Finally September has arrived, we leave the hot summer days behind to return to our routines full of new energy after a well-deserved vacation period. But do you know who never went on vacation? The New Zealand post office.
Some time ago we told you about the demo of KeyWe, a cooperative title developed by Stonewheat & Sons, and we were finally able to dress up Jeff and Debra's pens again for a full title experience.
An animal-run office
At the Bungalow Basin Telepost there is always a great movement among octopuses that sort the mail, huge cassowaries that deliver the correspondence but above all two small but attentive kiwis who direct the work hopping around the office. Jeff and Debra are the two player-controllable protagonists, but how does one of the most peculiar birds in the world manage a post office without even being able to fly?
For those who did not know the kiwi is naturally predisposed to work in the post office.
According to studies by the well-known animal studies scholar Frank O. Bohl, in fact, it has been shown how the evolution of Apteryx Australis, better known as Brown Kiwi or Southern Kiwi has brought the animal to adapt to the postal environment: it has a long and thin beak to collect the letters and transport them delicately, a plump butt with which to attach stamps and stickers, a shrill chirping to be heard throughout the office and finally the minute dimensions to easily slip into the pneumatic mail tubes.
Thanks to these evolutionary wonders, the kiwi manages to complete even the busiest shifts.
The "more of the same" that is not tired
In KeyWe we will live the adventures of the Bungalow Basin Telepost spread throughout the year with 12 levels for each season for a total of 48 main levels.
The different levels will propose the five types of minigames but adding but inserting from time to time new elements linked to the season or to "accidents" of the path that upset the patterns thus making the puzzles more and more complex and the coordination more and more established. We will then find ourselves writing by telegraph during a storm that will overload the systems, or packing goods in a warehouse infested with spiteful insects or transcribing messages while the cassowaries are trick or treating.
As if the seasonal follies weren't enough, gods are also added extraordinary shifts that will allow us to experience other areas of the post office such as the bubble wrap warehouse where we will have to burst as many bubbles as possible or go out to accompany the cassowaries on their rounds of deliveries.
Naturally after each shift, based on the scores or the times obtained, we will receive stamps as pay with which we can unlock new accessories for Jeff and Debra such as hats, backpacks, skins, glasses and feathers.
Unlike the demo, of course, the amount of items that can be purchased and collected is certainly greater by adding secret prizes that can be unlock only with certain hidden items within the various levels. It will also be possible to unlock accessories by replaying the extraordinary rounds several times that from time to time will provide additional bonus stamps.
Each season will be introduced by very tender cinematics that you can see again in your collection.
Alone or in company
Despite KeyWe is designed to be played by two it is possible to face the levels also in silge player using the hot swap function to change on the fly between Jeff and Debra or Dual Weild with which it will be possible to control both by dividing the keyboard or the pad in two. Although the mode Dual Wield is marked as single player, it can also be used by two players in the absence of hardware thus giving that 90s touch to local multiplayer. However, it must be said that playing solo is really boring and it is difficult to juggle between the two birds.
If your friends are not on the couch fear not because you can create private rooms to play online and complete another work shift together.
Whether you play alone or in company, the controls of this title are simple and immediate, leaving room for gameplay and communication between players.
In conclusion:
KeyWe is a colorful and fun game from the artistic sector that focuses on the pucciosity of the character design (and to make a cassowary puccioso you have to be good) and on relaxing music. As we expected from the demo, the gameplay does not differ too much from other similar collaborators such as Overcooked and Moving out, but this trait does not make it a defect, on the contrary it still consolidates the strength of a genre that does not take too seriously and has the only goal. to let the players spend a few hours in the company of laughter and funny characters. Basing most of its gameplay on spelling it can be a great title for little ones to play with their parents. In short, the expectations created by the demo were not disappointed, on the contrary, we were more than happy with the final product and pleasantly surprised to see a complete localization in our language, despite being hidden in the options. We just have to hope for a sequel set in our country between otters and wild boars.
