Rating
Toby: The Secret Mine
A challenging puzzle platformer inspired by games like Limbo and Badland.
Details
- Released
- October 20, 2015
- Developer
- Lukas Navratil
- Publisher
- Lukas Navratil, Headup Games
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Toby: The Secret Mine Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
A poor little boy sees his village get attacked by a kidnapper. His friends are taken hostage. Now, he must track down the villainous creature to free his friends and discover the truth behind the invasion. Can you help him save the people of his village?
Puzzle-platformer fans take notice; Toby: The Secret Mine is now out on the Wii U eShop. Said to draw inspiration from games like Badland, this release is defin
Toby: The Secret Mine can be easily pardoned as a complete larceny of Limbo – but it’s not as simple as that. When Toby does craft its own uniqueness, there is a lot to like. While it doesn’t do this as frequent as it probably should, it never overshadows what the game has to offer. I played Limbo to death when it was released on PSN – pun intended – and while it’s not as repayable as limbo, I’ll probably give Toby another run through too. After all, nobody runs away with my monochrome-styled friends and puts them in cages and gets away with it.
Quite simply, Toby: The Secret Mine is the most blatant “Limbo” rip-off that I’ve played. Whether considering the aesthetic, gameplay style, form of narrative, puzzles or the abundance of trial and error – it’s all lifted straight from Playdead’s Limbo and repackaged under the name Toby: The Secret Mine. Even developer Headup Games in it’s game description compares this game to “modern classics” such as Limbo. There will never be any escaping the direct comparison. But here’s the question: is this a worthwhile Limbo knock-off, or one to avoid?
There are a handful of game genres that indie developers seem to constantly gravitate towards. Toby: The Secret Mine is yet another 2D puzzle platformer so let's put on our helmets, grab a pickaxe, and head to the mine.
Toby: The Secret Mine doesn’t really leave a strong impression either way. It isn't awful, nor is it good, with two halves feeling very different from each other. The presentation and story are fun, but the rest really doesn't stand out much. All in all, there are better offerings out there that give you more consistent quality. The puzzle-platformer genre is deep, but Toby is nowhere close to that.
To be honest, the only redeeming factor of Toby: The Secret Mine is that it’s not one of the many, so many, “roguelikes” or pseudo 8-bit platformers that are the norm these days from indie developers. It felt kind of refreshing to go back to 2014, even for a fleeting moment. The ideas in Toby are sound, the execution however is a lot to be desired.
Toby: The Secret Mine is a game full of promise and potential, but unfortunately isn't able to reach the lofty heights it strives for. Despite taking clear inspiration from a game that in the past several years has made a serious impact on the puzzle-platform genre, one man developer Lukáš Navrátil isn't able to quite nail the execution.
Toby: The Secret Mine reminds me of a favorite quote from one of my favorite shows, Mythbusters. For in a myth about someone trying to avoid certain doom, one of the Mythbusters looks to the camera and goes.... "You will die in the elevator! You...will...DIE!!!!" Game Name: Toby And The Secret Mine Platform(s): iOS, Xbox One, Microsoft - Read our full Gaming News on The Outerhaven .
Toby: The Secret Mine is inspired, to say the least. Its not its imitation of previous games that kills it, but its execution of those elements. It had potential, but you've seen this game before.