Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1: Ovnifagos Don´t Eat Flamingos Review – The Weirdest Game You’ll Play This Year

<p>I started playing <em>Baobabs Mausoleum<&sol;em> without knowing what to expect&period; I guessed by the trailer that it might be a bit unusual&comma; but I had no idea how weird things would get&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Let me set the scene for you&period; The game menu features a giant tree with a whole bunch of cute 8-bit people hanging from its branches&period; But they aren&&num;8217&semi;t hanging by their arms&period; Rather&comma; they are hanging from ropes&period; The cute 8-bit people are hanging&comma; supposedly by the neck&comma; from a spooky-looking tree&period; In front of said spooky tree&comma; there are a three grave markers&comma; an old school TV&comma; and what appears to be a game system&period; What powers the electronics&quest; Who knows&period; You control a purple eggplant man who always has a cigarette hanging from his mouth&period; Move him in front of the TV&comma; interact with it&comma; and this is how you begin your game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I have never played a more peculiar adventure game than <em>Baobabs Mausoleum<&sol;em>&period; It pulls inspiration from 8-bit classics like <em>Legend of Zelda&colon; Link&&num;8217&semi;s Awakening <&sol;em>and TV shows like <em>Twin Peaks&comma;<&sol;em> but the result is something purely original&period; Its indie Spanish developer&comma; Celery Emblem&comma; is led by Jacob Jazz &lpar;<em>Ginger&colon; Beyond the Crystal<&sol;em>&rpar;&period; Together&comma; the team created something bizarre and memorable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127278" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127278" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127278" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;09164427&sol;20170705221314&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127278" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The first episode begins as our protagonist&comma; Watracio Walpurgis&comma; crashes his vehicle after swerving to avoid a wendigo in the road&period; He finds himself in the quirky town of Flamingo&&num;8217&semi;s Creek&period; A rat-faced bouncer won&&num;8217&semi;t let him into the town&&num;8217&semi;s diner&period; Watracio serves the town drunk a beer bottle full of gasoline and catapults an acorn called Mr&period; Nuts into the bouncer&period; Consequently&comma; this blows the bouncer into tiny bits&period; What is a Mr&period; Nuts&quest; Why is there a catapult&quest; How does an acorn explode a person&quest; This is how the very first puzzle of the game plays out&period; Not at all what I was expecting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1 <&sol;em>is made up of ten short acts&period; Some of these acts vary significantly from the others&period; One of them switches to 3D 8-bit gameplay and adds a jump ability&period; In two of the acts&comma; you control a small little moon man instead of an eggplant&period; Furthermore&comma; another plays out like a <em>Link&&num;8217&semi;s Awakening<&sol;em> dungeon&period; You ride moving platforms&comma; take heart damage&comma; and fight a mini- and end-boss&period; As a result&comma; gameplay remains engaging&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127281" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127281" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127281" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;09164456&sol;20170709131606&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127281" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The Zelda-dungeon-themed eighth act is a great tribute&comma; but it lacks polish&period; First of all&comma; I fell into a hole that looked like perfectly safe platform&period; A room featuring water creatures as moving platforms is so slow and tedious that it feels more like a chore than a challenge&period; When you use your boss key to open the door to the final boss&comma; the game tells you that you&&num;8217&semi;ve used an entrance ticket instead&period; In a level containing entrance tickets that don&&num;8217&semi;t work at this door&comma; the dialogue is confusing&period; So&comma; the eighth act feels unfinished&period; This was the only act I found to be troubling&comma; and with a little attention&comma; it could be impressive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When it comes to the game foundations&comma; controls are straightforward and the soundtrack is immaculate&period; I love the two songs with which the game opens&period; One sounds like something you&&num;8217&semi;d hear in an edgy 1960&&num;8217&semi;s detective film and the other is a fun surf rock piece&period; In addition&comma; quirky crow and duck noises are made when interacting with objects inside Flamingo&&num;8217&semi;s Creek&period; All of these details help create the remarkable world Celery Emblem created with <em>Baobobs Mausoleum&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Because the game is so different&comma; I found myself wanting to play it again right after completing the first episode&period; A total of 13 Steam achievements help to drive the replayability&period; For example&comma; I died the first time I tried to beat the boss&comma; but I could easily earn the &&num;8220&semi;Pass the boss&&num;8221&semi; achievement and not receive any damage on a second run&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127280" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127280" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127280" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;09164447&sol;20170706011928&lowbar;1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127280" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1&comma; Zerouno Games<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1<&sol;em> can be beaten in less than an hour&comma; so it&&num;8217&semi;s a very short game&period; However&comma; I feel it&&num;8217&semi;s priced accordingly on Steam at &dollar;5&period;99&period; There appear to be two additional episodes in development that will hopefully complete the storyline for our eggplant detective and the little moon man&period; With as creative and bizarre as Episode 1 feels&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m looking forward to the rest of the series&period; Maybe I&&num;8217&semi;ll learn who Mr&period; Nuts is&period; Or what an Ovnifago is&period; Maybe I&&num;8217&semi;ll find out why our protagonist is an eggplant&period; Most likely&comma; none of these questions will be resolved&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s the nature of the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">You can watch me play through the game on our YouTube channel here&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;WDuQ90eochU">Part 1<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;lkZf&lowbar;JrORaU">Part 2<&sol;a>&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;pTWZTdL-H2U">Part 3<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PC review copy of <em>Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1 <&sol;em>was provided by Zerouno Games for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;