In Review: The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets (Oculus Quest Game)

Game: ‘The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets’ is a charming family orientated Virtual Reality puzzle game, which makes use of very cute animations combined with fun puzzles, which see you have to use a hairdryer to melt snow as well as other fun gameplay mechanics that young and old will just fall in love with.

The game’s premise is based on childhood memories of your adventures with your grandfather who also serves as the game’s narrator. The game sees you exploring up to 10 worlds in which the object is to find the stolen pets as well as several gold coins. You clear each level as soon as you find all the pets.

Gameplay

The gameplay on this is really straightforward to the point of there being very little in the way of instructions needed. You start off in your childhood bedroom, which is probably the tidiest child’s bedroom you will ever see. In the room, you will see your bed a view of the outside through your rather modest window and ten framed pictures, which are covered up with a very nice red cloth. The game pretty much guides to the pictures, which contain the various worlds that you will explore while searching for the pets.

Your first stage to clear is the Summer House, which makes clever use of a swing while gently introducing you to the game mechanics, which are very much grounded in your own curiosity to explore and interact with the different objects and things on display. The second world is a winter scene with a lovely train, which you have to play around with the points on in order to successfully find one of the pets, but you’ll have to figure out how to use the points first if you can find them.

Each world gets progressively a little more difficult as you progress through. I spent slightly longer playing the second world than I did the first because I wanted to find all the coins as well as the pets. I’m pretty sure younger gamers will feel the same incentive.

Graphics

The graphics and animations in this game are really charmingly done. James Hunt who serves as the creative lead on the game is a fan of animation as well as an animator in his own right and it really shows. The animated characters in the game put me in mind of a much smoother and modern take on the classic Rankin/Bass animations of the 1970s and 80s mixed in with a touch of Wallace and Gromit. The gameworlds are lovely. The second one reminded me of Christmas in so many ways because of the snow and the fact that you get to build a snowman using several of the different game mechanics involved.

Each of the worlds in the game is like a diorama in that you can move around it as well as up and down and move and interact with things. It would not surprise me in the least if you have children’s writers using this game as a tool to inspire their storytelling because there is so much to see and interact with. The look of the worlds should appeal to the child in everyone.

Playability

Once you have completed the ten worlds on offer here. I think you will likely find yourself going back on yourself to play through again in order to see if you can do them in a faster time. The gameplay style encourages curiosity and exploration. And the storyline of it being about you thinking back to takes with your grandfather feels like a universal theme that people of all ages can enjoy.

The puzzles are not overly difficult, but they are loads of fun to play and often times I found myself solving some of them purely by accident, which means I will likely go back and play again to figure out how I did such and such. Also depending on the game’s success and feedback. The guys at Fast Travel Games do have plans for adding new levels and DLC as things evolve.

Overall

Fast Travel Games have developed a wonderful virtual reality experience here for gamers of all ages to enjoy. I loved the animations and the engagement that the game offered with a stress-free approach to puzzles and problem-solving in order to rescue cute pets from your evil little sister. The game succeeded in engaging my inner child.

Highly Recommended.