Clam Man Review | The quality is there, but a little bit of quantity would help



Clam man screenshot

Frequently it can happen that you exit a game wishing to have experienced a bit more, to have had the chance to see for a little while longer and to have explored more.

Clam man suffers from this despite the contents present being good.

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Aesthetics

Clam man duck prophet

“Evil doers,  repent! The duck is nigh”.

The bi-dimensional graphics are done with a hand-drawn style.  The drawings are nicely colorful, with some visual gags here and there. In addition, the images of the characters are mainly caricatures of various tropes, giving them a unique and recognizable look.

The animations lack some frame and come across as a bit janky. They are not ugly, but they would have benefited more images.

There aren't any voices, the characters emit a sound effect. All characters make the same sound, which becomes old really fast.

The game uses musics in specific contexts and for a good part it remains silent. The tracks that are there are catchy, with thematic symphonies exclusive to some locals.

Game Mechanics

Clam man sandbags

The humor is expressed also through the puzzles

The title is a classic point and click adventure game.

Like many exponents of this genre, the mechanics are focused on finding objects and using them to solve a puzzle or the puzzle itself is represented in finding the right words during the discussions with the various characters in the world. It is advised to observe the surrounding areas since the protagonist will say snarky or deadpan jokes.

The difficulty of the puzzles(except for the penultimate) is geared towards the easy side, since the developers wanted to give more space to the narrative and the humor.

The quality of these puzzles is good, but I wish there were more of them, there were a lot of situations that would have been perfect for wacky riddles and nuts solutions.

Due to the slimness of contents, I've beaten the game in 3.5 hours.

Narrative

Clam man office

Never anger IT support and disturb theirs machines.

You are Clam Man, for years worker in the best mayonnaise producing company in the city of Snacky Bay. You've even managed to reach the sales of a junior employee! But tragedy is upon you, the office has just suffered a sudden firing and the nerves are on the edge when your boss calls you for a meeting in his office.

The introduction works with the main story evolving on the actions of the protagonist and his struggles. It will be necessary to unveil many secrets to truly understand what is happening in the company.

The characters are nice enough, they are written in a convincing manner and manage to put a smile on my face when they talk.

You will encounter different individuals, each with their own personality and little quirks. 

In conclusion, repeating my thoughts in the introduction, the problem is not the quality of all of this, but the quantity.

Recommendation:

If Clam ma were a food, it would be a candy: good, but not very substantial.

Available on Steam and Itch.io.

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