Tin Hearts is a sublimely crafted puzzler set in and around the home of a genius Victorian toymaker. Taking 1991’s Lemmings as its closest touchstone, each puzzle sees a small company of clockwork soldiers marching straight until rerouted by the player using one of the toymaker’s other inventions, including wooden blocks, trains, bouncy drums and windmills.
The 50 puzzles that make up the adventure start small and simple, with new mechanics introduced intuitively as the game begins to climb its beautifully judged difficulty curve. By the time you reach the often fiendish but never unfair later puzzles [1], you’ll feel like a pro.
SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
But as highly satisfying as the puzzling is, the finely interwoven story really drives the game. The ghost-like figures of Albert, his wife Helen and their daughter Rose [2] appear from time to time, slowly revealing snippets of a moving and thought-provoking tale that weaves love, despair and redemption into the experience. All the while, the little tin soldiers steadfastly march their way through the family home, including a particularly memorable head-scratcher set in the sunny garden [3], perhaps reminding us that life always goes on.
Tin Hearts is an impressive debut for developer Rogue Sun, with solid gameplay, an engaging story and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Matthew Chastney tying the eight hour odyssey together. It’s a treat for the mind and the soul.
