'Kahoots' redirects here. For the game-based learning platform, seeHohokum is a 2014 developed by Honeyslug and published by for,. The player controls a snakelike creature to explore 17 whimsical worlds with no set objectives. The developers, who began development in 2008, compared the concept to flying a kite and were inspired by free London museums, and indigenous cultures.
It was released on August 12, 2014, and features a soundtrack by artists. The game received 'generally favorable reviews', according to video game review score aggregator. Critics appreciated the game's presentation, including its art and music, but felt that the gameplay turned to drudgery towards its end and that the objectives were too vague. Screenshot of gameplay in the city worldThe is a multicolored serpent creature called the 'Long Mover' who glides through whimsical game worlds with loose objectives. There is no correct way to play the game, which was designed to be enjoyed without necessarily pursuing objectives.
Hohokum is cut from the same fabric as artsy PlayStation games like Sound Shapes, LocoRoco, and Patapon, and It's hugely enjoyable, despite often feeling directionless. Hohokum is a PlayStation exclusive Cross-Buy PS4/PS3/Vita game from developer Honeyslug and artist Richard Hogg and is similar to games like Flower, flOw or (to a lesser extent) Proteus. The player controls a multicoloured serpent creature called The Long Mover as it moves through the various game levels.
It is non-linear and has no score, time limit, or tutorial. The developer described the game as about 'relaxing in a space and just enjoying the experience and the music, instead of trying to complete it to make progress', and an preview said it is 'simply about the beauty of exploring'. 's Jeremy Parish wrote that the game's challenges were in distinguishing the interactive objects from the environment and then figuring out the function of those interactive objects. For example, a ball resembling a dandelion releases its spores when circled, but the player has to follow the floating spores to realize that other villagers use the spores as a vehicle. The game communicates with visual and audial cues, and uses few of the standard controller buttons: two buttons slow or accelerate the Long Mover, and the triggers make it wiggle for a boost. The Long Mover changes in color based on the direction it faces and the 's light bar matches the color.The game does not explicitly have a story but has a narrative line that connects the disparate worlds.
There are 17 worlds, each with unique characters, a single primary goal, and secondary activities. In 'Lamp Lighting', the player activates lights while flying past silhouettes, and each light adds a new layer of music. The player flies through a series of color-changing circles to access the next world. In Sponge Land, an underwater world, the player gathers fish to swim alongside the Long Mover. The player can collect seeds in the Kite Village.
Another level lets the player create shapes in the sky by flying past stars. The worlds are presented in flat colors with no outlines, and all worlds are unlocked from the beginning of the game.
The credits roll once a hidden multicolored serpent is freed from each level. Development. Hohokum developer Ricky HaggettHohokum is an developed by British game developer Honeyslug Games in collaboration with artist Richard Hogg and beginning in 2008.
Hogg and Ricky Haggett of Honeyslug knew each other through a music connection. The two discussed making a game and began to collaborate when Hogg sent images to Haggett, who was experimenting with. They prototyped a top-down game similar to as well as a with a, and a game. Their first formal collaboration was an entry for 's Gamma event in. The team's first game ideas for Hohokum were about racing, which grew into the idea of a 'stunt kite'.
They wanted to make a game with the limitations and satisfaction of flying a kite where the conventional aims of video games were absent: no being commanded, avoiding failure, or being challenged to advance. The gameplay was designed to encourage expressive play and experimentation as 'a, a place to wander about'.
Sony Santa Monica's lead game designer of external games Seth Killian described that world's nature as 'about a feeling and a mood, a mental space'. The first pieces of the game were abstract, and the development gradually grew figurative, with people and buildings. In pre-production, Richard Hogg and Ricky Haggett went to free London museums, such as the, which inspired in-game content like tombs.
The game's 'Fun Fair' was based on in, and they were also inspired by the festival costumes of the of southern.Honeyslug and Hogg entered the game into the Eurogamer Indie Showcase and halfway through 2010 and spent two weeks polishing a rough draft. They then put the game on hold for a year starting in 2011 while they developed another game, Frobisher Says.
