I’ve never played Katamari Damacy, but I’ve heard it’s quirky, colourful, and surreal, all things I love in a video game. You could also use all those words to describeTo a T, an upcoming game from the same creator, Keita Takahashi. The demo, which arrived on Steam earlier this week, lets you explore the first episode of the game, and it’s a joy to play.
To A T’s Tone Is Perfectly Balanced
From its very first moments, To a T is compelling. Your character customisation takes place in a dream where you’re running from a tornado, a dream many of us have had, I’m sure. The customisation itself, while pretty limited, is pretty cute – you pick a skin tone, a dorky haircut, and a name, and awaken to an adorable and surprisingly rousing title sequence about how you’re perfect just the way you are.
The way you are, in this case, is T-posing, a metaphor for physical disability. It’s with this disability you have to navigate in your daily life, shown from the moment you get out of bed with some difficulty, since you may’t use your arms. To my great surprise, my t-posing-teen promptly realises there’s somebody on the other side of the screen and almost addresses me directly, before realising they have to take a morning dump.
I run them to the toilet amidst flashing alarm lights – theyreallyneed to go, it seems. Screened by a door, you lift the lid, sit them down on the toilet, and take part in a hilarious minigame that comprises mashing every button on your vibrating controller while listening to a litany of groans, grunts, and splashing sounds. Good god.
But back to the disability. You have an assistance dog (who you may also name), who will dress you while you try on clothes for school – there are lots of options just for school days that you can mix and match at will, and other sections presumably for other occasions.
You go downstairs after getting dressed, where your mother wishes you a happy birthday. You’re 13 today! I remember that being a terrible, painful age to be, and like my character, I too had a terrible bowl haircut. To be fair, I did pick that for them while thinking of my own life. My mother, who is by all appearances a single mum doing her absolute best, contemplates telling me the secret she’s been keeping about my father, but decides against it. A mystery! I’m already hooked.
My mother reminds me to wash the eye boogers from my face, so I head to the downstairs bathroom where she’s installed a T-pose friendly faucet, which is a lovely way to introduce the idea of disability accommodations. I twist and press the knob, which jets water into the air – I only need to angle my face into the stream with the controller joysticks to get my face clean. My dog then licks the water from my face, which seems unhygienic, but a dog’s love is pure and true, so who am I to complain?
Later, when I brush my teeth after eating breakfast – another minigame ordeal – my dog presses on the toothpaste tube for me. This dog really can do anything.
Being A Kid Sucks!
It’s when you have to leave for school that the world starts to open up and the themes of the game further reveal themselves. Firstly, you’re greeted by a town chorus that informs you that you have a map that will help orient you around the town, and I use it (and my dog’s guidance) to navigate to the sandwich shop nearby, where a nice giraffe man gives me a birthday sandwich.
Most of the map is obscured with clouds, probably because I’m limited to the demo area. Also, there are coins scattered around the town that you can collect, but I’m not super sure how these are used yet.
I’m pretty miserable about having to go to school. I kick cans and rocks down the road as I walk. Crows gather on the street as I sadly shuffle past. Dramatic music plays as I walk along the pavement and cross the road. It’s funny, but also incredibly evocative of the experience of being a teenager.
The reason I don’t want to go to school, apart from school sucking, is that the other kids are mean to me because of my disability. They mimic my arms as they walk past me. They stand in the doorway, watching me in class, and giggle amongst themselves. This bothers my teen very much, and it made me sad to see, too. Many of us were bullied as kids, and even though I’m now very far removed from being 13, it’s pretty easy to remember the pain of feeling apart from your peers.
My teen is stewing about their “worst birthday ever” when a smell fills the air. God forbid, your dog has just laid a fat one on someone’s porch. You start to panic, then suddenly enter a state of what I can only assume is transcendental Zen. You start to spin around, creating a mini tornado that picks up the poop and flings it, you, and your dog into the top of a tree. This is where the demo ends, but not before you get treated to yet another song break, this time from the lovely giraffe who made you your birthday sandwich, singing about how much they love to cook.
I didn’t know that I would love To a T until I tried it, but now that I have, I’m incredibly taken with its strange imagery and its sad teen protagonist. I want them to find their way in life, damn it! I want this child to be happy. And it’s such a joy to play, too, full of strange moments – for example, after school, I pressed the buzzer outside the gates and the school turned into a monster with five tongues. It then told me that if I ask Crabbiano the hairstylist, I can get his hairstyle too. Sure, why not.
You cantry the demo on Steam nowor play it when it launches on May 28. I didn’t know I’d be this excited to see the full game, but you could say this is my kind of game down to a T.
