Bastion
LQ: 9.15
Recommended Age: 10+
Skills Used: Planning, Working Memory, Mathematics, Reading
Untitled Goose Game is, at its core, a puzzle game with a simple premise. You are a goose and your job is to make as much trouble as possible for the residents of a small town. You do this by completing the tasks on a list you are given for each area of the game. The list does not tell you how to accomplish these goals, so the player must try to figure out what they need to do to cross each item off.
The player needs to be sneaky in order to accomplish these goals; their only options are as follows: honk, grab items, duck low, and flap their wings. With these limited controls, you need to accomplish impish tasks such as stealing a farmer’s hat, tripping a small boy and taking his glasses, and locking a shopkeeper in her garage. As you complete the tasks in one area of town, a new location will open and a new task list will appear.
The game also features a two-player cooperative mode where you can play as two different geese working together to accomplish the same tasks.
Focus: Getting started and then maintaining attention and effort to tasks.
Some of the tasks on your list require that you go between several locations, bringing objects from one place to another. The player needs to use their focus and remember not only their task, but which items are placed where in the village. They also need to use their stealth to avoid being seen, and use their honking judiciously so that they do not attract unwanted attention. The game’s puzzles are low-stakes, meaning that if the player struggles with focus and fails to complete their objective, there are unlimited opportunities to try again.
Planning: Developing a systematic approach for setting and achieving goals.
Some puzzles in the game involve multiple steps that need to be carried out in the correct order. For this, the player needs to plan out their actions right down to their escape route. If the player struggles with planning, they may find themselves working through several different strategies before they hit upon the right one for that particular puzzle. Again, because the game is very forgiving, you can attempt the puzzle as many times as you want. This can allow for people with underdeveloped planning skills to practice until they get the puzzles figured out.
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