This offering for the McBacon Jam event was created by the team of Liberty, Zeigfried_McBacon, charblar & Cecil_Beoulve and tackles the jam theme of deprivation and/or abundance in a survivalist setting, where the protagonist, Wedge, the 'kid' of the title is thrust into a desperate situation where he must pit himself against time and nature to heal his dying friend.

The game opens with an invitation to read the story, and of course I did, it's the same as the description on the game-page; the anguished words of a frantic boy desperate to save the only family he knows, just told in a more cinematic scrolling text style, though without any accompanying sound effects which does unfortunately lessen its impact. It doesn't actually need music per se, even the sounds of the battle which is so eloquently portrayed would aid in the immersion and give more weight to Wedge's evocative words.

This is no feral child reduced to an animalistic existence but an articulate and thoughtful being. The rational part of me questions how a child whose grasp of language was rudimentary at best could have grown into one capable of describing in articulate detail the fight with the alpha male that set the scene for this story without some additional human interaction. But this is no Vicente Caucau, Wedge is cast in the mould of Burroughs and Kipling and perhaps like Kipling's Mowgli he watched human civilisation from afar and learnt its ways, and still chose to walk the path of the wolf with all its deprivations and hardships. We'll never know as the game does not give you more than a fleeting glimpse into Biggs and Wedge's story, but I find it gratifying to think that he is a fully cognisant adolescent boy choosing to spend his life with his best friend. The fact that that friend is of another species is irrelevant, his devotion is limitless and he neither sees nor acknowledges boundaries that the civilised world considers infrangible.


You keep hope alive, kid.

Motivation and history notwithstanding the game focuses on the here and now, and the plight of a critically injured wolf and a boy's heroic effort to save him. The game is set over a four day span, with each day allowing exploration and foraging along one of the cardinal points from the central cave in which Biggs is lain to recuperate by his anxious companion. The objective is to hunt and forage enough food and medicinal herbs to return Biggs to his former robust good health.

It is a very good idea to spend time that first morning reading all the available tutorials and familiarising yourself with the controls, because you only have one chance each day to get the optimal response from Biggs and if you don't get it then you're not going to get the single happy ending of the four possible ones available.

There are a variety of consumables available on these hunting forays, meat, herbs and berries as well as resources such as wood, stones and feathers and some intangibles like rabbit's feet, snake venom and butterfly wings. The raw meat and herbs can be fed to Biggs at the end of each day, the berries are strictly for human consumption, whilst the resources are used to fashion weapons to aid in hunting, and the intangibles have a somewhat more mysterious role to play. Though if you are both smart and lucky they can be the key to healing Biggs quickly.

The first area you can access to the north is predominantly stocked with rabbits, birds, deer and fish, all of which are easy catches, though there is one boar but he must be a tired old pig because he goes down easily. The remaining areas introduce more robust animals to hunt and ones that fight back with a vengeance, the bears, snakes and boars especially.


When did boars learn to climb rope?

Still as long as you keep stocked up on those nourishing berries and try to ambush your prey before you go in for the kill you'll make it to the end of each hunting expedition intact if not unscathed.

Your day lasts 13 hours, from 6am to 7pm when you are automatically warped back to the central cave and camp-fire to craft and restock your weapons supply, save the game, feed and tend to Biggs and spend a moment reminiscing about the past before falling bonelessly to sleep, only to rise the next day and head out again.

All of the maps are straight RTP of course given Liberty's involvement, and also because of that they are practical, interesting, innovative and passage error free, which is very much appreciated in a game of this nature when you are racing against the sun to collect enough food and resources to keep Biggs, and hope, alive. Though that idiom does bring home the one major quibble I and I understand a few others have with the game, the slow walking speed. I understand it's a balancing decision to ensure that gathering the items necessary to keep Wedge and Biggs alive is a kept as a challenge but the occasional burst of speed in certain circumstances would have been welcome, especially around those snakes.

The character sprites for Biggs and Wedge are custom work and whilst Wedge does seem to have a disproportionately large cranium in relation to the rest of his body for some reason it really works well for me, perhaps because it aids in the impression that he is still a young man not yet grown into himself, a bit like a puppy, all feet and ears with the rest filling in over time. Still if I could ask for anything it would be a greater range of emotions for his face-set. Given the circumstances in which we find him I was looking for a little more than I got. The Biggs sprite is really only seen moving in flashbacks which means you don't get a lot of details, as most of these are displayed in the low light of memory but the bust that you do see of the young pup is adorable, and goes a long way to reinforcing the player's determination to save the now adult wolf. Both Biggs of popular culture may have died but I'll be damned if I'm letting this one go.


Damn Straight

I think that whilst on the surface this game could be said to sit at the deprivation end of the spectrum in relation to the lone wolf existence that Biggs and Wedge live with its harsh winters and empty stomachs, in my mind it is overflowing with affection and loyalty and fidelity between these two unique individuals, its abundance is made manifest in their devotion to one another.

In the end with a bit of luck and some finger juggling you have a pretty good chance of a happy resolution to a dire situation, and if you miss it the first time around, the game only takes 40 or so minutes to play, so another run-through to save the day is an easy sell.

Now stop reading this and go and save Biggs, you'll find you get a surprisingly warm glow when you do.