Out of Line

This platformer is perfectly perfunctory in every way.

Out of Line tries to straddle the line between being an emotional narrative-driven experience and a consistently engaging, challenging puzzle game; unfortunately, it struggles to accomplish either. Far from a bad game, we'd absolutely recommend Out of Line for the younger audience who may want to dip their feet into the puzzle platform genre, but for those seeking something a bit more taxing, then you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Out of Line may not fully satisfy demanding platforming veterans, but it offers a pleasant and laid-back experience for those looking to liven up their evening. Set in a beautiful, captivating world, it presents an inexplicably minimalist story and a lack of challenges. There is certainly a lot of room for improvement, but I firmly believe that the developers will take the best from this experience and apply it to their next project.

Out of Line is a puzzle action-adventure title following a creature on a journey to save their world from evil robots. Along the way, I met meaningful friends, interacted with the world around me, and helped preserve the world’s beauty despite all the chaos. Did my efforts to maintain natural beauty pay off? Find out in this Rapid Review.

Nerd Monkeys have done an excellent job compacting a light puzzle platformer into a small space and painting it absolutely beautifully. You aren’t going to find a world beating new mechanic for puzzle platformers and you might have to crack your mind wide open to find the story but I’d say it’s a worthwhile pick up despite its few shortcomings.

Overall, it feels like a light experience that could be enjoyed by players of all different levels, perhaps a good fit for introducing younger gamers to the medium. As someone with a lot of puzzle-platformer experience, I would have liked to see a greater variety of play mechanics, but outside of a few glitches requiring a restart (invisible walls preventing progress, for example), there isn't much to dislike about the game. Out of Line simply ends up playing it fairly safe, so if that's what you're looking for, then maybe you'll want to get in line.

The great artwork and general puzzle-y adventure beats of Out of Line (as well as a timely multiversal sort of twist to things) almost immediately brought to mind the likes of Limbo, Inside, and some others...

Out of Line does not hide its inspirations, but does a great job presenting itself as something very unique, thanks to its beautiful art style, atmosphere and engaging puzzles.

Out of Line is not a long game. It could be finished in around 3 hours, but it is still very enjoyable to play. The puzzles are not overly complicated but are challenging enough and the story that unfolds is unique and charming. Overall, I would say the value for money is great and I would definitely recommend it. It is a perfect game to pick up and casually play when you need a break from the real world.

Out of Line is a simple, sweet game with clever puzzles scattered through a beautifully dystopian steampunk setting that suffers only from its short length.