Out for PC/Steam and Playstation 4, GNOG feels like a pop-up book with an AR component. Players select a module (heads of the theme you’re looking like, reminding me of Might Max/Polly Pocket) that opens up like a pop-up storybook with achievement flags. You click and pull on various parts of the “story” for it to progress with minimal direction. For example, in the frog-esque story I tried, I had to click all the clickables in a wordless story that I think was expressing the live-cycle of the butterfly-moth-creatures the frog-creature eats. That “opened up” into a room where I found two lightbulbs to attract the moths to the frog, which jumped off an object holding down a latch I could pull up, which gave the exterior frog spots that I could click to unlock more of the “puzzle.”

The game’s bright colors and wordless narration was cute, but felt like sugar-art: beautiful, but maybe not exactly the most healthy snack. As an adult, I didn’t feel like it had much depth beyond its style, but would probably be better for very young kids unable to read, at least when compared to a lot of other children’s entertainment.

Going Small

It could be that the demo I played was too simple, as the AR on the pad I used had some issues and added little to the game aside from making some puzzles a bit more obvious. Perhaps I was missing something that would have been revealed had I stuck with the game longer. GNOG didn’t seem like a bad game, but one that felt would appeal to a small audience.

About the Author

Laguna Levine

Laguna Levine is the illegitimate son of famous explorer Toma Levine, disowned for forsaking the family tradition of moustaches to join Team Beards. That's fine though, since both are translated into the same word in Japan, Laguna's current home country.

View All Articles