Described the other game as containing 'the DNA of Hogg's artistic vision for Hohokum'. Hogg described the team's working relationship as informal and their decision-making as fully collaborative, particularly in the feel of the game world. For instance, Hogg would give unplanned drawings to Haggett, who would work the art into the game, or Haggett would envision something and ask Haggett to make it 'look nice'. Hogg was not as involved in the 'nitty-gritty of gameplay and puzzle mechanics' due to his skill set. His interest in and making the familiar seem unfamiliar is one of the game's guiding philosophies. The name of the snakelike Long Mover is a reference to a snake in a skit by British comedy troupe. It was chosen to be purposefully more ambiguous than a specific, existing creature, and to have mythical connotations.
The game's title is based on a misspelling of the.Honeyslug made a Spotify playlist between 30 and 40 tracks long of ideal 'dream' music for the game, including tracks by artists signed to. Used their personal connections with the label to coordinate a partnership. Ghostly's soundtrack is part licensed tracks and part original compositions. The music is split into layers and manipulated with the gameplay. Honeyslug also formed a partnership with Sony Santa Monica to be the game's publisher and co-developer.The game was released for, and on August 12, 2014 in North America, and a day later in Europe and Japan. The Vita version uses its touchscreen, and the PlayStation 4 version uses its controller touchpad. Instead of integrating the then-new features of the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller, the team sought to keep the controls simple to keep focus on the 'elegance' of the Long Mover.
Hohokum was a free title for subscribers during May 2015. Honeyslug disbanded in late 2015 for its members to pursue solo careers. Reception 's Jordan Devore called Hohokum the 'most relaxing game' of, and one of his favorites of the show. Selected the game as an E3 2013 Editor's Choice. Jeremy Parish of thought the game was the most intriguing PlayStation 4 title at the 2013 and praised Sony for highlighting the 'decidedly arty' game alongside the console's launch titles. He compared the game to a low-stress puzzle in the same design vein of and Pixeljunk. Kotaku called the game both the 'most confusing game' at E3 2013 and 'the weirdest' on the PlayStation 4.
ReceptionAggregate scoresAggregatorScore75%75/100Review scoresPublicationScore6/107/108.8/106/10Hardcore Gamer3.5/5The game received 'generally favorable reviews', according to video game review score aggregator. Critics appreciated the game's presentation, including its art and music, but felt that the gameplay turned to drudgery towards its end and that the objectives were too vague.
Multiple reviewers also felt the game would make a good.Matt Helgeson of thought the game 'lacked depth' and considered it evidence of how 'games that wear their indie aesthetic on their sleeve' could, like games, be 'all flash and no substance'. He cited the game's 'oddball. Colorful and charming' visuals, 'tasteful' and 'hip' Ghostly International soundtrack, and experimental gameplay as characteristic of the indie aesthetic, and wrote that despite its 'whimsy' and 'weirdness', the game did not appear to 'have a point'. He wished the game was either more structured or experimental.
's Philip Kollar similarly felt that the game was 'beautiful but shallow'.Matt Whittaker of Hardcore Gamer described the art style as a cross between and and wrote that it was designed for simultaneous 'sensory overload and hypnotizing lack of substance'. He said that the game was 'too strange and quirky' to be 'gorgeous', but otherwise beautiful. Josiah Renaudin of similarly appreciated its creativity. Whittaker also praised the soundtrack as one of the game's best parts, and thought it to be among the best game soundtracks of the year. He felt that the game did not make the transition 'from playground to amusement park'. While he found Hohokum fun and relaxing, he thought it lacked the special element that distinguished, and from 'ambiguous art-heavy experiences'. Game Informer 's Helgeson said that the game was more conventional than he expected, with 'simple and uncreative' puzzle-solving and an elephant.
