A Story About My Uncle’s title is pretty self-explanatory. The game revolves around the main character telling a bedtime story about his uncle that took place while he was a kid. His uncle was a scientist, and while looking for his uncle in his lab one day he found himself whisked away to a distant world – A world that had its own laws of gravity that allowed masses of rocks to float and fly around. Good thing he grabbed that child-sized suit with the lightning grappling hook before he accidentally hit that button that brought him there.
The world you’re brought to looks like something out of a children’s book. There are four areas to traverse, and even though three of those areas are in cave settings, the environment is still colorful and makes great use of lighting. You come across frog-like creatures while looking for your uncle, and while the character models and animations could have been better, it still reminded me of something out of some type of children’s movie. The look of the world and the characters gives the game the charm it needs to be believable as a bedtime story, and while the voice acting could have been better, I thought the voices and dialog were well placed.
The game plays like a big obstacle course. There really is no puzzle solving, as your goal is usually in sight and you just need to get there. You use your grapple to grab onto floating rocks and platforms to traverse each area you’re in. Your grapple has a limited amount of times you can use it before you land, which becomes a big deal later in the game. You also have high and long jumping abilities, and you also pick up a pair of rocket boots along your journey that can give you a midair boost in any direction. You use these in combination to make it from platform to platform. There are physics at play as well, so you’ll find yourself using the momentum of moving stones to help launch you through the air to either allow to get to you next platform or at least make it into range for the next item you need to grapple.
The speed aspect isn’t there just for fun, as you also need to be mindful of it because you can’t stop on a dime. There were quite a few times I just barely made it on to my platform, then slid the extra few inches I needed to fall off. The game has some difficult parts, but the game isn’t made to be a huge challenge. For the most part, players can play at their own pace. The only place that really doesn’t allow this too much is the final area, which puts all of the skills you’ve developed to the test.
One thing I really enjoyed about the game is that there are various ways to reach your goal – usually multiple paths. There are safer paths that usually have more large platforms for you to land on between grappling to your next point. Then, there are the paths that are definitely harder to traverse, but in my opinion, a lot more fun to play through. They require speed, quick reflexes, and precision. If you’re able to do that, you’ll be in for one hell of a ride. To be honest, on my second play-through, I found that I was able to traverse even the safer paths much faster and they were a blast to go through at full speed.
The game isn’t very long, as I was able to play through the entire thing twice in under 5 hours. Once you are finished with the main game you can play through the time trials, which, if you like the feeling of speed the game gives, you should enjoy it. The game is narrative-driven, and if you enjoy that narrative you are encouraged to explore, since finding items your uncle left behind will usually start a dialog. Overall, I enjoyed the game. The narrative and the fluid grappling that allows you to soar through the air makes the game memorable, even if it was short.
