The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
Preview
Fun for the Whole Family
EA SCOUT the last line of defense for buying on Steam's Early Access
by Samuel Corey
previewed on PC
Life in Quarantine
Normally when a piece of contemporary media sets itself during the COVID-19 pandemic or something similar to it I roll my eyes, as most times this is just a means of including either an annoying political diatribe or an excuse to wallow in self-pity. Occasionally it serves the slightly more noble purpose of giving characters a reason to be confined together for an extended period. However, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley has taken the notion of enforced quarantine due to a mysterious disease and used it more as a jumping-off point to imagine a bleak fantasy world.
Here the quarantine is more selective and more heavily enforced. Some people are left to just go about their business while others are forcibly confined to their apartments under the watch of armed guards. Most get regular food deliveries, but some, like our titular protagonists, are left locked up to starve for weeks and months. Things are so bad that the quarantined can only watch TV at appointed hours of the day. It is a ghoulish reflection of the real world, serving more as an intriguing setting than a specific message in and of itself.
Our Unlikely and Unlikable Heroes
Indeed, the focus is never really on the world the game takes place in but more on the characters of Andrew and his sister Ashley, the titular Andy and Leyley. They are not exactly a pair of every-man protagonists, in fact, they are some of the most depressing and depraved characters I've ever had the displeasure of controlling in a video game.
Andrew is a walking doormat who can be arm-twisted into any horrendous deed, while Ashley is a quiet psychopath willing to do anything in order to right perceived wrongs done against her and keep her older brother under her thumb. So each of the two episodes currently released plays out with Ashley gradually forcing her brother to do some new atrocity while he sheepishly tries to avoid it.
Despite being utterly loathsome, the pair are well-written and compelling. You always have a sense of both their motivations and the quirks that are driving them on. Moreover, great pains are taken by the writing to give both Andrew and Ashley a sympathetic and humorous side, though often the jokes they make are extremely disgusting. If you are not the sort of person who can laugh at topics like cannibalism, starvation, murder, and assorted psychological trauma I would advise looking for a different game.
Then there's the incestuous aspect of their relationship, which has amusingly become the most marketable part of the game. Who would have thought that the key to successful marketing in 2023 was to design a cute goth waifu and have her flirt with her brother? In most games of this budget, I would assume that having a single bedroom for both characters was just an excuse to not design a custom background. Here, I'm not so sure.
Walk, Talk, and Solve Puzzles
Gameplay-wise, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is pretty simple. You move your crude hand-drawn character around a crude hand-drawn environment solving a few incredibly simple inventory puzzles as you do so. Everything is intermixed with Visual Novel-style cutscenes. Even the dullest players will probably be able to get through the bulk of this game without recourse to a guide, though this is a double-edged sword as it means that the players will receive very little intellectual stimulation by navigating the puzzles. Fortunately, the plot and characters are more than able to compensate for that lack of interest.
You are able to make some decisions here and there that will affect the way that the plot will go, but these are extremely limited. In one case it seemed like I could have Andrew spare a couple of mostly innocent victims who had drawn Ashley's ire but even after choosing the options that seemed like they would save the pair, the game decided to kill them anyway.
Cliffhanger
By the very nature of episodic games, you run the risk of having an unsatisfying ending (or no ending at all as was the case for Half Life). I cannot vouch for the upcoming third episode of this game or any that may be released after that. However, the two that are currently available are of high quality and well worth your time and investment. If you have a penchant for grotesque black humour or a fetish for big-tiddy goth waifus consider checking out The Coffin of Andy and Leyley.
As always, follow Hooked Gamers on Instagram for news updates, reviews, competitions and more.
Recommend
There are no guarantees - but we'd bet our own money on this one. If you're going to take a chance with yours, odds are good this one will deliver.
