KeyWe, preview | A chaotic puzzle game between birds and postal letters
KeyWe
What happens when some bird becomes the protagonist of a video game and wreaks havoc on our screens? And above all, when will not a single bird occupy the view, but also those guided by our friends? To really find out what awaits us in this chaotic puzzle game, we will have to wait for August, but we have started to get our hands on KeyWe, the new Sold Out title coming to old and new generation consoles (let's talk about PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One) and on Steam. The protagonists we met are Jeff and Debra, two kiwi birds, as the game's onomatopoeic title suggests, who work in a post office that is as entertaining as it is hectic. If you were wondering why the post office gets confusing at times, you might be blaming these birds! But let's find out together what we could try in this first taste of the game.KeyWe, when the going gets tough, the birds start fluttering
Our test on PC begins with a very short tutorial for each level (possibly skippable), which allows us to start juggling with the commands necessary to move our kiwis, alone or simultaneously. Yes, because the main prerogative of this game is cooperation, which is determined by the commands given by a single player, able to drive two birds together, or in cooperative mode, the privileged one that we recommend, to achieve maximum fun with the your friends. But let's get to the gist of the story: what exactly does KeyWe consist of? It is a puzzle game consisting of several postal puzzles that make up the six levels tested in our preview.Be careful, however, since these are animals, it will not be easy to carry out basic actions: they are able to jump, flutter, tap and hit their tail in different interactive scenarios dotted with levers, bells and buttons to do ensure that messages are delivered on time. The levels, although not important from a quantitative point of view, are instead rather full of challenges, demanding at the right point and not only for the elements with which we have to interact, but also for the bad weather and forecast variations. Going through the various rooms of the Telepost, the post office around which the whole story revolves, we must help our kiwis to complete the various tasks, regardless of the climatic condition.
Let's get to the point of the gameplay, from a technical points of view in the first place. We've talked so far about how important and engaging co-op is, but what if we don't have any playmate available? What to do? Do not worry, the experience on KeyWe did not end in the bud. As anticipated, if we were approaching the game in single player, we can not only command one kiwi at a time, switching from one to the other, but also guide them simultaneously. This happens thanks to the Hot Swap, to switch from one character to another, and to the Dual Wield mode, for the second command possibility.
Beware, however, in this first version at least, the languages available for the game they do not provide for localization in Italian, so some steps may seem difficult to understand to complete the various tasks. All the tasks that we will have to carry out have to do with the classic tasks of a post office: from sending letters and packages, to composing messages on sheets of paper, gluing with the back of our kiwis the various pieces of phrase or "typing" in the same way the various letters of the words that are suggested to us on a screen. All this not without time limits, but within a few minutes, indicated by an analog clock at the top right of the screen, which warns us from time to time with nice acoustic messages of the time less and less available.
However, it is not always easy to succeed in the enterprise, which is why it becomes more sympathetic and also easier to be able to conclude each step that brings us closer to the goal of each level. Although there is in fact the availability of a tutorial for each task, as well as indications on the screen (not always) that direct us to the various "points of interest", the difficulty is still quite high, especially for those who, in the case of a PC gamer, not particularly familiar with the keyboard and the combo of commands to speed things up. At the end of each level, we receive an evaluation of our performance, but only if we have completed at least one or more of the tasks required to achieve the goal. Based on the result obtained, we will be able to see our name appear in the ranking with the top three best players, otherwise we will have to try again to improve our scores.
Let's also take a final look at the aesthetics, which is very colorful , and to the technical sector of the game, not entirely taken care of in the smallest details. While there are no particular details rendered in an unnatural or only sketchy way, we have observed several bugs due to which our kiwis disappear in crevices that should not be there, struggle to jump from one raised point to another and technical defects of this type. An aspect of no small importance, if we have to fight against the passage of time and move quickly from one side to the other, an obstacle that we can easily overcome using the Dual Wield.
