May 4, 2020

Pinstripe - a dark journey, full of clever puzzles

A review of the puzzle adventure game Pinstripe - check it out in the gaming blog Very Good Games
Ted woke up on a weird train. His daughter Bo was there. And then, they met that guy. He sat in one of the coaches and offered a balloon to the small girl… a black balloon. Bo got super excited, and Ted couldn’t stop her from running away. It was in vain to run after - the evil man took her. His name is Pinstripe, and Ted tries to find the villain and rescue the girl.

You can help Ted in the game Pinstripe. It’s a pretty small piece of gaming art, with rather a dark world but also with very interesting puzzles. Pinstripe is available on PC, Mac, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

The game develops:
#Attention     #Logic     #Accuracy


Into a nightmare

From the very beginning, the game becomes a bit mystical. It’s not like you dive into the daily life of the characters and then solve their problems. It’s more similar to your awakening together with Ted on that train. Players try to figure it out - what is going on here, and the reality is falling apart quite soon, as if the hero never woke up but sees a disturbing nightmare.

Pinstripe doesn’t contain the horrible monsters of Doom Eternal or global apocalyptic events of Darksiders Genesis. It’s rather a personal hell of Ted, where he faces dark realms of his mind.

Darkness of this game is a bit similar to the story of Life is Strange - by its spirit, not by events. Still, the author (Thomas Brush) doesn’t push the horror-like atmosphere too far. It’s not a Resident Evil game at all.

Events of Pinstripe take place in a dark world with weird creatures. Still, the game is mostly about solving puzzles - check out the review on Very Good Games

A very good brain teaser

To complete the mission, Ted sometimes fights dangerous gizmos and beasts. Still, the general gameplay is mostly about solving puzzles. In this aspect, the game blooms with all its beauty.

The puzzles of Pinstripe are not too difficult. I never was stuck (like it happened in the first God of War, for example). But they are not too easy  - you need to spend some time walking around, exploring the things, and thinking over the situation. The moments of solving puzzles are quite satisfying.

Sometimes, Pinstripe resembles a bit mini puzzles of the flash games era with its “spot the differences” and “Flip Bird” tasks. And this is a good thing about the game.

The puzzle adventure game Pinstripe has elements of a platformer and some basic fights-shootings. More details are in the review on Very Good Games!

However dark the world is, it has been made beautiful in its unique way. Especially with the amazing music! The game Pinstripe is very short, and unlike Ori and the Blind Forest, It doesn't have a significant replay value. Still, this gaming experience is very special.

To enjoy it, buy Pinstripe for your system:

A button for purchasing the puzzle adventure game Pinstripe on Steam for Windows and Apple computers         A button for purchasing the puzzle adventure game Pinstripe for the game console Xbox One

A button for purchasing the puzzle adventure game Pinstripe for the game console PlayStation 4        A button for purchasing the puzzle adventure game Pinstripe for the game console Nintendo Switch




See also…

Pinstripe was published by Armor Games. This company has also published The Adventure Pals - and the colourful platformer has a reference to Pinstripe in its collectible stickers:

A review of the game The Adventure Pals - check it out on the gaming blog Very Good Games

If you like puzzles, the game Obduction might be interesting for you:

Obduction - a puzzle game for PC, PS4 and Xbox One