Stacking

It was only writing my last review that I realised I hadn't posted anything on the other Double Fine game I played recently. If Costume Quest is the equivalent of a Rugrats episode, Stacking seems aimed at the Frasier enthusiast - it's all tasteful piano soundtracks and silent-movie inspired cutscenes. The gameplay seems to have come from Shaefer's point & click adventure history - you play a tiny Russian doll who can stack in a larger Russian doll and so forth. Each larger doll you stack into has an ability that might help you rescue members of your family. It's easy to imagine a speedrun of Stacking being very feasible- if you did the bare minimum you could get through the game in a couple of hours, but each problem has around four solutions, and it encourages you to replay each puzzle to find every solution. It may not surprise you that I probably did 100% of the first level, around 50% of the second and the bare minimum of what was required of me on the final level. Having said that, the end boss fight is inspired and I won't spoil it here. As slick as it is, Stacking is a game that would have benefitted from being a retail title, so it could have been a bigger, less repetitive title. But, it's hard to imagine the game getting the needed funding as a boxed title. It's an enjoyable, stylish curio, and generally worthy of the short amount of time it would ask of you. 6.5/10