Making games can be seen as a form of art – but what if paintings could be turned into a game? A few have tried this, and the first Please, Touch the Artwork title definitely succeeded. This time around, the sequel, Please, Touch the Artwork 2, tries something completely different with its gameplay. Does it work, though?
Players guide a neatly dressed skeleton through a set of paintings. He starts on the beach and before long, his path is blocked by someone asking to find him a few items. These can be found in the current painting, but also in the previous ones. Once the items are found and handed in, a new set of paintings opens up. There are some occasional puzzles where you connect points to fix damaged paintings, or spot the differences between two similar paintings, but most of the time is spent finding hidden objects. Running fine on Nintendo Switch, both controller and touch controls are offered.
A hidden object game that uses old paintings is an interesting concept, and these ones feature landscapes, cities, still lifes, and room portraits. The painting style sometimes gets macabre, with many skulls and dying people, so be warned. The constant search for cats, shells, matches or other objects takes the player through some interesting paintings, of which many are really brought to life, with added sounds and people who move around. One thing the game does well is take paintings that were painted in various random locations and connect them as if they all show the same spot.
This sequel has a lot to live up to, though. The first Please, Touch the Artwork featured over 160 puzzle levels, tried to tell a few stories, and had background information on the painting styles. Next to being a great puzzle game, it piqued people’s interest in art. After the success of the original title, it seems the developer wondered about what other types of paintings could be turned into a game. For landscapes and still lifes, a hidden object title seemed like a natural fit.
The problem is that it is just not very fun to play. Controlling the main character is slow and cumbersome. Most paintings only contain a few objects, so there is a lot of walking between paintings, and some objects are borderline impossible to find without using the hint system. It is also an incredibly short game, requiring just 30 to 60 minutes to complete. There are plenty of better and longer hidden object adventures available.
Perhaps the artwork redeems the game? Weirdly enough, the Please, Touch the Artwork 2 offers no information on the paintings. Only in the credits is it revealed you’ve been walking through paintings of James Ensor, which Wikipedia details was a Belgian painter who lived between 1860 and 1949. The game could have done with more interesting things to read (like the names of the paintings) and less annoying objects to find. How many people have heard of James Ensor? Perhaps if the paintings were from Van Gogh, Monet or Picasso it would have felt more worth it. This definitely could have been so much more.
