The Minims Review

If you are “of a certain age” you might remember “Trapdoor”, a stop motion children's TV show in the UK. The Minims is strikingly similar in visual style despite the decades between them. Beyondthosehills studio have asked us to follow the events in the life of Mii, a fuzzy yellow splat of a creature that wakes one morning to find out that his wife (who lives next door) is… missing.

As you work your way through the enchanting world of The Minims it must be kept in mind that this is essentially the product of one mind. Andreas Diktyopoulos brought this into existence and has woven a story that wraps you up in itself like a big old fluffy blanket. Warming and comforting in a way I’ve not encountered in a number of years.

There are touches of the bizarre, a personal favourite being cutting a fence to make a pan pipe so a hedge will play soothing music for a blue bird that is hiding in the basket of a hot air balloon being a perfect example. Making coffee for the hedge so the leafy scumbag will tell you what little he knows (which isn’t much) is what leads you to the jazz fest and onwards chasing down your better half.

As you progress along the rather lovely and somewhat whimsical story of this game you encounter puzzles that are able to test your brain in the way that classics such as Beneath a Steel Sky and the Monkey Island series did. One or two though are somewhat hard to figure out and poorly explained, but I can forgive the developers that when the game is seen as a whole. There will no doubt be those of you who scream and curse to start with, but the in game hints and the occasional bit of Google-fu will see you through.

Mii the minim is a good bloke at heart who will ultimately endear you in many ways as he trogs off to find his missus. He chats with all and sundry in his epic quest to recover his missing spouse to a soundtrack that is serene and relaxing in a way that is often missing in current games. The only thing I would have loved that was not possible with this game (for obvious reasons), is for there to have been voice acting by the late great Willie Rushton.

If you are wanting a change of pace from the recent crop of violent atavism in gaming and would like to see something a little more relaxed, The Minims is the game for you.