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When I heard about lterego Games and Digital Forest story driven 3D point and click adventure game Woven a couple of weeks ago, I wasn´t quite sure what to make of the game. Well, at least not at first, since the world of Woven is made out of fabric and wool.

Then again, when I watched the very first trailer for the game I couldn´t help to think about a mix of The Neverhood, Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the puh. Sure, that might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really liked the sound of that combination.

Woven offer a lot of adorable creatures and cuteness, but there is a dark side to the game as well.

So I decided to give the pre-alpha demo of Woven a try, good thing that. As I had a really good time with the demo (you can watch my Woven playthrough video further down the page).

So much so that I later realized that the game actually reminds quite a lot about some other titles (thank you for pointing that out thelastgogeta!).

You know, like Nintendo´s Epic Yarn series, EA´s Unravel and Ubisoft´s Child of Light (the rhyming narrative). Even so, Woven still stands out from the crowd thanks to its own unique set of features and content.

You can mix and customize different animals with the help of machines such as this one (they are spread out throughout the world of Woven).

And right of the bat, as soon as I started to play the pre-alpha demo I almost instantly started to feel like I was a part of a fairy tale story. As the first thing I heard was very relaxing and feminine story telling voice, which let me (and my viewers) know what the world of Woven is all about.

Furthermore, Woven has a rhyming narrative, and I think that makes the game even more fair tale-like. In the matter of fact, I think the game would feel somewhat empty without it.

In the pre-alpha demo of Woven you get to experience a handful of different environments (such as deserts and big green fields, for example).

I would also like to point out that Woven looks really great on the visual front (the game runs on the Unity engine). I was actually surprised with how well and smooth the game ran on my computer, especially since I played the game on the highest setting (my Gaming rig is almost three years old).

With that said though, the gameplay aspects of the game is in need of improvements. As the demo of Woven felt somewhat boring at times, because there wasn´t really all that much that you could do. I also didn´t like that you had to walk (or jog) rather long distances between destination A and B.

Different animals offer distinct skills, for example. The rabbit´s legs can jump over obstacles, while the elephant’s legs can stomp,

Nevertheless, all in all, I saw more pros than cons while playing through the pre-alpha demo of Woven. So “if” lterego Games and Digital Forest listen to my (and others) feedback, and make to changes and improvements to the final version of Woven.

Then we “might” get a really awesome story driven 3D point and click adventure game by November next year (that´s the planned release date for Woven).

Pros:
+ Very charming and beautiful graphics
+ The voice actors and the rhyming narrative
+ There are plenty of different animals that you can play as
+ The cute creatures and world at large
+ Customization options (you can create some really crazy looking creatures)

Cons:
– A big world with very little stuff to do
– You have to walk around a lot
– More action would be nice
– It feels like you´re on rails at times (go from point A to B)