NUTS

Ignore the silly and misleading name. This is a lovely little game that combines clever surveillance mechanics with minimalist nature exploration and a bit of tension and mystery. Be warned that gameplay can be quite slow and tedious. This is not an action adventure.

There's very obvious inspiration from Firewatch in the setting, story, and even mode of storytelling. Perhaps too much inspiration. I can forgive this blatant rip-off because the gameplay is otherwise original and delightful. Throughout the story there are several variations on the basic formula that keep it interesting. It's not that deep, though, so luckily the game is short enough that its core mechanic doesn't overstay its welcome. The visual style is also quite nice. It's been done before, but it's done well here, with a striking color palette and suggestive geometry.

There are some rough edges that could have been avoided with better design. For one, affordances and controls and not so great. I played with an Xbox controller, which is supported but very poorly, and it took me a while to realize this. Play with keyboard and mouse! Then, it's not clear what is clickable, and unfortunately the color coding of objects is misleading in this regard. Finally, and worst in my view, there are secret little documents you can find along the way that do a lot to enrich the story, but ... they are secret and easy to miss without a walkthrough. Why not let players experience this more readily? I see no point in keeping these secret.

As for its difficulty, I found all the tasks easy enough to complete with some patience, but the final puzzle was very annoying, because it introduced a mechanic that was never used before in the game. How was I supposed to know about it? Affordances! Provide them! I had no idea that I could climb trees.

All in all, recommended for fans for indie walking-sim puzzlers.