You thought you knew a lot of pop culture references? Well, try to find them all in The Wardrobe Even Better Edition. This point-and-click adventure with a 90s addiction will make you smile, but does it hold up on the Nintendo Switch? Let’s find out!
Enter the Wardrobe
Meet our unlucky hero! A deceased and skeletal-looking boy who’s on a mission to achieve redemption on behalf of a friend and to entertain you with old-school problem-solving. Unfortunately, the puzzles at the heart of the adventure may be too inconsistent due to the difficulty. Moreover, as you’ll discover, the solutions can be somewhat illogical. But, let’s not jump ahead to the review’s conclusion and discuss the other aspects first.
The story begins with two best friends, Ronald and Skinny, having a lovely picnic together in the park. Things turn for the worst as Skinny eats a plum, has an allergic reaction, and dies almost instantly – why did he eat the plum? I don’t know; he even states that he knows he’s allergic later in the game. All for the story, I guess. But from that moment onwards though, Skinny lingers in the realm of the living; he’s cursed to reside in Ronald’s wardrobe. If Ronald doesn’t open up to someone about what occurred within five years, he’ll be damned. Unfortunately, the narrative skips ahead, and now time is nearly up. Thus Skinny must embark upon an adventure to get his buddy to let go of any guilt.
The Wardrobe Even Better Edition
To be entirely fair, Ronald’s main plot is rather sketchy and very forgettable. Instead, engaging in numerous minor sub-plots is more of a joyous focus throughout as you stumble upon a brilliant selection of intriguing characters to converse with. Characters like a dangerous – some might say killer – crocodile (I’m Batman), an eccentric zombie, a delusional king of the dump, a pessimistic guy in a rabbit costume, and many more. The fact that it’s fully voice-acted helps to bring the personalities to life. Like I stated before, the whole game feels like a trip down 90s nostalgia and even some 00s nostalgia thrown in. It has a wide range of both anime and regular tv-series, with a lot of nudges and winks to other media.
Some are more obvious than others, such as the masks belonging to a bunch of turtles hanging out to dry in the sewers, the Master Chief helmet inside a closet, and a Stormtrooper picture in someone’s hall. Keen eyes will also notice homage paid to Beauty and the Beast, Fairly Odd Parents, The Sims, Worms, and tons more. You can even find Pinhead from Hellraiser passed out at a party. It’s a good job; the locations are so interestingly designed because the gameplay will send you back and forth like crazy.
Pans Labyrinth
Now gameplay-wise, it plays just like other adventures of said genre. You guide Skinny around by clicking the environment, engaging in dialogue, using items, and picking objects up to store inside the protagonist’s chest cavity – ha, Skeleton humor. Certain items can be combined within the inventory, while others can be dragged into the location to solve a problem. There’s nothing wrong with these foundations at all. There is—however, an issue to be found in the puzzling predicaments at hand. During the entirety of The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition, knowing what to do next isn’t always as evident as you might think – often resulting in running around for half an hour clicking at random stuff.
For example – working out the alarm clock needs fixing to wake up a homeless person or putting batteries in a flashlight to illuminate an area are actions that make sense. However, mixing sewer water and pills to evolve a pile of dust or going back in time and falling in a fishing net to receive a bubble bath is not apparent. I’m like, throw me a frickin bone here – ha, another skeleton joke. The solutions seem so illogical half the time that you’ll either have to fluke it, find a guide or just get frustrated at not having a clue.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition is only really worth your consideration if you’re picking the game up as of now – since there are (luckily) plenty of guides out there nowadays. As long as that’s the case, there are great locations full of nostalgia just to be seen. The characters within are undoubtedly intriguing and, in a silly way, it’s funny on occasion. The main story needs work, but the sub-plots are pretty good and keep things ticking over, even if it’s just for your nostalgia overload.
