Review: Claybook (Nintendo Switch)

ClayBook

Claybook is a unique world made entirely of clay. Shape your character and the world around you to overcome challenging obstacles.

Pros:

  • Claybook has gorgeous clay graphics.
  • 1.4GB download size.
  • Own in-game achievements.
  • Online Leaderboards.
  • Invert axis and sensitivity sliders.
  • FPS counter on/off.
  • Opening tutorial level.
  • Claybook has cross-platform sharing content on/off.
  • Editor-powerful creator tool. You can upload them as private/friends/public. You can test levels and get a headstart by using one of the 6 presets-rad racer/rocket racer/water management/sandboxes of chocolate/stampede/tricky puzzles.
  • Play has 3 modes-create/community levels/playbooks.
  • Playbooks (single player) has 5 books with a handful of levels within each. In the Woods, blob and the chocolate factory, greener pastures, candy land, and final frontier.
  • Stars- earn up to 3 in a level and stars unlock new levels.
  • You play a shape, can morph into other shapes, possess other shapes and do the mission tasks.
  • You collect residue/coloring of the ground you roll over.
  • Creation/puzzle gameplay.
  • Rewind-for when you mess up but also leaves behind a copy of yourself (stamp) this is a neat mechanic.
  • Actions-morph shapes possess shapes and you can carve into the world to open it all up.
  • Fun as heck to play.
  • You have a goal but so much freedom to play how you want.
  • Goal-you opens the level goal once you hit 50 percent of the level goal. Obviously going for 100 percent will help get those 3 stars.

ClayBook

Cons:

  • No touchscreen support.
  • Small text.
  • Controls are fiddly in Claybook.
  • No jump button.
  • Little replayability for the main game portion.
  • The camera is extremely awkward to use.
  • The kid in the background looks creepy AF.
  • Longevity is all dependent on players creating content.
  • The music.

ClayBook

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 6/10
    Sound - 6/10
  • 7/10
    Accessability - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Length - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Fun Factor - 7/10
7.2/10

Summary

Initially, I thought of Claybook as the Clay fighters of level creation games. It looks fantastic but is it just a little big Planet clone? Well first off the game feels a bit like it but only if LBP is a genre, you have level manipulation tools and must solve a particular goal. The level creator is powerful and with the presets really help speed it all up. As is the case for all these level creation games, player content is the lifeblood of Claybooks longevity. I for one have and will continue to enjoy Claybook, I am secretly hoping people make a load of puzzle games as the game is a perfect tool for puzzle creation. In short, Claybook is a fun game that gives you the player a lot of powerful tools. Oh and no this is not a sequel to Clay Fighters.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!