Ever want a pet that does more than just asked to be played with, fed, and groomed? Plaything creates a small creature that is far more human then previous Tamagotchi games.
Instead of clearly giving a request for something, Plaything leaves you to figure out what you are doing.
There are no words and no instructions in Plaything – only small interaction points for you to discover and use to play around with. You start off by creating your own creature – a friend who will end up going on an emotional journey with. When you are creating this creature, you do so by pulling together random shapes and then the rest is procedurally generated into a being that becomes your toy.
This creature can’t talk. Instead, they present objects or change their facial expressions to convey emotions. When I had my go at the demo of Plaything, my creature was sad in the rain. I gave them an umbrella, and they opened the umbrella but didn’t understand what it was. Soon, I was trying to balance the umbrella on their head, while they stood on one foot.
Plaything feels so much more emotional and almost real when it comes to watching your little pet. As you get to know this character, they seem to take on more and more personality. They start to trust you and want to be around you, or they develop a more independent demeanor, all depending on what you’ve created.
Eventually, you both get used to interacting and being together. After that, you’ll start to move towards your little pet getting ready to leave you and go on with their life in some other part of the interwebs. You’ll need to learn to let this creature go and move on yourself. Plaything is beautifully made, even in the small demo that I got the chance to play at EGX. I look forward to the full game.
Plaything is currently in development, but in the meantime, you can follow its creation on the game’s site.