I have patiently been waiting for StudioBando’s SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato to release since Drake brought back the almighty spud to Blighty. Alright, perhaps not that long, but in a sea of endless review titles, I seldom have that many titles to wait for, as there’s always something coming in.
However, playing the demo some time back with one of my children, we couldn’t stop giggling at the absurdity, admiring the art, or better still, playing the game together in a truly wholesome manner. It’s not a two-player game, but a family-friendly adventure that’ll have you smiling throughout.
You play as Miho and are currently helping Nana make her legendary soup by fetching her a potato from the pantry. In the brief exposition, it appears that our little Miho is a bit of a klutz and has been brought up in a protective bubble, unable to use a brush to clear up a broken vase, how to cook, and most likely, how to wipe his own bottom. That’s all about to change.
In this tardis of a pantry, he encounters a frog almost the same size as him in the process of stealing all the potatoes. Why?! It’s well known that frogs don’t like potatoes, with many of them believing them to be mythic objects. Despite hating potatoes, Miho has a mission, and in preventing this thieving frog from taking a key ingredient, Miho is whisked away to an alternate reality.
SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato would be the perfect structure of a Hollywood three-act tale or beloved bedtime story. Our hero starts off pretty much incapable, and by the end (no spoilers), they’re a changed person – for the better. The key ingredient may not just be the potato; instead, adventure.
The very first part of the adventure is a white-water raft, and despite the adrenaline rush, it’s all very doable for a younger audience, though it offers a little bit of a carrot dangling for more experienced gamers, as there’s a fair amount of hidden items, achievements, and subtleties in dialogue.
After these early QTE introductions, this mechanic starts to fade and shifts back to a third-person console-like point and click. There are no cursors on screen, and instead, like the Sam & Max series, moving up to an NPC and pressing A will present a dialogue tree. Unfortunately, these options don’t change the outcome, but they are well worth going through each and every one, as SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato is beautifully written.
Miho can then dip into his inventory to use on-screen or combine with other objects. The latter is nothing like the point and click genre with absurdity – that’s reserved for the story – and there’s no need to drag items about, as simply standing next to something and switching to the inventory will prompt the action.
Due to its fairly broad audience, SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato is relatively easy and straightforward. Don’t let that put you off, however, as the real pull of this game is on your heartstrings. It’s no cliche that this is an emotional adventure, as it will trigger all manner of positive emotions from the imaginary games you played as a kid, to being in an interactive Pixar/Dreamworks movie. I’m smitten with SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato.
Perhaps it’s that point and click element, and, like the remastered Sam & Max series, the characters are quirky and encourage engagement. I found myself unlocking a host of achievements from the get-go simply because I was interacting with anything and everything, and didn’t want it to end.
Alas, it will end, but that isn’t to say you can go back and repeat the hero’s journey once more, and based on the sheer feels I had throughout, I can’t help but recommend you seek this out – whether it’s to play with your family, or simply because you want to feel all warm and fuzzy. There’s a lot of feels and fuzz there, but I have no regrets. I adore SOPA – Tale of the Stolen Potato, irrespective of my affinity with potatoes.
