William Hartley: Stacking preview: Matryoshka mix-and-match

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Stacking preview: Matryoshka mix-and-match

At first glance, Stacking may seem like something you've never played before. Its core concept of possessing Russian nesting dolls (matryoshka) is something we've never seen in a game but make no mistake: this game is unequivocally a Double Fine joint. The characters are all fun (and quite funny) and, during a recent demonstration of the game at the Double Fine offices with studio head Tim Schafer and Stacking project lead, Lee Perry, I discovered that at its heart Stacking most resembles an adventure game.

Stacking tells the story of little Charlie Blackmore, a young chimney sweep and member of an unlucky family during the latter years of the Victorian era. Mr. Blackmore, Charlie's pop, ends up getting a job as a chimney sweep for a wealthy baron one day and that's the last the family sees of him. Soon after, the baron's men come and collect the rest of the family, save for tiny Charlie. Throughout the course of the game, Blackmore must aid his family members by tackling a variety of challenges, some more jovial than others. The game's story is told entirely in silent film-style vignettes which are, like a lot of the game, just so darn charming.

And that's the single word I keep coming back to when I think about Stacking: charming. The world itself has that Double Fine stamp on it -- the NPCs offer humorous banter and some of the challenges themselves are a bit ... weird. Following the convention "adventure game" formula, you need to do this one thing and you've got to figure out how to do it. Unlike a lot of adventure games, however, there isn't just one way to solve any puzzle or challenge.

Gallery: Stacking