
Landlord of the Woods 2021: Overcome Logic and Physics-Based Puzzles
March 17th, 2021
Madison Karrh
A short game about feeling as if you are behind all your peers.
Travel through the forest to collect rent from 5 quirky woodland residents
Explore a detailed, hand-drawn Lil world by pointing, clicking & pulling
Solve simple logic & physics-based puzzles as you experience a delicate story that takes about an hour to complete
The Landlord of the Woods is a morbid little puzzle game that makes you ponder a little – just a little – with the questions posed from time to time. The game’s idea is that you are unhappy with your life and want to make a change. When you choose that choice, you become the new Landlord of the Woods. Madison Karrh games are usually entertaining, even if they aren’t the biggest or most polished on the market.
It’s difficult to find a static adventure game where the puzzles don’t feel like a chore, but rather, they enhance the narrative through various metaphors. When we play a comparable game from a developer like Cotton Game, the puzzles frequently feel like a variation on the combination lock, which might take over 20 minutes, and can be daunting. In comparison to the Landlord of the Woods game, you will not spend more than 3 minutes on a single puzzle – we always think that riddles should be about the correct interpretation, not the number of sequencing steps. The reasoning in this adventure is quite bizarre, but it is not unintuitive. It’s a short game, lasting approximately 30 to 40 minutes, but the plot is intriguing and relevant, not to mention the shocking climax.
The Landlord of the Woods’ gameplay consists of some hidden-object hunting, physics-based actions, and strange themes that take some imagination. We enjoy how the developer chose to sandwich the game with thought-provoking questions, which makes it more intriguing than simply throwing the player into the game. If you’re not sure if this game is for you, you can try Whimsy, a free game from the same developer that offers a similar experience.
The movement between scenes was more intuitive than in the previous game, but we still had some issues with the hotspots – it’s a good idea to be more permissive with where the objects can be placed. We like that you included some optional items, therefore it could be a good idea to include some game achievements as well, as many people enjoy that part.
Our favorite aspect of this developer’s games is that you don’t focus on the difficulty of the puzzles, but rather on the creative components and the context they bring to the story. Because of its condensed structure, the game is easy to digest, the narrative moves at an engaging pace, and there is little aggravation. It’s not something we often see in this genre, and we hope you keep it up in the future.
While the story of the Landlord of the Woods game is basic, you managed to delay the plot surprise till the conclusion, just like in Whimsy. We thought it was incredibly humorous, and we liked how it had a melancholy tone with a realistic situation. It’s playful, hilarious, and surprising. While the game’s visuals may be improved, we believe you made it work with the entertaining characters and music selection.
We’d like to provide some advice from the player’s point of view for Landlord of the Woods: the game should save at least between each puzzle part. For the most part, the hotspots and scene navigation were adequate, but there is undoubtedly space for development. On several occasions, we had to move the elements about the image to get them exactly where we wanted them. It’s also a good idea to provide achievements for Steam releases.
While the Landlord of the Woods is a short narrative game, we believe it takes a simple notion and executes it brilliantly. At this point, we think you have a good strategy for moving forward; all that remains is to replicate the process on a larger scale and locate your audience. You should not feel guilty about charging a bit more for your games; we buy similar releases for $5-7, and some of them perform really well.
Click here to check out our last review on Whimsy.
