Game Review: A Fold Apart

 

What does it mean to be in a long-distance relationship? How does it feel to love someone when they are thousand of miles away from you? I’m all too familiar with distance and the impact it can have on relationship because I was in a long-distance relationship myself until just recently. Everyone knows being in a standard relationship is full of ups and downs and there’s so much to adjust to when it comes to living together. The opposite is equally as challenging though. Learning to maintain a relationship while both partners live apart without any opportunity for intimacy or contact can put a lot of pressure on a relationship. The difficulty can make or break a lot of long-distance relationships, but by dealing with those challenges and pushing past them; you prove that the love that binds you together is real and worth every second apart when you finally are able to come together.  One thing that upsets me in a minor way is I never see long-distance relationships really reflected accurately in entertainment media. That’s why I was hopeful when I found out about an indie game developer was making a cute little puzzle game that used long-distance relationships as a core foundation of it’s set up. Despite the excitement though, A Fold Apart failed to really capture the nature of these relationships all that well in my opinion.

Developed and published by Canada-based Lightning Rod Games, A Fold Apart is a side-scrolling narrative puzzle game in which you play a loving couple working through the struggle of the long-distance relationship they are in.  The core gameplay is presented on a foldable piece of paper in which you must fold elements of the landscape in order to navigate obstacles and reach your objectives. The game was released on April 16th 2020 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, iOS, tvOS, Mac operating systems and Xbox One.

The narrative behind A Fold apart follows an unnamed couple living in a long-distance relationship. The red partner lives out in the countryside and enjoys their job as a teacher in the local community. The blue partner is based out in the city and is working on an industrial project as an architect. Their jobs and lifestyles require them to live apart for an unknown period of time, yet despite the distance the couple try to keep connected through text messages throughout the course of the story. The whole idea of this narrative is the couple struggles to come to terms with the reality of the distance between them and the way they process their own internal monologues is expressed in visual set pieces. 

The attempt to cover the nature of a long-distance relationship is appreciated, it does a modest run at presenting the highs and lows of what these types of relationships can bring. I think it misses the opportunity to really explore the complicated nature of the relationship by the conclusion though. A lot of the conflict feels shallow and it doesn’t really give the narrative much room to breath before you moving from an ideal relationship to a one barely keeping alive.  I get it’s a video game first and foremost and the narrative is limited by the scope of the functionality behind it, but something feels clearly missing here.  Being in a long-distance relationship is a lot more than what is presented here and by not going to the full extent to cover it I genuinely feel the game does a disservice in representing the realities of what these relationships can be.  

On the gameplay side, the game’s unique premise allows for it to deliver an engaging experience, The idea of the level being presented on a single sheet of paper on both sides allows for the player to tackle a lot of interesting puzzles. The way you have to fold the paper vertically, horizontally and diagonally in order to match platform works in a very smart format and it’s fairly responsive in the way it recognizes each fold. The puzzles feel sadly repetitive though and they lose their flair quite quickly as you have to work through a good number of them. There’s also a problem which stems from the game’s slow pace and controls. It makes working through the game’s levels even more of a chore when you have movement controls which feel more obtrusive than anything.

The presentation side of things is slightly uncompelling too. It’s doing a valid attempt to present itself with a cell shaded art style and it’s appreciated how the backgrounds shift and react in unison with the narrative. The actual levels in themselves though lack much in the way of memorable visuals or design. Ultimately, it’s just basic colored platforms scattered across the canvas. Even the music is more generic then memorable. 

I don’t outright hate this game; I get it wanted to bank on an interesting gameplay premise and present a narrative concept that doesn’t often get the light of day. That intent however, doesn’t excuse its poor delivery in my opinion. As a gameplay experience it just isn’t that memorable or fun. It loses its appeal very quickly and there’s nothing all that substantial in its form or function to justify putting the money down to play it.