The Pedestrian

I'm not the kind of guy who likes to judge games based on the very first impression. I've been doing this long enough to know that sometimes it takes a little while for everything to click. But that certainly wasn't the case with The Pedestrian, a wildly inventive new puzzle game from first-time developer Skookum Arts. From the moment I saw the stick figure character platforming between street signs, I knew that I was going to love this game. I guess it goes to show that sometimes those snap judgments are right.

You play the titular pedestrian, a male or female outline that seems to be stuck inside a bunch of signs. I'm talking about street signs high above cars passing by, park signs hung on a fence, safety signs right next to the fire extinguisher and pretty much every other kind of sign you can think of. We solve puzzles and platform our way through a 2D world found entirely on these flat surfaces, all while the real world in the background is completely oblivious to our struggles.

As you might expect, The Pedestrian is about more than just jumping on platforms. Most of the puzzles revolve around the idea of connecting signs together in order to jump between them and pick up items. You can also move the signs around the wall, fence or chalkboard in order to connect the various doors and ladders. What makes this tricky is that you won't be able to change these connections without resetting our little pedestrian and starting the puzzle over from the start.

This starts out simple enough, but The Pedestrian is quick to start adding new wrinkles to each puzzle. We'll get into situations where our hero will need to pick up keys and push crates, use holes in the signs to make a new exit, harness electricity to open up new passages and so much more. It will teach you what to expect and then immediately shake things up and force you to look at each puzzle in a different way. And if you think you know where all this is headed, I'm here to tell you that you don't. This has one of the most surprising puzzle game twists this side of Portal.

It took me around six hours to journey from the subway to the university to the rooftops of the inner city. These are wonderfully detailed settings, each with their own unique look and vibe. From the way the 2D platforming looks on the signs to the fully realized world in the background, this is a gorgeous puzzle game. In fact, the stylish graphics will most likely be the first thing that hooks you. From beginning to end, there was never a moment where I wasn't in complete awe of The Pedestrian.

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If you can't tell from this glowing review, this is the kind of puzzle game that I love. I was reminded of games like Crush and Exit while working my way through The Pedestrian. Those were inventive little brain-teasers with clever gimmicks that kept adding onto their simple premise. Those are also two of the puzzle games that I keep going back to year after year. There's no question in my mind that The Pedestrian will soon be added to the rotation, and I have a hunch I'm going to love it as much ten years from now as I do today.

If you came here looking for reasons not to buy this game, then you aren't going to find very many. There are no major problems plaguing The Pedestrian. About the worst thing I can say about this game is that there needed to be a reset button mapped to the controller. I also wish I could revisit the different levels without going through the entire game all over again. And there was this one time when the buttons stopped working for me, but everything worked itself out after I paused the game. Let's be honest, these aren't real complaints. This isn't a perfect game, but I'm not entirely sure what they could do to make it better.

Even if I didn't know the long and storied history, I would have known that this was a labor of love. You can see that in every inch of this adventure. It has taken six years, two brothers, a Kickstarter campaign and even a name change to get to where we are right now, and I'm here to tell you that The Pedestrian was definitely worth the wait.