Info about Stacking:

Official game description:
From Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions, explore a vintage world inhabited by living Russian stacking dolls as you jump into more than 100 unique dolls and use their special abilities to solve a wide variety of puzzles & challenges. Play as Charlie Blackmore, the world’s tiniest Russian stacking doll, and embark on an adventure to rescue Charlie’s family from the nefarious industrialist known only as the “Baron.” This imaginative 3rd person puzzle adventure game will take you on a journey from a bustling Royal Train Station to a high-flying Zeppelin as you collect unique dolls and matched stacking sets to display in Charlie’s secret hideout, where you chronicle your adventures.  
Continue the Stacking adventure with The Lost Hobo King DLC pack, included free in the PC version!  
In the Lost Hobo King, the first downloadable expansion for Double Fine’s Stacking, players once again assume the role of Charlie Blackmore, the world’s smallest Russian stacking doll. Charlie travels with his hobo friend Levi to the mysterious kingdom of Camelfoot, the mythical resting place of lost hobo king and his crown. Charlie must help Levi’s uncle, Rufus Ryken, reclaim his rightful throne by solving three tests of valor and reawakening the hobo blacksmiths of old. Only then can the crown be reforged, enabling Rufus to become king and unite the fractured hobo people under one sardine. The Lost Hobo King features a complete adventure with several new challenges, each with multiple solutions, an all new assortment of unique dolls with engaging abilities, and a new round of hi-jinks to discover and make trouble with. Only the worthy can reclaim the crown of Camelfoot!  
Features an all new concept art browser exclusive to the PC version!

Release date: Mar 6, 2012

Categories: Puzzle Solving, Single-player Story, Exploration, Collectibles, Third-Person Perspective, Narrative Adventure


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Charming Art, Music, & Humor (weight 0.99): Players highly praise the game's unique 1930s-inspired art style, silent movie-esque cutscenes, and fitting classical music soundtrack. The humor, story, and overall charm are consistently highlighted, showcasing Double Fine's distinct creative touch and care in production.
- Unique Matryoshka Doll Mechanics (weight 0.49): The core mechanic of stacking matryoshka dolls, each with unique and often amusing abilities, is consistently praised as highly original and inventive. This system drives the engaging puzzle-solving and gives life to a diverse cast of characters.
- Varied Puzzles, Multiple Solutions (weight 0.32): Players appreciate the game's well-balanced puzzles that offer varied difficulty and often multiple ways to solve them. This design prevents repetition, encourages experimentation, and rewards players for discovering different approaches without being overly frustrating.
- High Replay Value & Content (weight 0.17): The game offers significant replayability, with many secrets, achievements, and multiple puzzle solutions encouraging repeat play. The inclusion of free, enjoyable DLC (The Lost Hobo King) further enhances the game's longevity and overall value.
- Helpful, Unpunishing Hint System (weight 0.1): The game features a well-designed hint system that provides progressive clues without penalty or frustration. This ensures players are never truly stuck while still encouraging independent thought before revealing the solution.
- Explore Detailed Game World (weight 0.08): The Victorian/steampunk-inspired world is described as lively, engaging, and worth exploring. Players enjoy discovering its details and adventures without the pressure of time limits or mistakes.

Common complaints:
- Short, repetitive, and dull gameplay (weight 0.26): Players frequently found the game too short, often completing the main story quickly. The gameplay loop, involving repetitive tasks like wandering and doll management, became tiresome and lacked depth, leading to boredom after only a few hours.
- Sluggish character movement (weight 0.21): Players reported that character movement and controls felt sluggish, making navigation around the game world a chore. Some even experienced dizziness, highlighting an issue with the basic player interaction.
- Tedious, unskippable cutscenes (weight 0.08): Many players expressed frustration with cutscenes that could not be skipped or paused. These sequences, often long and presented in a silent-film style with fast-paced text, were found to be boring and disruptive to the gameplay flow.
- Style over gameplay substance (weight 0.07): Reviewers felt the game sacrificed deep, engaging gameplay for its distinctive art style and novel premise. It was often characterized as a "tech demo" or a "collectathon" with one-note non-puzzles, failing to fully realize the potential of its unique concept.
- Critical bugs, poor support (weight 0.05): The game suffered from severe technical issues, including game-breaking bugs that caused crashes, lost progress, and visual glitches. A lack of official fixes, guides, or accessible support exacerbated player frustration.
- Absence of voice acting (weight 0.04): Many players noted the complete lack of voice acting as a significant omission. This absence impacted the game's overall presentation and immersion for some reviewers.
- Disappointing DLC content (weight 0.03): The "Lost Hobo King" expansion received mixed reviews, with some finding it less successful than the main story. Players were frustrated by more random elements and felt it became tiresome rather than providing fresh, enjoyable content.

