When the Past was Around is an adventure point-and-click puzzle game about love, moving on, letting go, and the joy and pain of everything in between.
The gameplay primarily involves exploring surreal environments, interacting with objects, and solving puzzles to progress the narrative. The game eschews traditional dialogue and instead relies on visual storytelling through hand-drawn art and atmospheric music to convey the bittersweet tale.
Players will encounter a variety of puzzles that range in difficulty, but reviewers generally describe them as "brain-teasing." Many puzzles task players with finding and combining items or interacting with the environment in specific ways to unlock new areas or advance the story. Some puzzles are more abstract, requiring players to make lateral connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Reviewers noted that the puzzles strike a good balance, being challenging enough to be engaging without becoming frustratingly difficult. The puzzles are also well-integrated into the narrative, with their solutions often revealing new insights into the relationship between the protagonist and the enigmatic Owl character.
Exploring the surreal, disjointed rooms that make up the game's environments is a key part of the gameplay experience. Players must carefully examine each room, interact with objects, and uncover hidden clues and items to solve the puzzles. Reviewers praised how the environmental design and object placement encourages observation and lateral thinking. Many reviews highlight how the act of exploring the environments and piecing together the narrative through environmental cues and puzzles is a central part of the game's appeal. The lack of traditional dialogue forces players to actively engage with the world and form their own interpretations of the story.
The game features responsive, straightforward controls that require only a mouse to interact with the game world. Reviewers noted that the control scheme allows players to focus on solving the puzzles and experiencing the story without being hindered by complex mechanics. The intuitive controls complement the game's pacing and narrative focus, enabling players to seamlessly transition between exploration, puzzle-solving, and experiencing the emotional journey of the protagonist.
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