Quadrilateral Cowboy Reviews
This “hacker” proof-of-concept has passed, but it’s not for full price recommendation, even if it’s an indie title. You will enjoy the beginning, at times you will feel smart and you will want a little bit more of everything, and it’s certainly worth trying at some sale or with a discount, but not at the current price.
There’s the kernel of a great game here, and I’m looking forward to going into Blendo Games’ backlog to see what other interesting ideas Brendon Chung has had, even if this one is held back by missteps or creative choices that I don’t enjoy.
If you want a nonsensical story with a serious focus on terminal-based gameplay, you’re going to find yourself pleasantly surprised with Quadrilateral Cowboy.
This scrappy, surreal escapade cleverly uses programming as a game mechanic, but can't quite follow through on its ideas.
Though Quadrilateral Cowboy is quasi-futuristic, the skills it imbues the player with are, by comparison, banal. But in asking the player to perform meaningful mental labor to accomplish the task at hand, the banal becomes surprisingly gratifying. And even if it doesn’t quite live up to its potential, Quadrilateral Cowboy made me feel like a hacker for a while. That’s pretty damn cool.
It feels as if Quadrilateral Cowboy never finds a solution to this problem, but it moves through different ideas quickly enough, and does enough with its cool, colourful world and story of silent friendship, that I enjoyed my time with it.
Quadrilateral Cowboy’s celebration of youthful revolt hides in plain sight