Gameplay feedback:
- Varied Doll Abilities Drive Puzzles (weight 0.54): A wide array of Matryoshka dolls exists, each endowed with a specific, unique ability crucial for puzzle-solving. Players must strategically find and utilize these diverse skills, such as a child crying, a kitchen apprentice releasing gas, or a judge using a hammer, to open new paths and progress through challenges.
- Charlie's Family Rescue Story (weight 0.32): The central plot follows Charlie Blackmore, the smallest Russian doll, on a quest to rescue his family, including his siblings and father, who have been abducted by the evil Baron due to unpaid debts. This narrative provides the motivation for Charlie's adventure through the doll world.
- Immersive Silent Film Narrative (weight 0.22): The game employs a distinctive silent film aesthetic, presenting its Depression-era narrative through cutscenes with text cards, piano music, and no spoken dialogue. This unique visual and auditory style strongly shapes the storytelling experience, reminiscent of a whimsical fairytale.
- Collectibles & Hi-Jinks Side Quests (weight 0.2): Beyond the main puzzles, the game offers optional content such as collecting unique dolls scattered in each scene and completing 'Hi-Jinks,' which are in-game achievements requiring specific doll actions. These side activities enhance replayability and provide additional objectives for players.
- Free 'Lost Hobo King' DLC Included (weight 0.09): The game includes the 'Lost Hobo King' DLC, a bonus campaign that adds new story content focused on freeing blacksmiths to forge a crown for a future hobo king. This expansion extends the overall gameplay experience and provides additional challenges and narrative.
- Key NPC Interactions (weight 0.04): Interacting with non-player characters (NPCs) is highlighted as an important aspect of gameplay. Dialogue is conveyed through speech bubbles, suggesting that communication plays a role in puzzle-solving or narrative progression.

Performance notes:
- Strong performance on diverse hardware (weight 0.04): Many players reported excellent game performance, even on older or less powerful hardware, with some achieving 60 FPS on high settings. This indicates good optimization and accessibility across various system configurations.
- Game frame rate capped (weight 0.01): Feedback notes that the game appears to be locked at 30 frames per second. This limitation can negatively impact the gameplay experience for users accustomed to higher refresh rates and expecting smoother visuals.
- Specific callstack error reported (weight 0.01): A single report indicated encountering a callstack error, suggesting a potential instability or crash bug that may require developer attention. This specific error could affect game stability for some users.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended unique experience (weight 0.34): Many players strongly recommend this game, often rating it highly (8-10/10) and praising its unique concept and design. It's frequently seen as a hidden gem, with any minor flaws not detracting significantly from the overall quality.
- Appeals to specific player types (weight 0.34): The game is particularly recommended for fans of adventure games, puzzles, collectibles, and those who appreciate unique themes like Matryoshka dolls or the specific possession mechanic. It's also noted as suitable for children, families, older players, and fans of Double Fine's quirky style or Tim Schafer's universe.
- Desire for more games (weight 0.02): Players expressed a strong desire for more games in this series or similar titles, indicating satisfaction with the game's concept and execution.
- Controller improves experience (weight 0.01): A controller is recommended for playing the game, as it makes handling everything easier and more intuitive.
- Watch trailer before playing (weight 0.01): Reviewers advise watching a trailer beforehand to understand what to expect from the game, ensuring it aligns with player preferences.
- Magically atmospheric experience (weight 0.01): While perhaps not a milestone title, the game is praised for its magical and atmospheric qualities, contributing significantly to the player's immersion.
- Russian localizer recommended (weight 0.01): For better understanding, specifically a Russian localizer (ZOG) is recommended. This suggests potential issues or preferences regarding localization.

