Humble Store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A review copy was provided by the publisher.