Notes and references Notes. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (June 15, 2013). From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2013. ^. From the original on February 19, 2015.
Retrieved August 13, 2014. ^ Helgeson, Matt (August 12, 2014). From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. ^ Renaudin, Josiah (August 12, 2014). From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
^ Whittaker, Matt (August 12, 2014). Hardcore Gamer Magazine. From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (August 6, 2013).
From the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014. ^ Lien, Tracey (June 11, 2013). From the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2013. ^ Lien, Tracey (September 19, 2013). From the original on August 12, 2014.
Retrieved August 12, 2014. ^ Parish, Jeremy (September 23, 2013). From the original on August 12, 2014.
Retrieved August 12, 2014. ^ (November 13, 2013). From the original on August 11, 2014.
Retrieved August 11, 2014. ^ Devore, Jordan (June 13, 2013). Retrieved June 17, 2013. ^ Moriarty, Colin (May 7, 2013). From the original on August 13, 2014.
Retrieved June 17, 2013. ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan (June 4, 2014). From the original on August 11, 2014.
Retrieved August 11, 2014. ^ Rose, Mike (August 11, 2014). From the original on August 14, 2014.
Retrieved August 13, 2014. ^ Polygon Staff (June 12, 2013). From the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013. Tach, Dave (February 19, 2014).
From the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014. Hsu, Dan (August 8, 2014).
From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. Campbell, Evan (June 5, 2014).
From the original on August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. From the original on August 13, 2014.
Retrieved August 13, 2014. McWhertor, Michael (April 29, 2015). From the original on April 29, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2015. McElroy, Justin (June 19, 2013). From the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
Amini, Tina (June 13, 2013). From the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014. Schreier, Jason (September 19, 2013).
From the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014. ^ Kollar, Philip (August 13, 2014). From the original on August 14, 2014.
Retrieved August 13, 2014.External links.
Players will know within the first five minutes whether Honeyslug and Sony Santa Monica’s Hohokum is for them. You begin life as a snake, or a sperm, or however you want to look at it, flying around, or swimming, or what have you. You’re in the womb, or the ocean, or space, or a microscopic cell. You glide effortlessly, now slow, now fast, sliding along the walls, wiggling gleefully as you pick up speed. Joined by a rainbow of brothers and sisters, you revel in discovering how each bulb and ball and bump reacts to your collisions. You reach a nexus, where all these creatures are in sync, making beautiful shapes like a kaleidoscope that you control.There’s no clear goal in Hohokum’s initial section of play, referred to after the fact as “Home.” It’s a hub world you can return to instantly and at any time from the pause menu. From here, the other snakes — we’ll go with calling them “snakes” — scatter, and you spend the rest of the game trying to win them back.
But just like in those first five minutes, Hohokum emphasizes the tactile joy of playing in its whimsical worlds over set goals or clear storytelling. You rescue the snakes because that’s the natural result of your messing around. Players will know within the first five minutes whether Honeyslug and Sony Santa Monica’s Hohokum is for them.Each main level has a story, whether or not you realize right away what is happening there and what you need to do. A vast, blue forest teems with strange creatures, but you might explore this repetitive environment for 10 minutes before you find the small tribe of tree-dwelling natives (and their music-loving tree god) at its center.
An impossible, floating water park hides a portal to the distant future, but you can fly around there endlessly, ferrying happy swimmers between springboards and water slides, without ever knowing why or what to do.Other times, your path is obvious. In an ink-dark cave, a lantern-carrying adventurer rides on your back as you knock down begemmed barriers and avoid light-eating bats. Your prize—one of the serpents that scattered at the beginning of the game—emerges when you reach the treasure chamber at the end of this cave, as your helper hops off to assess his own prizes.Each snake you find greets you with a recap of its exploits in the wide world of Hohokum.
One has been studying the forest-dwelling tribe, embedded in their midst. Another is attached to a string, flying high at the kite festival. In the water park, where a breach in the rock lets you travel through time, there’s a serpent hiding in an alternate future reached by manipulating the events of the past.