Other player notes:
- Dark, Simple Industrial Story (weight 0.17): The game features a simple, Dickensian narrative where young Charlie must rescue his family, enslaved due to debt for child labor in an industrial setting. Despite its childlike presentation, the themes of exploitation and hardship are dark and sometimes verge on the surreal or nonsensical.
- Unique Matryoshka Silent Film Art (weight 0.14): The game's presentation is highly distinct, featuring characters as Matryoshka dolls within an early 20th-century industrial revolution setting. It adopts a silent film aesthetic with on-screen dialogue cards and no voice acting, complemented by simple yet evocative graphics and music.
- Moderate Length, Good Value (weight 0.11): Players found the game to be of moderate length, typically completable within 5-10 hours, with DLC adding a couple of extra hours. Its inexpensive price point makes the overall experience feel like good value, though replayability without new content is limited.
- Typical Double Fine Production (weight 0.07): Developed by Double Fine and Tim Schafer, the game is recognized for their signature unique approach to game design. It originated from an internal game jam, similar to Costume Quest, reinforcing the developer's innovative reputation.
- Control & Visual Quirks (weight 0.03): Players noted that a keyboard is preferable for controls due to incomplete controller support, suggesting a less optimized control scheme. Additionally, recommendations to adjust FOV and disable screen overlay point to minor visual or UI discomforts.
- Varied Language Support (weight 0.03): While the game has good Russian and community-made Chinese localization patches available, Japanese language support is explicitly mentioned as missing. This highlights inconsistent language availability across different regions.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.37): Players experienced satisfaction due to the game's original concept, creative and varied puzzle design often with multiple solutions, and unique mechanics like stacking. The charming presentation, humor, appealing graphics, sound, and overall high-quality execution, including replayability and accessible difficulty, contributed to a fulfilling experience. Many also found the game to meet or exceed expectations, offering good value for its price. Some players felt satisfied by achieving full completion and finding personal enjoyment in the game's overall quality. The game's successful execution of its concept and well-designed aspects led to a feeling of accomplishment and enjoyment.
- Joy (weight 0.15): Joy stemmed from the game's delightful art, music, and charming story, especially its humorous, adorable, and sometimes strange elements. The theatrical presentation, witty humor of Double Fine, funny facial expressions, cute animations, and engaging character interactions brought significant happiness. Players also enjoyed the process of discovering diverse puzzle-solving methods, collecting rare characters, and finding many beautiful, warm moments within the game, particularly those conveying family love.
- Excitement (weight 0.14): Excitement was primarily driven by the game's innovative and unique gameplay mechanics, original concept, and stylish presentation. Players were drawn in by the genuinely new puzzle design, rich worlds, and the encouragement of experimentation, often feeling hooked by the game's originality. The amazing design of levels and characters, along with the high production quality and desire for 100% completion, contributed to a thrilling experience, with many expressing surprise and amazement at its creativity.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): Disappointment arose primarily from the game's perceived short length and a feeling that it did not fully live up to its potential or promising premise. Some players found the latter half of the game to be blander, repetitive, or lacking challenge and engaging content. The initial difficulty in getting hooked, simplistic puzzle difficulty, and a perceived lack of dynamism or depth also contributed to a less fulfilling experience for some.
- Frustration (weight 0.09): Frustration was caused by various technical and gameplay issues, including sluggish controls, problematic camera and movement, and annoying default settings like vignette. Unskippable cutscenes, infinite NPC dialogue, slow mechanics, and repetitive gameplay loops, particularly the need to constantly re-stack dolls after puzzles, also generated significant annoyance. Some players also experienced frustration due to game-breaking bugs, lack of voice acting, and occasional performance issues.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom was often a result of the game's mechanics becoming repetitive or tedious after extended play periods, particularly the collection aspects and wandering in locations. The lack of variety in the soundtrack and the feeling that the game ran out of steam contributed to a tiring experience for some players.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.02): Enjoyment was derived from the overall game experience, including its balanced puzzle design and the subtle fun found in collecting dolls. These elements contributed to a generally positive and pleasant interaction with the game.
- Delight (weight 0.02): Players felt delight due to the game's clever world design, detailed dolls, and whimsical nature. The charming humor, silly abilities, and superb presentation contributed significantly to a lighthearted and amusing experience, making the game enjoyable and entertaining.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Admiration was directed towards Double Fine's ability to create 'outside-the-box' games and the game's strong personality. The artistic coherence, inventive puzzle concept, rich atmosphere, magical world design, and humor were all highly praised, showcasing the developers' talent.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement was caused by the game's silly moments, funny doll actions, and the pervasive jokes in almost every scene. The unique style and quirky abilities of the matryoshkas, along with humor aimed at adults, provided a consistently entertaining and light-hearted experience.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger stemmed from a poor gameplay experience, often linked to game errors and what players considered an unacceptable situation with design or technical issues. Strong criticism was directed at specific game design choices and characters that led to significant dissatisfaction.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia was evoked by revisiting the game, either from childhood or its original release, particularly for players who previously engaged with it through childhood piracy before later purchasing it. This connection to past experiences created a warm, reminiscent feeling.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players experienced surprise when the game exceeded their initial low expectations, leading them to become thoroughly hooked after some initial hesitation. This positive unexpected turn contributed to a more engaging and appreciated experience.
- Physical discomfort (weight 0): Physical discomfort was specifically reported due to dizziness and eye strain, indicating potential issues with visual presentation or camera mechanics that negatively impacted some players' well-being during gameplay.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0): Enthusiasm was driven by the game's unique qualities and its lasting appeal, indicating a strong positive feeling and excitement for its distinctiveness and enduring enjoyment. This highlights the game's ability to create a passionate response.
- Love (weight 0): Love for the game was rooted in its originality, charm, humor, and engaging gameplay. These core elements resonated deeply with players, fostering a profound emotional connection and strong affection for the overall experience.
- Confusion (weight 0): Confusion arose from the unique matryoshka mechanic, specifically the surprise that such an innovative concept hadn't been explored by other game developers previously. This indicated a sense of wonder and puzzlement regarding the game's originality in the broader industry.
- Curiosity (weight 0): Curiosity was sparked by the surprising aesthetic of the game, which intrigued players and made them want to explore more. The unique visual style acted as a hook, drawing players in to discover what the game offered.
- Amazement (weight 0): Amazement was attributed to Double Fine's consistent charm and originality in their games. This general appreciation for the developer's creative approach and unique style contributed to a sense of wonder and high regard for their work.
- Sadness (weight 0): Sadness was expressed over the game being forgotten by the community, indicating a feeling of regret or disappointment that a beloved or well-regarded title no longer receives the attention it once did. This reflects a personal attachment to the game's legacy.}