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Quadrilateral Cowboy

Developer / Publisher: Blendo Games
25 July 2016
Quadrilateral Cowboy - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.55 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
54 Ratings / 1 Reviews
#1,631 All-time
#47 for 2016
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Title
An orchestra with no conductor
I believe videogames to be like musical compositions. Having an array of great elements, no matter how excellent, will not be sufficient unless they are ordered in a harmonic setup enabling appropriate kind of synergetic result to emerge. Pathologic 2 did not affect me as much as it did with just aesthetics, gameplay, or setpieces. It was so powerful because every single element was constantly interacting with every other piece of the puzzle. The biggest problem of Quadrilateral Cowboy is the internal disjointedness.

It has an intriguing story set in interesting setting. It's told mostly without words - used sparingly here, and with no dialogue at all. Short scenes between the heists are full of character, and succeed at creating an atmosphere of disempowerment, sending a message of solidarity in dire conditions and personal bonds subsisting through (and despite) overwhelming pauperisation. My personal favourite was the theme running in the background parallel to main plot, given explicit recognition only at few points in the game. Compassion fatigue, as we can quite literally read on main character's shirt, that is the continuous suppression of moral conscience of a person who has no autonomy over their actions anymore. On some of the levels you may catch yourself questioning the ethical permissibility of what you are about to do - but still do it anyway, because you have no other way to progress. You have no choice, just like your in-game character. MAKE AN HONEST MORAL INVENTORY OF YOURSELF, asks the receptionist bot before you steal brain of a patient in a coma ward

It has gameplay ideas that work. There's a lot of fun tools for you to play around with! You can remotely hack into devices in the local network, you may set up a turret sending precise projectiles into pre-programmed spots, there is a little puppy-like remote controlled bot able to crawl through narrow spaces.

But none of these tools interact with each other. Your deck, a portable computer you use to control your equipment with terminal commands, comes equipped with command chaining feature. There is nothing stopping you from chaining six turret commands, and in fact you have to do it at some point to solve time-based puzzles. There is, however, something stopping you from chaining puppy with turret or hacking commands. Every tool requires you to enter separate application for controls, meaning that you cannot invoke Puppy, move 10 steps forward while running the app for turret controls. The design of the levels, fully aware of this limitation, never expects you to use more than one tool at a time. It makes most of the game feel like an extensive introduction to the game proper - but there is no game proper. Last two levels feel like an unsuccessful attempt to create something that would require the player to employ their creativity in not just how do I use this tool? way, but also which tool do I use?. It's still nothing but compartmentalised single-tool puzzles connected with corridors.

All in all, Quadrilateral Cowboy feels like a textbook definition of unrealised potential. All the pieces are there - but the game lacks vision. There is no space for player creativity, and the game seems hesitant to challenge the player. It missed the mark for proper balance between challenge and accessibility, leaning too much in favour of the latter.

However, I still do recommend giving this game a try. Despite the gameplay failings, it is not at any point unenjoyable. There is still a place for these typical puzzle game I'm so smart! moments, and the story, themes and setting are genuinely captivating. With how short it is, it doesn't really make you bored at any time - the disappointment hits only after the game is over, with Wait, so that's it? and the following moment of reflection.

And if finished playthrough leaves you with taste for more gameplay in this vein, I wholeheartedly recommend checking out Ctrl Alt Ego. In my opinion, it successfully materialised the idea of Quadrilateral Cowboy - that is an idea of free form puzzle/immersive sim game it never fully became.
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Margaritea 2022-09-26T13:32:11Z
2022-09-26T13:32:11Z
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Catalog

Ali5ia Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-03-25T20:46:22Z
Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix
2024-03-25T20:46:22Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
jamep Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-03-17T04:15:41Z
Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix
2024-03-17T04:15:41Z
5.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
eliottstaten Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-03-11T01:43:37Z
2024-03-11T01:43:37Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
LandonAlex Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-03-09T18:57:52Z
2024-03-09T18:57:52Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Giann96 Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-02-26T02:09:32Z
Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix
2024-02-26T02:09:32Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
lakemachine Quadrilateral Cowboy 2024-01-16T10:38:14Z
2024-01-16T10:38:14Z
4.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
daraghp Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-12-07T14:44:49Z
2023-12-07T14:44:49Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
DJSuleiman Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-10-19T14:01:30Z
Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix
2023-10-19T14:01:30Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Calyk Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-10-15T01:19:34Z
2023-10-15T01:19:34Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Kowareta99 Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-09-25T17:51:22Z
2023-09-25T17:51:22Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
ieatbaldpeople Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-09-11T17:07:47Z
2023-09-11T17:07:47Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
milkshitter Quadrilateral Cowboy 2023-09-10T05:46:26Z
Windows / Mac / Linux/Unix
2023-09-10T05:46:26Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Player modes
Single-player
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  • DaughterOfJanus 2018-11-21 17:24:12.482224+00
    The first half of this was so good, until it decided to ditch the hacking/programming aspect =(
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  • DEGLIS 2019-01-06 21:29:41.121078+00
    Blendo Games never fails to create game experiences that are amazing and genre-pushing, but ultimately unsatisfying.
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  • Whoa 2020-05-06 19:30:21.477883+00
    The whole game feels like a tutorial for mechanics that would be used in an extensive modding/user-level community that never existed.
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  • alliterativeAlpinist 2021-03-18 22:25:41.711253+00
    The little carpool vignettes in between can be easily overlooked, but they made the game for me because I identify with being picked up for work at occasionally shitty hours.

    In general, there's something about Brendon Chung's work from Gravity Bone to this that makes me feel fully immersed in the game world, even though every living organism is made of squares and there's no discernible dialogue of any sort.
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  • sudatantalus 2023-01-28 19:42:06.777195+00
    the way this game has been overlooked is absolutely odd to me
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  • DomMazzetti 2023-03-17 03:18:09.884687+00
    Fumbles everything they did before.
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  • ... 2023-04-03 17:51:11.143531+00
    absurdly lovely
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