With the release of Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth earlier in the year, it's already been a great year for fans of Tove Jansson's Moomins. Now, developer Crossbridge Game Studios and publisher Shochiku adapts the fifth novel in the Moomin series into a classic point and click adventure game for the whole family.
For the most part, Moomin: Midsummer Madness adapts the core story from the fifth novel in Tove Jansson's Moomin series. There's only deviations to better align with the point-and-click gameplay loop and puzzle design.
The story centres around the compassionate Moomintroll and his mischievous friend Little My, as they are displaced from their homes by a disastrous flood that forces everyone to seek shelter away from Moominvalley.
The first thing you notice is the sublime visual recreation of the Moomin universe. Every level is gorgeously hand painted to evoke the charm and wonder the series is known for. All of your favourite characters are expertly animated to feel like a playable version of Tove Jansson's illustrations. Moomintroll lumbers joyfully to embrace Snorkmaiden, Little My eagerly dives towards danger, and Snufkin enthusiastically plays his harmonica.
Image: Moomin: Midsummer Madness - Moomin House
At the beginning of the first of six chapters, you control Little My as she's attempting to escape being disciplined by her older sister - a smart way to onboard the controls. Outside of the Moomin house, you point and click to move, examine objects, hover over hotspots until the icon changes to interact with them, and pick up items to store in your bag. All of which have been perfectly customised to be playable on controller.
Little My locates a chunky stone, and stores it in her bag that acts as your inventory. Then, you select the stone and throw it at the house to distract Little My's sister long enough to escape. Beyond these simple interactions, Crossbridge Game Studios have been inspired by classic point-and-click games; puzzles that require correct objects to be used, combined together to progress, or used to access previously unreachable areas.
Although, Little My isn't the only playable character. You'll take control of the duo of Moomintroll and Little My for most of the adventure. A decision that infuses Moomin's spirit of friendship into gameplay, as Little My needs Moomintroll to hold a ladder in place for her, and Moomintroll needs Little My to crawl into small spaces. It is a clever way to include a possible additional solution to overcome obstacles. And if you do miss an item in the environment, you can press the magnifying glass symbol on the screen, to make all clickable objects shine.
Levels also present opportunities to speak with franchise favourites like Moominmamma, Snorkmaiden and Snufkin. Quest-givers to add objective checklists to your journal. As every chapter has a set of multi-step challenges to overcome. These can range from arranging a coffee break, luring out a ghost, or helping kids have fun at the park.
Image: Moomin: Midsummer Madness - Incoming Storm
But in reality, if you interact with every character and carefully analyse the environment, you'll gain all the vital information to solve any puzzle. While all puzzles are straight forward and logical, some require a closer attention to detail to figure out. Striking a nice balance between approachability for a young person's first point-and-click game, and remaining engrossing enough for older fans to enjoy.
Although, if anyone finds an objective or a puzzle difficult, the game supplies non-intrusive written hints at timed intervals while actively trying to solve specific puzzles.
There's also a subsection of short mini games. Some are light puzzles like a pushing blocks maze, others are playful activities like firing Little My from a slingshot, building a toy ship, and a music rhythm game. But if frustration does set in, you can skip these entirely.
It's a pleasure to inhabit the cosy Moomin world for four to six hours in a genre that's perfect to immerse players into any story. But it's Moomin: Midsummer Madness's writing and score that help confidently imbue Tove Jansson's authentic tone to this voiceless story.
Image: Moomin: Midsummer Madness - Underwater
The dialogue is succinct and easy to read. But it also evokes the casts' unique personalities. Snufkin is still an anti-authority, rule-breaking nomad who doesn't shirk responsibility; Moomintroll is selfless and will do anything to help his loved ones; Little My pushes boundaries with a heart of gold. While being an adaptation surely helps, it's an altogether different challenge to make a successful interactive experience with set expectations.
Crossbridge Game Studios pushes the original books themes of community, overcoming loneliness, accepting responsibility, and found family into every chapter of the game. Combined with the pristine art, it makes you feel like you're playing a smoothly animated, kind hearted picture book or graphic novel.
They also remember Moomin's roots by incorporating a novel-like summary of the events so far inside the journal. Making it easy to refresh your memory between play sessions. But they also include a dialogue recap, so that you can go over old conversations for important information. It's little things like these and the option to increase the cursor size or activate dyslexic fonts that make Moomin: Midsummer Madness approachable for more players.
Image: Moomin: Midsummer Madness - Block Maze
Yet that isn't to say that Moomin: Midsummer Madness nails everything. I unfortunately experienced a few issues. At one point, I lost hours of progress when my save was randomly wiped. I also encountered minor screen tearing, and a problem where a major item disappeared from my inventory, so I had to reload a previous save in order to progress.
Moomin: Midsummer Madness successfully adapts Tove Jansson's charming Moomins into the classic point-and-click genre. It's uncomplicated, logical, and authentic in its approach. It isn't designed to offer a crazy challenge, but what it does do is respect the IP and use a multi-step quest approach to deliver a charming and whimsical video game to be enjoyed by all ages.
*Review Code Provided By Publisher
Image: Moomin: Midsummer Madness - Score - 8/10
