Tin Hearts Review

Harnessing imagination is no easy task, and yet, childhood is a constant search for fun ways to embrace all of our energetic creativity and bring it to life; we make our toys play out fake dramatic arguments, we set up twisting and turning race car tracks (that someone inevitably trips over), and we draw out our daydreams with vivid colours. It's easy to be nostalgic for that time of life when being inventive came more naturally, especially today when my desk is messy with notes of half-formed ideas. So when fellow GameGrin staff writer, Alana Dunitz, previewed Rogue Sun's debut narrative puzzler Tin Hearts and described it as "a title full of childlike wonder" with a Victorian toy inventor as its protagonist, I hoped I’d get a chance to experience the whimsical and magical adventure myself.

In Tin Hearts, you play as the ghostly apparition of Albert J. Butterworth, using your imaginative inventions to create safe routes for your tin soldiers as they traverse the Butterworth house's large, lived-in rooms full of furniture, books, hungry jack-in-the-box toys, musical instruments, and much more. Each level begins with the soldiers emerging from a tiny box, venturing straight forward in a neat line until you place triangular wooden blocks in their way or manoeuvre other items to change their direction. There are many ways to get your toys into trouble; left to their own devices, you’ll watch in horror as they march off the side of a table, or perhaps you align a trampoline drum wrong, bouncing them right into the side of a grandfather clock. But since we’re not in the business of broken toys, Tin Hearts allows you to rewind time to change the outcome and fast-forward if you know you’ve solved the puzzle. As each soldier reaches a small door at the end of the level, they’ll produce a mystical shimmering wisp of light that opens the way to your next room.

Fans of retro puzzle games will notice this gameplay is very reminiscent of Lemmings, where you guide a group of green-haired lemmings across a variety of obstacles. But in terms of storytelling, aesthetics, and setting, Tin Hearts evokes a similar tone to Fullbright's Gone Home and Giant Sparrow's What Remains of Edith Finch, considering that much of the heartfelt narrative is unravelled room by room, in which you’ll find letters and witness past memories — good and bad. Without diving into the specifics, I will say what starts as delightful snippets of Albert's joyful memories with his family, seeing him build toys while his daughter Rose plays close by and his wife Helen fills their home with warm, rich violin music, turns into a rather heart-wrenching tale as things take a sad turn.

The narrative is slow at first, but the game weaves its story fragments seamlessly alongside gameplay. Its environmental storytelling is the strongest element and most prevalent. One of my favourite examples is how you can break a vase in one level because Rose used to hide her toys in them when she was younger. As you progress through the four acts, you’ll return to certain rooms and hallways, finding they’ve been transformed since you were last there. Spread out across the levels less frequently are short cutscenes that are triggered by the tin soldiers when they use Albert's inventions or pass by a meaningful spot to his family, such as an outdoor swing. When I think of cutscenes, I often equate them with a pause in gameplay where I can sit back and drink my coffee, but I was pleasantly surprised that in Tin Hearts everything stays in motion, letting you continue to solve the puzzle as the visions play out round the room. The flow of gameplay rarely interrupts your immersion, which helps the narrative pacing feel smoother. Still, the story itself takes quite some time (perhaps too much) to gain momentum, and the game is taking a gamble that the puzzles will engage you enough to stay until things get interesting.

Tin Hearts won that wager in my case; its challenging, fun puzzles and satisfying "aha!" moments kept me playing for hours and by the end of the second act, I was fully invested in this toy-filled Victorian home and the family living within it. The first few levels are rather simple, contained to small worktables where you’ll use wooden blocks and environmental objects like picture frames to redirect the tin soldiers to the exit door. Although some things have fixed locations, I really enjoyed the freedom you have to place red blocks anywhere you’d like, directing soldiers in creative ways, and even discovering some secrets (like cute, kickable chickens). You’ll quickly begin gathering new abilities where you "possess" objects, such as a clock and pocket watch to control time, trampoline drums to launch the soldiers to new heights, and even balloon-inflating machines to safely float them across shelves, off the tops of pianos, and over chasms between furniture pieces; it's like a grander version of the "floor is lava" for toys.

With that said, the early levels are perhaps too easy for too long and they don't do justice to Rogue Sun's seemingly boundless imagination when it comes to level design and Albert's inventions, which are showcased best by complex puzzles later on. I did feel that the shift from easy to difficult was jarring, especially when you reach the first outdoor level, as it comes with a lot (and I mean, a lot) more steps than any of the levels preceding it. On the other hand, I do think the early ease is a great way to draw in beginners to the genre. In fact, Tin Hearts as a whole is very beginner-friendly, as it gives you time to get comfortable with its mechanics, lets you see your soldier's paths ahead of time, and then challenges you quite a bit with complicated and unexpected solutions. Its hint system is also very helpful! Plus, the ability to pause and rewind time is a great way to encourage experimentation without punishing you for trying something different.

Most of the time, you’ll be interacting with the world from a first-person perspective, but later you get to play around in third-person when the game lets you control your own tin soldier. The sudden switch from being an overhead ghost to a small toy allowed me to explore and interact with the 3D world at a different scale. Like the other soldiers, I could press buttons on cannons, jump across obstacles, and more. The platforming in this case does get a little finicky, though, particularly when it comes to jumping, which felt clunky due to the soldier's slow, heavy speed and odd camera angles that cause you to short the leap and subsequently fall to your demise.

Unfortunately, the issues with controls persist even when you’re back to being a first-person ghost. While these problems aren't game-breaking, they do make the experience less enjoyable. Walking around the 3D environments became a struggle due to a lack of consistency in what you can and can't walk through. Aiming cannons, lining up trampoline drums, or redirecting pinwheels was rarely a smooth process with the mouse and unintuitive camera angles. Most of all, when picking up items, the camera would occasionally snap to its height, which seems like it would be fitting for the VR version of the game, but is frustrating when you’re playing the flat version as I did. It's most noticeable when you grab a block from a good distance away, and yet the camera is pulled to the block rather than the block coming to you. There were even moments when I’d grab the wrong block from the other side of a table and if I placed it back where it came from, my character would be transported to the opposite side.

With that said, Tin Hearts is still a fun, cosy time. And while some details could have been fixed in terms of controls, the rest of the game was clearly crafted with careful attention, from the way the soldiers break if they fall to the floor to countless diagrams decorating the walls with drawings and descriptions of Albert's most creative toys. The soundtrack and excellent voice-acting should also be applauded. Whether you’re selecting a level in Albert's study or are playing with electrifying puzzles in the basement, you’ll always hear a warm, poignant tune crafted by award-winning composer Matthew Chastney. The emotion from the music is complemented by the emotional performances of the voice actors as they portray love, heartache, and joy exceptionally well. I only wish that the 3D models of those characters looked as good as the voices sound; instead, they look rather dated for a 2023 title.

The adventures Tin Heart's toy soldiers embark on are nothing short of magical, and I had fun tagging along to make sure they reached their destinations. Some clunky controls, slow storytelling, and dated graphics weigh down the experience a bit, but not drastically. If you like clever puzzles, heartfelt narratives, and grand houses that are impossibly large and endlessly cluttered with toys, you are sure to enjoy this title.

Tin Hearts is a perfect little puzzler to dive into if you like clever puzzles, touching narratives, and charming Victorian settings. However, the controls aren't always great, which may frustrate you more often than you’d like.

Alyssa is great at saving NPCs from dragons. Then she writes about it.