Charting Your Own Course.

Carto, the third outing from Taiwan developer Sunhead Games, is a unique puzzler. As the titular Carto, you transform and change the world around you. Separated from her grandmother, Carto is transported to various world regions and searches for a way home. Along the way, Carto meets a colorful cast of characters and expands her abilities as she shapes the world to help her friends. 

GRAPHICS 9/10

Carto has a unique graphical approach that is inspired by modern children's books. The bright colors and paper-like character animations jump off the page and into Carto's colorful world. Each biome and region Carto explores are vastly different, from flower-filled grasslands, an unforgiving desert, to a snowy tundra. Due to this, each level has a character all its own that contributes to the storybook feel.

SOUND QUALITY 8/10

Each region has a unique sound lending to its individual personality. Carto’s music is very subtle — instead of featuring instrumentals, the sound team focuses on each world's aesthetic elements. The player hears birds chirping and singing in the deep woods or hears the howl of the wind in a sandstorm or blizzard. None of the characters are voiced, aside from some grunts and such, leaving something to be desired. However, in retrospect, a fully voiced game may have robbed the story of its charm. There are sound cues to solving Carto’s various puzzles that contribute generously to the atmosphere and gameplay and explain the musical score's subtlety.

GAMEPLAY 9/10

Have you ever looked at a tile floor and seen a tile out of place you wish you could fix? Maybe it's a minor instance of OCD on my part, but in this regard, Carto was very therapeutic for me! Pieces of map can be rotated and need to match pieces around them. Clues (and other parts of the regions) are scattered around the map, with some pieces only being unlocked by orienting fragments in a specific pattern. In one such case, I needed to find a character in a forest, which was only possible by having a complete forest tile appear. I achieved this by manipulating the tiles I had gathered, which had trees on at least one side. Once I created a border with these pieces, the forest tile appeared! As you progress through the regions, these puzzles become more challenging and produce results you might not have thought possible. It's worth mixing and matching tiles to see what happens and building out each region as much as possible. When you reach the final stages of the game, you are encouraged to piece each region/level into one cohesive map, which depending on your playstyle, can range from chaotic to cathartic.

CHARACTERS 9/10

Carto’s characters are as colorful and vibrant as the environments they inhabit.

There are islanders reminiscent of those that settled the Pacific, burly woodman with animal companions, and the caretaker of a mysterious cabin that seems to transcend time (and the story) itself. Carto is a quiet protagonist, communicating with emoticons [think :-) or :-( with less emoji] with exposition left to the friends she makes along the way. Carto’s jokes are straight out of a children’s book and give the story a heartwarming feel.

STORY 9/10

Carto's story is relatively basic but is heartwarming and perfectly suitable for a storybook. Carto is separated from her Grandmother (a cartographer herself) in a dreadful storm. As she explores, Carto realizes the world is much bigger than the maps her Grandmother created in the tiny airship they shared. I wish some background had been expanded upon, such as that mysterious cabin and some passing mentions of Carto's grandmother's exploits and adventures, but this could be a setup for a potential sequel (count me in Sunhead Games!)

OVERALL 9/10

Carto is a delightful puzzle game that is a children's book come to life.

The overall approach to the world's various puzzles is unique and engaging, leaving ample opportunity for a second or third playthrough that may lead to pieces and collectibles the player may have missed in the initial playthrough. The soundtrack leaves a bit to be desired, but I believe that the game makers took this approach to better focus on the gameplay. Carto is a must-play game for puzzle lovers and may even make a few new fans of the genre.

Give this game a go and help Carto chart her course home!

Carto was released on October 27th, 2020, and is available on PC, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S for $19.99 or free on Xbox with a Game Pass subscription for a limited time. The reviewer purchased the game at full retail price.

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