Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

T

hePedestrianisa puzzle-platformerwhere
theplatformsarealsothepuzzles.Youcontrol
a humansilhouettethatyou’dtypicallyseeon
roadsignsandpedestriancrossings,guidingit through
thesignsandnoticesofa bustlingcity.
Therearetwokeylayerstopuzzling.Thefirstisinside
thesignsthemselves.Here,ThePedestrianisa standard
jumpinggame.Youmustnavigatebetweenplatforms,
pusharoundboxes,collectkeysandavoidhazards
typicallyfoundoncitysigns,suchas,er,lasersand
circularsaws.There’snothingwrongwiththissideofthe
game,althoughthere’slittleremarkableaboutit either.
Thesecondlayerisoutsidethesigns,andthat’swhere
ThePedestrianworksitsmagic.Yourpedestriancan
moveseamlesslybetweendifferentsignsusingthe
doorsandladderspaintedontothem,butonlyif they’re
connectedintherightway.PressF andthecamerawill
zoomout,soyoucanmoveanysignsonthescreenand
drawconnectionsbetweentheirdoorsandladders.Once
a connectionhasbeendrawn,it can’tbedisconnected
withoutresettingtheentirepuzzle.
It’sa neatmechanicalgimmick,andThePedestrian
constantlyiteratesuponthiscentralconcept.Earlyon,it
introducesplugswithspoolsofwirethatyourpedestrian
cancarryandconnecttosocketstoformcircuits.Later,
it turns the signs themselves into electrical conduits,
letting you move them around to complete circuits. It’s
constantly finding new ways to get you to play on two
levels at once.
The Pedestrian excels visually as well. Your journey
through the city is presented as one long take, with
seamless transitions between each location. Starting
in an industrial warehouse, your first job is to locate the
elevator and activate it, which takes you down into the city’s
underground. Here, you need to find a train and complete
the circuits to activate it, so it can transport you to the city
centre. This is all communicated via elegant camera pans
through stunningly detailed 3D environments.

The Pedestrian isn’t short of great ideas, although

ironically, it doesn’t always communicate them well. On

some puzzles you have to deliberately trigger a reset in

order to progress, but the game never explains this. With

only five hours of gameplay, it’s also shorter than it deserves.

The game throws ideas at you so quickly that you suddenly

move onto another idea when you’ve only just got the hang

of the previous one. The ending is also rather abrupt.

That said, those five hours represent some of the most

enjoyable puzzling since the fantastic Gorogoa. The

Pedestrian may not always be a walk in the park, but it

definitely puts its best foot forward.

RICK LANE

/VERDICT

Combining

cleverly designed

puzzles with slick

presentation, The

Pedestrian is a

splendid, if short,

puzzlegame.

OVERALL SCORE

85 %

The Pedestrian/

£ 15.49 inc VAT

DEVELOPER Skookum Arts/ PUBLISHER SkookumArt

GREEN MAN

+^ Great concept

+^ Looks stunning

+^ Meticulously

designed puzzles

RED MAN

-^ Bit short
-^ Some concepts
poorly explained

s

s mPPCC

A

P

PR

OV

E

D