The first thing you do in Miniatures is switch on the light. You then unlock a small box, containing four different items. Presumably, these are the eponymous miniatures. You select either a moth, screwdriver, seashell, or lizard and enter an illustrated story created for each.
The next hour of your life is consumed by surreal stories, illuminating illustrations, and haunting narratives. More interactive artwork than fully-fledged video game, Miniatures won’t be for everyone. But if you enjoy immersive experiences and inventive storytelling, if you enjoy games like If Found…, Florence, or Gris, Miniatures might be for you.
The House Of The Moon
I clicked on the moth first, and was greeted by The House of the Moon. Each of the four playable stories will take you about ten minutes to complete, and this is the most linear of the quartet. That said, I really liked how it used the mouse to physically pull the narrative along, dragging you to the next page in a way that almost feels reminiscent of The Plucky Squire.
I won’t spoil any of the stories, as their surreal twists are worth experiencing for yourself, but all bar one have a general sense of foreboding and unease. As you scroll left and right to use your binoculars, as you pull the mountain down beneath your feet, there’s a palpable sense of dread in The House of the Moon. None of the tales in Miniatures are horrors, but they’re suspenseful and impactful in equal measure.
Despite being mechanically light, the combination of magic realism, beautiful illustration, and evocative emotional storytelling is engaging. Each game has a mechanic that is clever and new, or at least used in a new way.
Familiar
Second, I picked the screwdriver, a story known as Familiar. Where The House of the Moon had written narration, Familiar is completely devoid of dialogue. However, it still tells a compelling story of what can go wrong when assembling flat-pack furniture. There’s some (incredibly) gentle puzzle solving here, clearly intended to be immersive rather than challenging, and a surreal supernaturality that permeates throughout.
The sound design is excellent throughout Miniatures, but excels especially in Familiar. From the creaking and cracking of wood, to the crunch of screws or the exasperated sigh of a family member trying to make sense of the instructions, every noise here is perfect and the soundtrack beneath ebbs in and out like a spine-tingling tide.
After the cabinet was built, I picked up the shell from the little box that comprises the main menu. I didn’t know if I’d expected the games to be connected, but at this point, I was certain they weren’t. Why, then were these disparate items in a box together? Who has collected them?
The Last Sandcastle
The Last Sandcastle didn’t have answers, but it did have musical monsters trying to reform their band. This story is unusually light on narrative, and all takes place on one complicated sand castle. This is a bona fide point-and-click adventure and, while you don’t have an inventory or need to combine items in order to progress, there are certain criteria you have to meet in order to continue, which isn’t the case for other games in this collection.
The Paludarium
Finally, I picked up the toy lizard, the game that I think most players will approach first. The Paludarium is the most inexplicable of the four and therefore the most interesting, and as such I would recommend saving it until last. This way, it eschews the expectations you’ve built up over the first three experiences.
A short walking simulator, this is the only story with voice acting. What starts as a fairly normal, albeit sad, snapshot into the life of a child home alone evolves into an experience either horrific or dreamlike, depending on how you interpret it. It feels quite different from the other three games, the most traditional, but also the boldest with its art direction. The use of square panels as illustrative, narrative, and mechanical effects is incredibly clever, and I’d love to experience another day of this.
That’s my overriding takeaway from The Paludarium, and Miniatures overall. It left me wanting more. This is inherently a good thing, but the short experience was exactly that: short. Not everything has to be long, and its truncated length likely allowed it to be so precise and intentional, but I immediately wanted to play another story. I thought we might see how all the experiences are connected after finishing them all, but the box is shut and you’re prompted to start again or quit.
Miniatures is a game I’m going to ruminate over for a long time. It’s beautiful, melancholy, and purposefully weird, and I really appreciate that. In an industry that so often plays it safe, it’s invigorating to play something so creative and so intent on doing its own thing. Miniatures is beyond comparison, a game to be experienced for yourself above all else.
Reviewed on PC.
- Surreal narratives that unsettle you
- Beautiful presentation
- Clever mechanics
- Leaves you wanting more
- Some players will be put off by its simplicity
- Leaves you wanting more