Tall Poppy is another one of those games that falls into the horror genre. It is a game that is intended to be completed in a fairly short space of time, and appears to combine horror with a slight comedic twist.
It is a fairly low-cost game that seems to follow the rule that a quick game is a good game. At the cheaper end of the price spectrum, it also is a very budget-friendly game. Given this slightly unusual combining of genres, I thought it worth giving it some play time to see if it is able to combine the two in a tasteful manner.
Gameplay
The game is relatively straightforward. Your wife has accidentally left her purse at the local cemetery. Your job is to go find it.
You will need to explore all the various nooks and crannies, as you will not be able to enter the cemetery without the appropriate keys. You will need to keep your trusty torch by your side because, in an effort to add some atmosphere to the game, you will be playing at night.
As the game progresses, you will fall victim to many jump scares and surprises. This is where the magic happens. Every time I fell victim to a jump scare, I’d have a moment of dread. Every time the jump scare was done, I was left having a good chuckle. The jump scares were part prank, part joke.
There are also plenty of fantastic little easter eggs hidden around the game. I don’t want to give too much away because that will spoil the fun, but one little tip I’ll give is when you’re down the back of the church, you’ll want to play the organ. I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.
Whoever developed these ideas did an amazing job. These jump scares and easter eggs are absolutely amazing. You would not expect comedy jump scares to work, because that’s not usually the point of a jump scare, but here they work so fantastically well. The person who did the writing obviously has a sense of humour, and it definitely matches with the type of stuff I get a kick out of.
The game is a lot of fun. It is definitely a horror game with a very fun twist. It is extremely well done, and is an incredibly good example of how to mash together two dissonant styles together and make it work. I absolutely loved how well they were able to make this work.
Graphics
There do seem to be a few compromises in the graphics. Some of the models used in some of the graphics are obviously extremely simplified. If you’re looking for super-high-detail, this may bleave you feeling a bit disappointed.
Having said that, the graphics are definitely not the worst that I’ve seen. The graphics are about middle of the road in terms of quality. For Tall Poppy, this works relatively well, as this game is more about the quality of the storyline and the quality of the writing than it is about stupidly high detail. The atmosphere of the game is what makes the game as much of the graphics.
It seems to be a good compromise of storyline, writing and graphical quality.
Verdict
If you’re looking for a game that straddles the line between horror and comedy well, Tall Poppy would be a good candidate. It is extremely well written, and is incredibly funny,
This is an unlikely combination of genres, but it just works. The quality of the writing is extremely good and fantastically silly. I would be happy to recommend this as a game for people who are looking for horror with a twist. It is also a fairly short game, so you don’t need to invest a lot of time into it if you don’t want to.
The only elt down is some of the graphics may be a little too oversimplified for some
