Maize (2016)

If you love puzzles, and are looking for a visually-stunning indie game (or you just love corn), take a bite out of Maize. Just be prepared to have the initial zany fun wane when the novelty wears off.

Crazy comedy adventure about intellect-gifted corn. In terms of gameplay it´s not a miracle, but crazy humor and bizarrely intriguing story richly compensates it.

The goal of Maize is simply to make you laugh. It is refreshingly hilarious and provides a randomly unique movie-quality storyline that you can’t get anywhere else. If you need a break from life, or from other serious games, this is just the laugh that you need. You will enter a world of idiots, where you reign supreme.

Specific and abstract humor in Maize will most likely narrow down the audience. You can feel the Monty Python and classic adventure games' vibes, but Maize has enough character to defend itself as a standalone title. Too bad the price is quite high for three hours of gameplay.

The ending left a massive smile on my face, even if I sometimes felt the opposite when actually playing. Maize feels like a three-hour long setup to a joke that, while sometimes slow, pays off very well – and achieves a hearty chuckle.

Maize is more memorable than your usual Dear Esther clone. I imagine the developers thinking: “We’re unable to make something outstanding with our budget, so let’s at least make something funny”. And they did. [02/2017, p.48]

Though the quality of Maize’s humor is a subjective matter, we have to admit that we enjoyed this crazy descent to the top-secret facility. However, its gameplay is so simplistic and devoid of challenge that exists only to transfer us from one gag to the other, impacting the overall three hour experience.

Maize is a first person adventure, full of humor and nonsense, with talking corn and Russian Teddy Bear. However, the puzzles are very easy to solve and the journey is short and linear.

Maize cobbles together a solid adventure from its surreal premise, passive storytelling and labyrinthine environments, but those who enjoy offbeat humour will reap most of the rewards.

Maize, despite its problems, is certainly one of the most unique games I’ve played over the past year. I completed it in just under three hours, though players who want to find all the collectibles, each with their own humorous description, will certainly spend longer time on it. The jokes don’t land as often as they should and the gameplay is very straightforward, but for those looking for something weird, Maize is certainly a game worth your attention.

Quotation forthcoming.