Another, living on a scrolling, vertical, monochrome farm, experiences the entire circular life-death cycle over and over, from bird food to hunter’s prey to fertilizer to sprouting plant, and back again. Once discovered, these serpents head back Home, and you hop through a portal to a new area—a party where no one has a drink despite the sea of wine they’re floating on, or a theme park where the roller coaster cars have gone missing, or a honey factory where the bees are asleep on the job, or trapped in the machinery.Hohokum is LocoRoco, but happier, and weightless. Or it’s Patapon, without the rigidity of strictly rhythmic gameplay, or the stress of knowing you might at some point fail. It shares even more with Sound Shapes, particularly when it comes to audio and visuals, but without the shackles of sticky platforming. Hohokum even shares DNA with Fez.
You’ll feel it when you solve one puzzle only to be presented with another, or when you return to an earlier level with new knowledge that leads you to a different path.The players that stand to enjoy Hohokum the most are those that don’t mind flying around aimlessly, seeing how the world reacts to their presence, simply because it’s fun to do, and it feels, looks, and sounds amazing. This, not the puzzles themselves, is Hohokum‘s greatest challenge: you may get stuck for an hour or more, but the steps to each solution eventually solidify, sometimes through sudden inspiration, and other times with sheer force of will, by way of trial and error.
Either way, you need to be willing—you need to want—to keep experiencing these worlds, or whimsy might give way to tedium and frustration. The players that stand to enjoy Hohokum the most are those that don’t mind flying around aimlessly, seeing how the world reacts to their presence.Some players will find that this works thanks to the purity and clear-headedness of Hohokum‘s gameplay and world. Through kite-flying festivals, amusement parks, dinner parties, and jungle safaris, everything in Hohokum fits. There is a synergy among all its elements: the shockingly colorful art and incredibly imaginative creatures and levels, the electronic music that’s pitch-perfect for every situation, the ways your actions add to the score, and just the pure, mechanical enjoyment of flying figure-eights and loops in, out, and around the minutiae of every painstakingly detailed level. Very rare frame rate drops, even on PlayStation 4, detract only slightly from these experiences.Hidden in those details are nearly 150 collectibles in the form of closed eyes that open and look around when you pass over them.
You can see how many you’ve yet to find in each level simply by pausing the game, where a bearded lunatic runs across the menu yelling numbers, or a sign-toting tentacle uncoils from off-screen. This pause menu, by the way, has no “resume” option; the first choice sends you back to the hub world, meaning if you pause and simply press “X” you’ll be sent back and lose your progress in that level. You need to hit the controller or PS Vita’s pause button again to resume the game, but chances are you’ll forget and press “X” once or twice at least. It’s a bit irksome.It’s clear all along that finding these eyes is a secondary concern, which is good, because some of them are so well-hidden that they’re literally invisible. The reward for doing so is appropriately frivolous.
You don’t even get a Trophy (although it’s worth noting that Hohokum‘s Trophy goals are as imaginative and fun as the rest of the game).Hohokum fosters endless interpretations. Some players will find that it’s about family, loss, redemption, nostalgia, and innocence. The game’s opening, in which a whole nest of multicolored snakes flies in perfect synchronicity with you, is simple and beautiful. As you explore Hohokum’s complicated worlds and these prodigal serpents return to their point of origin, you slowly regain that beauty, until the gang is finally back together again, flying once more in tandem. Everything is done with this one thing in mind: to regain something good that was lost. If you can enjoy Hohokum long enough to understand what it’s asking of you, you might feel that too.This game was reviewed on a PlayStation 4 using a copy provided by the publisher. Highs.
Beautiful and imaginative. Unique gameplay. Challenging puzzles. Great musicLows. Goals are rarely clear.
Some collectibles are too well-hidden. Menu is poorly designedEditors' Recommendations.