Gorogoa first caught my attention with its gorgeous art style and better still it seemed to be very well received by critics. Having played through it I can now say but those elements are clear through out the whole experience. If you look at still images of this game you may be fooled into thinking its a comic book. The game does feel like a combination of a four panel comic and a sliding puzzle as you move images around your screen. This helps make Gorogoa one of the most original and often mind-bending puzzle games I've ever played. It may not be a particularly long but it packs so much wow factor in that short time its definitely worth the price of admission.
Gorogoa starts when a young boy looks out of his window and sees what appears like a very colorful version of something like a Chinese dragon. The boy flips through his encyclopedia to find an entry on this creature in which he has become quite fascinated with. Once he finds the right page he sees an image of two people offering a bowl of five different colored orbs to the creature. This sparks a life long obsession with him in which you must help him track down these orbs. Time is all relative in this game as you'll come across older versions of the boy and see them in varying circumstances. Every orb appears to be related to a certain time and state of mind of the boy as he grew up. The story is told with no dialog so much of what happens is really up to the player's interpretation.
So to help the boy find these objects you'll have to put on your thinking cap because these comic panels are a bit puzzling. The entire game is played on a two by two grid with a varying number of spaces filled in at any one time. Its up to you to rearrange and layer the comic panels in order to progress the game. For example there may be a panel with an empty sphere which can be dragged over a different panel with a star; do that and the sphere will turn into a light blub. Maybe the boy is stuck at a closed door. If you can find a panel that has an empty door that fits that same space then he can proceed to walk into a new area. Maybe there are rocks falling in a panel; could you place a specific panel below the rock panel and carry the rocks into a new setting. Although there are more possibilities as you progress into the second half of the game you should never feel too overwhelmed as often you'll only have so many possible combinations at any given time.
Gorogoa is yet another indie game that is leading the charge to show the world that games are a legitimate art form. That is not to say this is just a visual novel, quite the contrary. Trying to find the right panels and place them in the right order needed to progress makes for rewarding gameplay. This is a fairly short game but when you see how much detail went into each beautiful panel and how cleverly laid out the puzzles are I think it should be easily get your money's worth. Also after you finish the game you can play the original demo/prototype which starts in a similar way but ends up taking off in a different direction. I always feel silly saying a game isn't for everyone so instead I'll say the puzzle and artist elements should have obvious appeals their retrospective fans.