I really enjoyed Carto because it was a chill and relaxing puzzle game with a wonderful story and charming characters. The art for it is quite colorful and has its own charm as well. When I started playing Carto I was immediately delighted by the introduction to the story. You play as Carto, a young girl who is an airship with her cartographer grandma and circumstances that are part of the story cause them to be separated and Carto ends up on an island. This is where the game really starts with Carto trying to find a way back to her grandma.
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| Carto starts her adventure! |
As Carto explores the island, she finds map pieces which she can put together to create paths and unlock new areas. This is where the puzzle aspects of the game shine because there are so many different ways to put the map pieces together and the way you put them together determines the layout of the island. Carto's power is that she can pick up the map pieces and move them around anywhere and rotate them to create new paths. This ability is thoughtfully done throughout the entirety of Carto's adventure.
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| Moving the map pieces into place. |
The island that Carto lands on is a good starting point in learning how to move the map tiles around as well as seeing how the menu and controls work. It also introduced Carto to the villagers of that island and there are small quests that are part of the story where Carto has to help them find things like their home or missing objects. There are some limits to moving the tiles around. For example, you can't just place an ocean tile against the land, you have to find a piece with some shoreline on it so they can fit together and the land pieces need to be able to connect to other land pieces.
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| Carto makes new friends on the island. |
As Carto's journey continues, she gets to explore other islands which show new ways to use the map tiles like placing the edges of a forest around a blank area in order to make an entire forest appear. Some of the solutions to the puzzles were not obvious to me, but I never felt frustrated. I think that's the beauty of Carto. You can take your time with it as you solve the puzzles and it has a very relaxed feel and the music is very calming giving an overall chill vibe. When I did solve a puzzle I had been trying to figure out, I realized that I had been overthinking it and the solution was actually fairly simple. I also loved all the different characters on each island and appreciated the cute art style. I also enjoyed the endearing moments like getting to give a bear a bear hug. It just added that wonderful bit of extra adorable to Carto.
There is so much to love about Carto and while it's not a very long game at about five to seven hours, it's a wonderful experience. It feels like the perfect game to play after a long day cozy under a ton of blankets with your favorite hot beverage, just relaxing and solving puzzles. I loved playing it and I have been playing through it a second time because it is such a joy to play.
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| Carto admires the beautiful view with friends. |
*Carto is available to play on the following platforms: Steam, Playstation 4, Xboxone, Nintendo Switch
*Join our community on twitch as we enjoy games and talk about mental health: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer
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