I don’t know how Woodo managed to get on my wishlist, but having gone through and removed a few titles I’ve since purchased and received codes for, Tiny Monk Tales’ diorama adventure remained. It was around summer last year that I added it, but I hadn’t played a demo. Hold the front door… that’s what we have here.
Relatively fresh off the tail of Cozy Caravan and Walk the Frog and wanting something a teeny bit more lighthearted than Project Songbird, it made sense to dabble in this now. What’s it about? Probably best to quote the Steam store page and say ‘a 3D colo(u)ring book you can touch as that’s reasonably accurate. It also serves as a hidden object game in that you drag and drop wooden 3D objects onto the dioramas to animate them and bring a spot of colour, too.
Another reason for quoting the Woodo Steam page was that I completely switched off to the narrative. Quite honestly, I wasn’t remotely interested, and despite being a narrative-driven whore, the story wasn’t needed, nor was it engaging in the slightest. The only thing I can tell you is you play a fox who manages to get themself in a kerfuffle with some ducks. There are some Wi-Fi semiotics, angry expressions and a recurring backpack, but other than that, irrelevant.
Kinda shoots the purpose of this being an animated storybook and not having an ounce of interest in the narrative, but that’s how it was. I sometimes do this during Steam Next Fest, as there’s something like 70+ demos I want to try in a week, and merely testing the water. Consequently, I never write up about those experiences. That might hint at Woodo being a swerve, yet the reason for not being invested in the story was because of the gameplay. This is lovely and relaxing, and something talking to me while I’m sitting on the beach with a glass in hand is to avoid someone nattering away in my ear.
A colourless 3D model will appear on screen, and you need to match up the parts in your inventory to the right of the screen. Objects are stacked in a column where scrolling will reveal various 3D parts to drag onto the main image, then later the diorama. Because this is a 3D experience, you can swing the camera around and zoom in and out for a proper good look, though keep an eye on your inventory as they also move as you move the camera. This is an excellent mechanic as scenes begin to get a little complicated, and that little item you have sitting on its side won’t become obvious until you’ve looked all around, or turned it on its side. For example, an item that looked like a hat seemed out of place, but moving the camera around revealed that the object was a boot, and now, looking at the screen, it matched up perfectly.
Woodo is a beautiful-looking game, and the scenes thus far have been lovely. There’s no timer urging you to smash through. There’s a hint system which I didn’t use, but could see myself doing in the future, as a handful of items isn’t always obvious when you’re looking straight at them. The focus here is taking your time being mindful of the scenery in question, recognising yourself, taking deep breaths, eating healthy… yeah, Woodo is very feel-good and will make you feel like you’ve spent time on yourself and not just wasting it to find another game to add to your backlog. This remains on mine, and I’m looking forward to a confirmed release date.
