A Fold Apart Review: Folding at Home

Video games have a unique nature to them in that they’re typically predetermined narratives that the player interacts with. Ideally, that interaction means that they’re more invested than through means such as books, movies, or TV shows. This means you can easily present a powerful story, as subtle notions have the potential to become much more pronounced. While not exactly on the level of Catherine in terms of intimacy, A Fold Apart certainly hits home with anyone that’s been in a relationship in the era of cell phones, especially a long distance one.

The elevator pitch is simple enough: two people in a relationship are separated by distance and must navigate all the struggles that it entails. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir at this point, but people aren’t always the best at conveying what they actually mean via text message, or email for that matter. Something that gets lost in translations for most people that aren’t used to writing on a regular basis is their tone, so something that may seem innocent with good intentions can come off as very harsh and hurtful to the recipient. And sometimes that message is meant to be passive-aggressive, and it’s up to the receiver to decide whether to escalate the situation or move on from it. Truly, it’s something most people have experienced at one point or another, whether they realize it or not.

It’s been a long time since I’ve related to a game so deeply, and honestly, the last time I felt even close to this was Catherine. I haven’t played that since it came out, but I remember it being difficult for me to get through because of a lot of the scenarios presented in it. This doesn’t go nearly as far into the deep end as that, but there are plenty of situations that I can recall being on the receiving end of, and vice versa. My wife and I started dating a month or two before I moved away for college. It was difficult, and we weren’t sure if it’s what we wanted to do, but we stuck it out. It wasn’t too long before she moved across the street from me, then into the same complex, then we got married and moved into the same apartment. But there was a definite roller coaster that this reminded me of throughout prior to her moving.

Outside of the occasional this or that text message that you can send which doesn’t really hold much bearing over the story as it’s not a good/bad type choice, the gameplay surrounds folding puzzles. The story is told in a collage of settings, which is a really nice way to get from one place to another quickly. It is elegant and allows for the mood changes to really play into it seamlessly. Each puzzle serves as a way for the character to work through the message, their feelings, and what the other meant. They reflect on their decisions, how they should respond, and if it’ll hurt the other person or not.

To elaborate on the puzzles themselves, you’re given a few platforms and the front and back of a setting. Starting out the options to fold are typically limited to two edges, but it’s not long before you’re given all four as well as blocks for added depth. If you ever find yourself stuck because of a decision you made, you can always start over; the game even offers hints in the pause menu, although I try to avoid help in puzzle games unless I absolutely need it. If I’m going to get help with a puzzle game, I may as well not play it and just watch a walkthrough on YouTube. These puzzles start off simple, but soon get quite complicated. It’s never to the point of super frustrating like The Witness, but I needed to walk away from a few of them before realizing the solution. Typically a fresh mind was all I needed to get through, although some involved just guessing and hoping for the best.

Probably the biggest issue I had when playing the game was its inconsistent constraints when folding puzzles. There was seemingly no rhyme or reason as to why I couldn’t fold at a certain point, but could do less or more. Perhaps because it would break the way the puzzles were supposed to be completed, but one of my favorite things about puzzles is finding more than one way to complete them, so this seems like an artificial wall. It would’ve also been nice to have at least two endings, but I completely understand wanting to have a single narrative to tell. Lastly, for people that care about trophies, I managed to miss the chapter 2 completion trophy despite getting the ones following it – a minor complaint, but one that hurts my OCD.

A Fold Apart is the type of puzzle game that doesn’t come around every week. It’s got a lot to say about making a relationship work in a short amount of time, even if it does repeat itself over the course of its six chapters. Whether you like puzzle games or not, it may be worth playing through just to gain some perspective on how people perceive what you say via text.

8 out of 10

Pros

  • Unique Aesthetic
  • Fun With Folding
  • Emotional Roller Coaster

Cons

  • Retreaded Themes
  • The Rules of Folding
  • Trophy Glitch

A Fold Apart was developed and published by Lightning Rod Games. It launched on AA, NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of A Fold Apart, check out the developer’s site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.