The Window Box by Sundew Studios is a dark comedic visual novel about five college friends catching up. This point-and-click game allows you to find out more about the girls’ back story while solving puzzles and discovering the dark truth about Elsa’s new life. Are any of these strange twists real or is the stress of relationships, work, and the prospects of having a baby driving these women insane?
Being a visual novel, the first thing I usually notice is the art style and music. Since games like this have very limited gameplay, those two things are very important. With that being said, I really enjoyed the music in The Window Box. I felt that it fit the tone of the game very well but wasn’t too distracting. I did also enjoy the art style. The characters reminded me of fashion designs and sketches. They were all unique and had their own personality, just based on their designs alone. The backgrounds and objects in the game were really pretty as well. The tone of the whole art style really fit the dark whimsy aesthetic they were going for.
Since this is a visual novel, it is very story heavy. This game is not narrated so if you do not enjoy reading then this game might not be for you. The point of this game is to come to understand these friends and what they are going through through their thoughts and dialogue. The first half of the game, I felt was to slow. The friends seem to small talk and beat around the bush for a little too long. A couple of times I had to step away from my computer because I found myself thinking of other things and just clicking through the dialogue. It wasn’t until the puzzles and interactivity of the game picked up did I find myself enjoying the game more. Overall, I felt that the story was interesting and it was very cool to get to know these very different characters and their relationship with each other. I do wish it was more dark than comedic. I did like the whimsy but I wished it was more nightmarish rather than childlike dreams.
I know I have mentioned before that I love puzzles so I was excited when I found out this was a puzzle game. However, I felt that the puzzles were either too easy or you weren’t given enough context to figure them out, so you were left guessing and messing around until something worked. Several of the puzzles were classics, similar to ones you may have learned in school or have been used before. I know it is very difficult to come up with your own puzzles but several of the puzzles I knew the answers to already because they were so familiar.
Overall, I thought The Window Box had a great story with charming characters and an interesting art style. I wish the puzzles were a bit different and the pass was a little quicker but I did enjoy this game. This is something to definitely check out if you enjoy visual novels.
7/10
Check Out The Window Box Trailer:
The Window Box is available for PC via Steam.
Steam Review
I'm a postgraduate Information and Library Studies student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm originally from Texas and have a BFA in Creative Writing from SFASU. I grew up playing video games and now enjoy watching other people play as well. I love anything with a good story!
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