While I absolutely love challenging action and intense experiences, there’s absolutely something to be said for the lighter side of genre play, especially games that can be accessible by all ages. I’m not necessarily talking about games that are hopelessly simple or dumbed down in some way, just ones that have a great focus on exploration, discovery, and keeping things pretty low-key when it comes to the degree of challenge. Misc. A Tiny Tale offers up precisely that sort of experience, and though it may be a bit rough around the edges at times, it mostly appears to have accomplished its mission.

You’ll play as the pint-sized robot Buddy, who decides to go on an adventure with his friend Bag Boy into the unknown outside his small village. Not to worry, for the most part you won’t be facing any hulking monsters or other threats, instead you’ll simply continue to run into new people to help and other milder challenges along the way. Whether that involves finding some item they’ve lost, manipulating a series of devices, or trying to grab something in a spot that’s tough to reach, with some patience and determination, pretty well everything is within your modest abilities. While that may not make for a terribly exciting affair, it does at least make for a pleasant and generally relaxing one.

The one outlier to that approach, and the area that most clearly exposes one of the game’s weaknesses, comes in the form of challenge areas where the control quality is sorely tested. In the normal world the controls, for the most part, are workable and precise enough that you’re able to get along pretty handily. When put through the paces with more demanding platforming challenges though, there are definitely some downsides to the floaty jumping, and camera angles that aren’t always helpful for making sure you won’t regularly miss your landings. The good thing is that these are purely optional challenges, that you won’t need to beat the game, but if you do want to be a completionist it may be a vexing issue. 

All in all though, this is a pretty gentle 3D adventure that should be enjoyable by gamers of all ages. Despite some issues with the controls and camera, outside of the challenge areas in general they’re serviceable enough that they don’t cause too many headaches. Throw in the fact that Buddy and his friends have plenty of positivity, an interest in cleaning up messes, and are generally helpful to everyone they meet, and it’s a win for people who are looking to simply enjoy themselves with a mild-to-moderate challenge.