Video Game Review – Little Orpheus

Developer: The Chinese Room

Publisher: Secret Mode, Sumo Digital

Genre: Platform, Adventure, Action

Reviewed On:

Also Available for: Playstation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox series X and S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Ios, Apple Arcade, Mac OS

After a bit of a nonstarter due to global events, I’m pleased to say that The Chinese Room has officially released their sidescrolling storytelling event, Little Orpheus, to the world at large, and people can rejoice to experience this delightful romp on something other than an iOS device. While the Apple Arcade is creating a lot of great titles for developers, it’s also a gated community that locks out a huge number of players, and, arguably, Apple Arcade isn’t the best for everyone. Personally, I think it’s a great service, but I also have a dedicated controller for my Apple TV and a whole Backbone rig for my iPhone, so I’m actually the target market. Thankfully, exclusivity has expired and now everyone, everywhere, can see what the fuss is about.

Little Orpheus is a fantastic, episodic tale of unfortunate cosmonaut Ivan Ivanovich, who is being debriefed after disappearing from a Soviet mission some three years ago. The plan, apparently, was to burrow deep into the earth to see if there was a way to harness the energy and use a small, nuclear bomb named Little Orpheus in order to better create some kind of reaction. Ivanovich, who, again, was gone for three years, has a lot of explaining to do, and immediately launches into a fantastical journey that talks about land lost to time, a race of unearthly people, beautiful temples, and a subterranean plot that could have threatened the whole world. Thankfully, Ivan’s presence back in Mother Russia tells us he was successful in saving us all. Unfortunately, he has no proof, no evidence, and is still distinctly lacking the nuclear bomb that he was given possession of so many years ago. So, yea, he’s got some explaining to do, and the general who is interviewing him is…a tad skeptical.

Little Orpheus is a side-scrolling puzzle adventure game, where you take control of Ivan and have to navigate the hidden world through a series of mechanisms, platforming, and the occasional quick-time event. Throughout the course of seven chapters, Ivan will need to dodge dinosaurs, hide from searchlights, make quick decisions to save his hide, and deduce the correct order to put orbs and other such puzzle tools. Along the way, Ivan and the general will narrate their ongoing interview, interjecting helpful exposition to explain what was happening at this point in Ivanovich’s story. Between chapters (and occasionally between moments) we’ll also have points of dialogue to give a better framework and also to add more humor to the entire situation. Which, let’s be honest, this whole story and the cast are incredibly funny.

The gameplay and situation of Little Orpheus could have been stale and simple. After all, this is basically The Lost World combined with a Planet of the Apes vibe, but it goes well beyond that. The styling, for example, really captures the tone and elements that the developers were striving for, which is a cross of 50’s sci-fi with Looney Tunes era animation. Turning on the filter helps to give the proper discoloration that you’d expect from an exhausted CRT television, and the color scheme pops even further when given a chance. Everything feels like Technicolor is the name of the game: even when deep underground, there’s a vibrancy that bleeds through each element, keeping the game engaging visually as well as tonally.

The humor of it also keeps things fresh. When you die, either from falling or getting squished or turning into solid ice stone from an alien laser, it’s a brief moment of “Oh no!” followed quickly by a reset to an earlier point. This isn’t meant to be a dramatic and awful event: you’re hearing Ivan’s totally true and 100% accurate story, and we just back up and try again to keep the game going. At one point, Ivan becomes lodged inside a dinosaur egg and must do a stealth-style walk across a bridge to get to safety, stopping whenever a Tyrannosaurus Rex looks his way. The use of horns to accentuate his walking and then dropping the instrument as soon as he stops is straight out of the Tex Avery playbook, and it was one of many delightful moments that kept the game fun and funny throughout. While it isn’t a total madcap from start to finish, there are so many great points where the general’s sarcasm and disbelief help to add an extra joke in what could otherwise be a pretty but boring element of walking.

I will say that Little Orpheus is neither a long nor a difficult game. This is a walking simulator with a lot of extra flair to it, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s a great little story that should keep you engaged for a full afternoon into evening, or perhaps spread out the chapters over a couple of days to give yourself a prolonged treat. Even when the puzzles don’t immediately make sense, it only takes a moment to figure things out and then to move forward. If you’d really like, you can go back to find hidden items in the chapters after completion, and this will unlock some additional goodies, but it’s far from necessary. If you’re only here for the fun and the story, you can stay focused and be done with it before five full hours pass.

Even though the world has understandably gotten a very negative view of Russia in recent times, please remember that jokes exist in the world and the actual idea of a loose nuclear weapon isn’t funny, but a cartoon that lost it to some kind of Morlock people is. Little Orpheus is a delight and genuinely fun, and please don’t let the temperature of the world distract you from it. I promise, comrade, you will enjoy the story, even if you don’t believe a word Ivanovich says.

Gameplay – 7

Presentation – 9.5

Enjoyment – 9

Little Orpheus may not have the most in-depth gameplay, but it makes up for it with heart and humor.