Where to begin with this absolute gem of a game? I had originally given to a T a miss when it first launched on PC; I think too many games came out around the same time, and it turns out there are only so many hours in a day, so I just never bought it. I’m so glad that I got roped into playing it on the Switch 2 to write this review.
Overall Vibe
This game is suitable for children and for the whole family. I think it would be difficult for a young child to play by themselves, but if an adult is at the controls, then it could be a nice family playtime activity. There are no heartbreaking storylines or adult themes—it’s G-rated through and through.
Accessibility
This game is published by Annapurna Interactive in collaboration with AbleGamers. The whole game is about embracing different bodies and abilities. The game’s own accessibility settings include subtitles of different sizes and colors and different aesthetic overlays (e.g., sepia, CRTV lines). Timing is never an issue in the main story, so no worries there. The game autosaves often, so again, there’s never an issue with deciding to put it down for a while and coming back to where you left off. One thing is that it seems impossible to reassign buttons. I feel like this is the kind of game that would celebrate remapping or alternate controls. I don’t know if other versions allow it, but the Switch 2 does not.
Music
Absolute banger of a soundtrack through and through. The background music is mostly gentle piano or a jazz combo. There are two tracks that are what I call Featured Musical Numbers: PerfecT Shape and Giraffe Song, written by the amazing Rebecca Sugar of Steven Universe fame. These pop up as music video interludes that bookend each of the game’s episodes. Each music video is similar to the previous ones but with some changes that reflect the current storyline. These little details are fun Easter eggs to look for, and each song is an absolute bop that will be stuck in my head for the next few weeks. Why don’t more video games have musical numbers to shake up the gameplay? It’s truly a mystery with no answer, but luckily, to a T delivers on this thing we as a society didn’t know we needed.
Art Style
It took me a bit to warm up to the visuals of the game, if I’m being honest. It’s a chunky, saturated 3D cartoon style that gives off “child’s toy” vibes that reminded me of Bendo toys in the ‘90s and early aughts (if you know what I’m talking about, go take some ibuprofen for your lower back). As I eased into the gameplay, I realized that the visuals were perfect for the setting. This chunky, colorful aesthetic also makes a clear contrast when some new characters come on the scene near the end of the game and they have a rather…different background, shall we say.
Story
The whole storyline is about accepting who you are and embracing your innate quirks. Our differences are what make us awesome! Some people have no shoulder movement and are stuck in a T-pose. Some people have mushroom hair. Some people are giraffes. It’s all groovy.
The story is divided into eight chapters. A note: Many names are changeable, but I left everything on the default. In the first four, you play as Teen on their thirteenth birthday. You learn how to walk in their shoes (quite literally). Time to brush your teeth? You’ve got to use a long toothbrush and a special faucet, plus your service dog (named Dog) squirts the tube for you onto the toothbrush. How do we eat cereal or put on a shirt?
There’s a great mix of unfamiliar arm & head movements, accessible tools around the house, and relying on Dog or your mom for the last 10% that you can’t quite do on your own. You go to school and do your best in science lab (very hard to manipulate without special tools), math class (easy enough; it’s all thinking!), and gym class (mixed—at least your teacher is creative in working with your needs). You also get to run around town, talk to NPCs, explore a maze, collect coins littered about, and engage in mini games like a sandwich-eating contest or ice cream scoop stacking. Obviously a standard bike isn’t going to work, but you have a super cool unicycle for getting around town!
Strange things start to happen around town and to Teen. This paragraph has some story spoilers. A wind turbine gets loose and destroys part of the school. Teen saves one of their bullies by…flying??? It turns out Teen can spin like a helicopter! The gym teacher teaches Teen some ballet spins, and we’re off to the races, now able to jump high into the air by spinning at will! Sometimes different bodies have different abilities, eh? My favorite part of this story arc is less about the flying and more that Teen’s bullies realize that Teen is pretty cool as a person (and also as a superhero who can fly), and they all become friends and start doing normal teenager stuff together. It warmed the cockles of my ancient, frozen heart.
But things go seriously off the rails in chapters 5-8. I’ll try to avoid spoilers in this section while also highlighting the cool things that happen. In this second half, you get to play as a number of different characters, beginning with Dog. Dog is lower to the ground, doesn’t understand human speech, and has a good sense of smell, and the game reflects these differences beautifully. Dog goes on a little adventure to solve a mystery he picked up with his nose and makes some friends along the way who continue to embody the message of “love your unique body.”
Next, you play as the mom back when she was a teenager going exploring with her sister, and we learn some fascinating backstory. Finally, you play as a new character who appears, and golly is that one a trip. I literally cannot elaborate without giving spoilers, and the game is worth playing just to experience that part for yourself. In the final chapter, you play again as Teen, but a little differently than before. The tale concludes on a hilarious and wholesome note, giving a final statement of “all bodies are beautiful” before rolling credits.
Pros & Cons
It’s whacky and whimsical—it never takes itself too seriously and always remembers it’s a video game that can do whatever it wants. It has a lovely message at the heart of the narrative. Every chapter is different, including getting to play as different characters and embody those different personalities and abilities. The music is sooooooo goooooooooooood. The visuals are stylized and cartoony in a way that I wasn’t particularly keen on in the beginning but grew on me. It’s about accessibility and acceptance. It features a series of musical numbers with variations on a music video that reflects what is happening in each chapter.
I did have some weird visual and audible glitches in the game though. The worst one was the rendition of PerfecT Shape in chapter 5—the audio was several seconds ahead of the video, and the video was stuttering and glitching the entire time, and it was very hard to watch. The other glitches of note were just object collisions and stuttery scene transitions, which made the game feel sloppily put together in those moments. Besides the performance issues, I seriously did not enjoy the camera in the game.
The player can never control the camera, but the game decides if you are viewing straight on, from the side, or from behind. Sometimes there would be an obstacle blocking the camera, like a car driving by, and I would have to just stop moving and wait for the obstacle to clear before I could move on. With the wonky camera, navigating city streets became a dizzying affair. The map helped immensely, but it was rough going. I got lost a handful of times in a way that online guides could not help me because it boiled down to simple navigation issues.
