“Le Vaillant Petit Page”, the video game that looks like a storybook

Once upon a time, there was a video game that took place in a children’s book. The pages of this book depict the colourful landscapes of a country called “Mojo”, whose population is strictly representative of the canons of the genre: there are wizards, trolls or talking animals… and, as expected, a chivalrous hero always ready to defend his kingdom.

Wearing a Phrygian cap, sword in hand and nicknamed “Pagina Vaillant,” the young character sets out in search of Ragecuite, an evil wizard who wants to seize power. This quest leads him to slay chubby monsters, solve numerous puzzles and overcome a variety of fun mini-games.

However, this is not about making fun of the stories, but rather about paying them a tender and mischievous tribute, as the film was able to do at the time. princess bride (1987). Sticky castles and swamps, poet snails and pirate starfish… Everything is designed to evoke childhood memories and place us in a state of permanent wonder.

Breaking the fourth wall

It’s another movie conducive to childhood dreams, toy history (1995), which we can’t stop thinking about when the first adventures arrive: using a power called “metamagia”, the villain Ragecuite expels the paper hero from his book. Stunned, our Page lands in disarray on the desk, where its young owner has placed the book in his name. Little concerned about the existential turmoil that such a discovery could have caused, the young hero sets out on an expedition towards this desk full of pencils, toys or little monsters that have also escaped from our fairy tale.

He soon proves capable of traveling at will between two worlds, each of which offers a different perspective: the one in the book is made up of two-dimensional drawings, while the one in the bedroom is three-dimensional. To advance in our quest, we will have to navigate quickly between the two.

It reminds us of the two universes fitted together, one flat and the other in volume, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013), but this two-worlds trick – a great success of this title – manages to impose its own motif: that of the contamination of the outside world by a fictional character. In this way, the first production of the Australian studio All Possible Futures offers a beautiful metaphor for the powers of imagination.

Children in the spotlight

Despite the sophistication of their interdimensional device, The brave little page never loses sight of its simplicity of approach. The difficulty of the combats is not high, it is possible to obtain clues to solve the most complex puzzles, the most difficult mini-games are optional and the progression is, in general, very guided (perhaps even too much, as experienced players will judge).

All Possible Futures aims to appeal to a family audience, from high school students to adults who love the uncomplicated experience. This interlude of sweetness is, however, punctuated by spikes in difficulty that can be destabilizing, a bit like finding a chili hidden in a cream puff.

Other instabilities, of a technical nature, attenuated the strong impression caused by the aesthetic bias and the frenetic pace of this adventure: the test version provided to World The editor suffered some blocking errors in the last quarter of the adventure. It’s a shame, because this Small Page has the profile of a large one.

The opinion of pixels

We liked:

• the back and forth between adventures in the book (in 2D) and outside its pages (in 3D);
• an adorable and reference-filled artistic direction;
• the most successful French translation.

We liked less:

• some unexpected difficulty spikes in a generally unremarkable game;
• Instead of accessibility options to simplify the game, we would have liked to be able to start it in a “hard” mode;
• Our test version faced us with crashing bugs.

It’s more for you if:

• You have Peter Pan syndrome.

It’s not for you if:

• You’re more on Captain Hook’s side.

Pixel Classification

It was three/four times.