Sometimes great things come in small packages and A Tiny Sticker Tale adopts this principle with everything it does. It is a small 3-4 hour adventure designed around quickfire fetch quests and puzzles. The game has a lot of heart and soul and whilst some might think the runtime is short, this game packs in an awful lot during that time.
Flynn the donkey travels to Figori Island in search of his father but all he finds are notes leading him across the island. Flynn is armed with a stickerbook and its power is that when you move from adventure mode to sticker mode, almost every single character and carriable object turns into sticker form. This means you can pick them up, move them around the screen, join them together or place them in your sticker book if you have room and take them with you. Its a novel gameplay mechanic and its what every single puzzle and quest is based around.
Some quests are simple things like bringing a character an object, or taking an elderly lady to the beach so she can relax. Some characters have skills such as mining rocks and so taking them with you in your sticker book is useful. Other puzzles require more situational awareness. Some events only occur at night or day time so peeling the sun or moon and popping them in certain map places can change the island. A musical character can trigger certain events late in the game too. A bucket needs water before it can water plants for instance, making some puzzles multi-layered. Soon you’ll be running around the map sticking characters and objects everywhere and it is fun to see all the different combinations in play.
Figori Island has different mini biomes and plenty of graphical clout in its design. Whilst the island itself is about 80 screens big, its unveiled over the main story as you unlock new skills by meeting new characters. There is a freeform element to the game but as long as you solve character quests you’ll not stray too far from the main story. There is also some post game fun to be had too for completionists such as finding lots of lost sister faeries or getting a cult of brothers to worship their goddess. I stayed around long after the credits because the world was so inviting, fun, vibrant and playful.
A large part of the side quest fun is unlocking a tent that you can decorate with sticker furniture you unlock by delivering different types of trees to the lumberjack. This helps you fill out a collectors book of stickers where you’ll want to find one of every sticker and own it at some point in the game. I also found the tent was essential for my sole criticism of the game – its inventory. The sticker book is a single area to place stickers into and I found I wanted to take so many stickers with me, I’d run out of room to place new stickers in it very quickly. This meant I was dropping stickers in places and needing to return for them. When I unlocked the tent, I starting placing all my stickers in the tent for more space, then placing the tent in my sticker book. A bit greedy and naughty perhaps but I’m glad it worked.
Whilst A Tiny Sticker Tale has a tight runtime, I really enjoyed its wholesome message and vibe. As you search for your father, Flynn discovers a lot about himself and through helping other characters, he grows behind his silent by glinting giant eyes. I was definitely feeling Flynn’s silent plight as my dad is terminally ill at the moment and so the written notes scattered around the island and the sepia flashbacks to happy memories struck a chord with me. I’d have like more of that but what’s here is wholesome and bittersweet.
A tidy selection of mini fetch quests, puzzles and a quirky gameplay mechanic using stickers makes A Tiny Sticker Tale stand out. It was a joy to play from start to end and beyond. I wanted to spend more time on the island but felt treated to a succinct adventure that trimmed the fat and gave me something to chew on mentally after the credits rolled.
A review copy was provided by the publisher. Out now on PC and Switch.
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