The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom Review

I’ve discussed before the some of the effect that Valve’s Portal had on the gaming world. Also worth mentioning is the effect it had on indie games. Portal proved that even a bunch of whippersnappers from DigiPen could revolutionize gameplay. Everyone got it in their heads that they could make the next big thing, regardless of budget or resources. Wonderfully, they’re right. Indie gaming continues to thrive, and Portal was definitely an inspiration. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom isn’t quite the first to do what it does, but it’s still a fairly new concept, and it does it quite well.

No one is perfect. We all have our vices. Mr. P.B. Winterbottom is no different. He hungers insatiably for the delicious pastry known as pie. So much so, in fact, that he seems to have stumbled upon a way to control time itself. With control of time, he can create parallel clones that act along side him. More P.B.s means more opportunities, and methods, for pie theft. Winterbottom thinks not of the repercussions of these actions, only that there are more ambrosial pies in sight. The misadventures that ensue, however, quickly take a toll on the townsfolk. The misadventures are charming and silly, and are told in well-drawn still black-and-white image form, with accompanying silent-film-style captions and film grain. The game’s orchestral soundtrack is fantastically done, giving a feeling of foreboding mixed with mischief.

The game’s puzzles are well designed around the core gameplay concept. The player will have to figure out, when and where to spawn clones, what to have them do, and when to destroy them in favor of new ones. Switches and buttons control everything from moving doors, to spawning pies, to popping bumpers for P.B. to jump off of. This means you’ll often have to spawn clones and move in less than obvious ways. The game does a good job of switching up the gameplay by introducing new mechanics over time, like pies that only clones can grab, portals that limit where you can begin recording, etc.

I consider myself fairly good at puzzle games, and overall I progressed rather quickly, but the occasional stage had me stuck for a while. If you would go as far as to say you’re a fan of action/puzzle games, then you’ll probably be ok with the difficulty. At one point, I had to shut down the game and come back later. Luckily, I figured it out shortly after I returned, and it was indeed satisfying. As you progress in the main game “bonus shorts” are unlocked. These are stages that seem to be more about speed and spawning as few clones as possible. These stages are plentiful and feature leaderboard support, so if you get stuck in the main game, you don’t have to quit the game altogether. Leaderboard support is unfortunately missing from the main stages, and I have to wonder why.

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom isn’t my favorite game to use the parallel-selves time-travel mechanic (demo), but it’s the best we English-speakers have gotten, and its a great game on its own. If you enjoy the demo, know that it gets even better.