Hohokum Reviews
Hohokum's worth greatly depends on one's ability to revel in simple, charming discoveries. There's no lasting impact, meaningful message, or even resolution to its shallow core mechanics, but a playful aesthetic and relaxing music make being in its spaces enjoyable for a time.
Today, as in the past, Hohokum remains an experience not accessible to everyone. The choice of its creator is obvious: to give a few hours of serenity to those who live this adventure. Between puzzles and interactive elements with which to compose your melody, in an explosion of colors and visionariness, Hohokum is a break from the typified world of video games, and undoubtedly deserves an opportunity from anyone who loves to peep into the artistic expressions of the interactive medium.
Review in Italian | Read full review
"Hohokum" is an example of how abstract a video game can be when it strips away the conventions like a plot, tutorial or anything that is a virtual representation of something found on the Planet Earth. Its vagueness is both its strength and its weakness. Players will either love it for being different or hate it for the same reason. I'm stuck somewhere in between. I don't see myself revisiting "Hohokum," but it will certainly stick out in my mind for the foreseeable future.
For its vibrant visual design, wonderful music and sheer whimsical weirdness, Hohokum is well worth experiencing. But at times it seems to be meandering back and forth between a video game and a piece of interactive art, unsure of which world it belongs to.
PixelJunk and Flower fans will find much to like in Hohokum, a psychedelic yet meditative game with loosely-defined goals but great imagination.
It's difficult to adequately explain or describe Hohokum. It'll fill you with a child-like sense of wonderment with its abstract exploration, but as a game, its definitely a case of style over substance.
There is no doubt about the fact that Hohokum achieves exactly what it wants to, the game is a relaxing and gorgeous adventure that can take a few hours from you. It does a wonderful job at helping you clear your mind and just focus on the magic happening on your television screen. Unfortunately, that relaxation can turn to confusion as you wander around attempting to figure out what to do next. Hohokum's visuals, music, and controls are spot on, but it is missing that little hand holding experience that many games need. Despite the occasional frustration it brings, Hohokum is an absolute treat to behold.
It's one the more unusual, charming and relaxing indie efforts available on a consoles today.
Genuine art is meant to evoke a response from its audience, and Hohokum's diverse assortment of imaginative endeavors makes it easy to get lost inside its world. It's effective union of art, activity and music, managing a progression of open personal responses without the weight of a direct narrative or dissonant mechanics. If you're out there looking for the holy grail of emotive game design, Hohokum's declarative statement to the power of amusement is worthy of consideration.
There isn't much to the bottom line here. Hohokum is a great art project, but taken as a game it falls seriously flat. For the right price and mindset, possibly enjoyable, I just got very little out of it.
Hohokum tries to be all things to all gamers, attempting to fit inside both the 'game' camp and the interactive art collective. That it succeeds, somewhat, is a compliment to the developers and the artist, but this attempt is also what holds Hohokum back from real greatness in either distinction. It could have been a piece of moving art, an emotive experience based on experimental exploration supported by an immersive soundtrack. It could have been an innovative puzzle game, requiring interlinked stages of thought based on the results of trial and error, free to transform game mechanics on the fly to support the overall quality of game. What it is, is an attempt at both, and it comes very close to nailing those genres. There's no cigar to hand out here, but Hohokum is still worthy of your time and a firm handshake.
Hohokum is a delight. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, and plan to go back for every last collectible and trophy, zipping around its colorful world for at least a couple more hours. More importantly it's a real game, with satisfying goals and puzzles to solve.
Ultimately, Hohokum feels like it's not entirely sure what it wants to be. It gives the impression of wanting to jettison typical game tropes, but then has a very clear level structure, and is at its best when it plays up its more typical video game features. It wants to appear to be all about the joy of exploring the space the developer has created – to be a true freeform, gameplay experience – but has specific goals to achieve and a set way to achieve them, even if it does leave you to work out these things alone.
Sony has a habit of putting certain games on pedestals, heralding them as experiences that gamers only see on PlayStation. Typically, these are more experimental titles designed to evoke thoughts and feelings, artistic endeavors that test the boundaries of what games can and can't be. Hohokum fits perfectly into that category, and I'm sure we'll see it used as evidence in many "Are video games art?" debates.
But it won't be a game for everyone. The game offers a Trophy for completing it in under an hour, but we can't imagine the type of players Hohokum attracts will find this prospect appealing. It should be taken almost as a palette-cleanser; the type of experience you find yourself spending a few quiet hours immersed inside, soaking up its atmosphere and getting lost inside its dreamscape. There's little doubt Honeyslug has created something truly original and utterly absorbing, but it's also a game that requires a detachment from reality along with a complete investment from its participants. Don't venture into Hohokum hoping to understand what it's all about, just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Hohokum's intriguing collection of free-form worlds begs exploration, but the game's questionable structure stifles the ability to play it on your own terms. It's an aural and visual spectacle, but it's also a lot more frustrating than it ever needed to be.
Easily the best aspect of Hohokum is the euphoric joy you feel when you find something new, whether it's a kaleidoscope-style colour show, a gateway to a different dimension or simply a funny sound
Hohokum is a reimagining of what it means to be a game; it's a colorful romp through fairy tale-esque setting framed out by a clever and relaxing narrative.
Above all else, Hohokum is a constant reminder that the verb used when we interact with games is "play."
Bad puzzles are easy to design; good puzzles (whether easy or hard) require logic, care, even a touch of the narrative Hohokum pointedly rejects. Good puzzles tell a story in their physical parts. Over time, Hohokum demands story, even as it tells you it doesn't have one, and it demands progress, even as it works so hard to act like it doesn't.