On-Together is a little too much like real life. How do I make friends and interact with people? What will they think about me? Do I look ok? GigaPuff isn’t trying to emulate life to make things awkward, but perhaps to make you realise just how much fun social interaction can be. Then again, this game is so incredibly inviting, I’m preferring this…
There are no narrative devices here; instead, you are encouraged to create your own story. You’ll create a cute-looking avatar that represents you in this world, allowing you to go about your day looking slick and engaging with all the other gamers.
On-Together is gorgeous to look at, and while the characters are definitely erring on adorable, cuddly, and wholesome (I want a neck tattoo saying ‘Eff the system’, it doesn’t feel like it’s targeted to casuals or everyone who likes adding fluff to everything. On-Together in engaging, but it also serves a little bit of focus, too.
Like Deadline Savior, we’re looking at the Pomodoro technique once more. Walk up to the cafe, or head into the library, and you can focus for a set amount of time to admire the ambience, level up your avatar, or, switching back and forth with reality, you can set actual tasks to complete while the game is running in the background.
As with Whimside, you can keep On-Together running while you do your work (I will not be doing that as it’s too distracting), and resize the window to wherever it best suits your workflow. With that in mind, and to keep returning to how good this looks, I personally wouldn’t settle for anything less than full screen. It’s beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
However, you can get a fish tank or play a decent open-world game and experience the same aesthetics. What makes this different is the chat element. Yes, On-Together is a social experience, and you’re able to interact with others who occupy the server. As this is a preview before the demo’s officially out, there’s nobody about and the librarian keeps telling me to be silent. You can, however, type willy-nilly and speak aloud with your inner thoughts. Mine are quite pedestrian: where is everyone? Who will be my friend?
I honestly think that On-Together might get me out of my shell and mingle with other gamers. Despite covering an unhealthy amount of titles over the years, online gaming isn’t for me unless I’m on the fringes and the grey man. That defeats the purpose here as you need to be seen and heard (in a good way, not trolling for attention), and this really is a title you need to watch. Even better, download the demo now, silly.
