Runs Laika dream
That up there is Ivan Ivanovitch.
He’s somewhere between Walter Mitty and Scheherazade.
This is a light game, unchallenging by design, and for me, sleepily so.
The premise is sweet.
Ivan is a Soviet cosmonaut who was given a mission to take a nuclear-equipped rocket drill underground.
Forced to explain where he’s been this whole time, you play through his retelling of events.
They are immediately outlandish tales in which he is chased by dinosaurs and discovers lost subterranean cities.
You hear the ongoing dialogue between sceptical general and colourful fibber as you navigate the side-scrolling levels.
Sometimes, when the general shouts at you, that instability leaks into the fantasy.
Ice floes crack under your feet, for example.
That’s some direct, storytime symbolism but it works well enough.
And it gives the environment artists a chance to prove themselves.
This is a beautiful underground dreamworld, almost every few steps results in a screen with perfect composition.
It’s a dazzling wee thing.
Okay, that’s not fair.
There are classic platforming obstacles and a few stealth moments.
But it’s all very basic and untaxing.
It’s thematically appropriate, at least.
I could put on my monocle and say that, actually, that’s quite clever.
Like the Soviet general listening to Ivan’s colourful Munchausing, you’re very much along for the ride.
There are no side avenues with extra snippets of dialogue, no secret treasures, no bonus vistas.
A collectibles mode unlocks every few levels, which sprinkles trinkets throughout previously visited episodes.
In other words, the ratio of cinematic:platformer leans far towards popcorn.
I feel it’s perfectly justified in stripping out those harsh, opaque moments of such elder games.
But it also doesn’t compensate with any other challenge or task.
In Little Orpheus you will rarely die at all.
There is still plenty to like about it.
The sound design in particular is ship-shape.
There’s a lot of good-natured comedy too.
You’ll laugh at the Soviet Union gags.
Your kid will laugh at the walrus being launched sky-high by a see-saw ice floe.
It’s a very short adventure, clocking in at three or four hours.
Precisely the right call for a story like this.
