A Story About My Uncle (2014)

Very enjoyable game with a cute & emotional little story.

I found the 3D platforming very fun, with a well-made challenge curve that keeps the player learning new ways to jump, swing, and grapple, and innovating different ways to combine the available techniques to successfully traverse the map.

The graphics, movement and pacing, especially outside of some of the faster-paced platform challenges, make it feel a bit like a walking sim with traversal challenges thrown in (and the mechanics to complete them of course).

This game feels like a 3D jumping game that went in search of a story. While the hook-shot stuff is pretty good (with some minor lack of signposting), the story bits are skeletal at best, a bit juvenile and so very slow.

It's not a long game, so feel free to try it, but it's definitely not best-in-class. I was also irritated by the protagonist not having a name, but being called just "nephew".

A Story About My Uncle is a first person platformer. The genre is exceptionally rare because first person platforming is tricky to get right: it is difficult to judge distance between platforms and see where you are landing. A Story About My Uncle helps mitigate these problems by introducing you to a powered high jump, a grapple mechanic and eventually a rocket booster. The game has a sense of rhythm and momentum that feels utterly liberating when you successfully jump from platform to platform. Ironically, A Story About My Uncle doesn’t really tell much of a story and is seemingly just a set of 5 platforming levels that can be completed in a few sittings.

The narrative is about a father telling a bedtime story to his daughter. He decides to tell a tale about his uncle Fred. The father reminisces how he loved his uncle and would visit his home. One day, the father discovers that his uncle is gone and has left him a crystal powered grappling suit. The father journeys towards his uncle’s observatory and is transported to a mystical world where he believes his uncle may have traveled to. The rest of the story is mostly told through narration as you jump from platform to platform.

It’s hard to put into words why the platforming in A Story About My Uncle works so well, so I recommend watching videos of it in action. There is a sense of freedom, flow and creativity to the grapple mechanics that is exhilarating. This game seems designed for speed runners in mind. A Story About My Uncle also adds glowing symbols to areas where Fred has used his grapple to help guide players along. Overall I was impressed by the grapple mechanics, until the last level where there is a noticeable spike in difficulty. The last level adds on a severe amount of challenge that feels unfair especially since the game is presented as a light-hearted first person platformer.

The game ends rather abruptly once you discover uncle Fred. Some might be disappointed that there wasn’t more meat in the conclusion, but I would disagree. To discuss more would go into spoilers. It took a couple of hours for me to think about the plot and I replayed the prologue and epilogue over again, but I think the game’s story is rather deliberate and ingenious. The game’s story doesn’t need to be overly dissected and can still be enjoyed as a pure platformer. But for those who want to dig deeper...

SPOILER ALERT

There is an interesting set of mechanics at the heart of A Story About My Uncle (ASAMU). These mechanics allow for high jumps, long leaps, swinging movements and even mid-air boosts. When all of those abilities are combined in a fluid manner, the feeling of moving through the environment is an absolute blast. The problem, however, is that it rarely comes together that way.

The mechanics themselves are restricted in several ways, which adds a puzzle-solving aspect to each level. The issue here is that stopping to solve these puzzles breaks up the pace of the gameplay. The environments themselves are dark for most of the game and the objects of interest are barely distinguishable from the background at points. Even worse offenders are the timed pieces, such as the rocks that move around. When you're moving fluidly and quickly through a level, the idea of having to hit the brakes and wait for the next piece of rock to swing around is not appealing. The grappling hook only reaches up to a certain range, so this is inevitable in some cases.

The remaining elements of the game are also decent, and they're done with a minimal aesthetic. That includes the story, the environments, the secondary characters, and the soundscape. Beyond the main game, there are also collectibles, time trials and some challenging Steam achievements that encourage replay. Overall, the core experience was interesting enough for me to complete a full playthrough of the main storyline, but I don't think I'll be returning for the collectibles or to take on the time trials.

A pretty enjoyable FPP platformer.

The game tells a story about a young guy who in his uncles lab finds a jump suit and with it's help follows in the steps of the said uncle in order to find him. On his way he'll get to visit different underground locations, floating islands and other environments suitable for jumping, flying, and using a force grappling hook.

The story is completely non-violent told in a bed time story way which suits the game and that's about what you need to know.

The visuals are generally pretty good - thought the character models - the frog people you meet are not too detailed or well animated but most of the time you spend on your own so it doesn't matter much. The environment is quite varied despite it all being underground. From open spaces to a tighter ice caves with glowing crystals - looking really nice.

The level design is mostly linear however they do give you choice here and there for you to travel either by jumping or swinging which is good.

As this is a platformer the platforming is what makes or brakes the game. And I'm happy to say it's pretty good. A bit challenging at times but not beyond point of halting progression. At your disposal you get three different mechanics - jumping - by charging your suit you can jump really far or high. Grappling - you can use the "force" to grapple to certain areas starting with one charge but ending up with three charges in your suit and ability to re-charge in flight by touching specific crystals. This gives a lot of flexibility with traversing the world and is pretty fun. Lastly you get rocket boots which can propel you for a short period in the air - mostly useful for saving yourself from the missed grapples.

I played this game with controller and while in most cases it was good - in some lack of mouse combined with precision grappling added additional difficulty spike. But as a sort of relaxing game it was pretty fine for the most part.

Also worth mentioning that while the levels are pretty linear it is not always perfectly clear where you should point yourself next - but I guess it's just a minor complaint.

Overall had way more fun with it than anticipated and loved it a laid-back experience. With just enough difficulty to keep me interested and not too long of a game play I'd be happy to recommend it to anyone enjoying platformers.

Pretty good game. The story is a non entity, NPCs are comically badly sculpted and stiff as a board, the voice acting is terrible. But fortunately the game doesn't spend much time in those elements. The main gameplay is really fun. You can jump really high and have a grappling hook to swing around. For the most part it works, although the open spaces make it really hard to judge distance so sometimes it's pretty hard to know if you can make a jump.

I completed it in one 4 hour sitting, so it is short but tight. The lack of padding is really appreciated.