Do you know what I have loved to do ever since I could put 2 and 2 together? Puzzles! And coloring (on my parent’s kitchen walls), but that’s not the point. As much as I love puzzles, the jigsaw ones have always been so easy for me. I asked myself, “Why should I do simple puzzles when I am capable of so much more?” Well, I rose to the challenge of conquering the mad beast of a puzzle game—one that was released on Xbox Game Pass—The Pedestrian.
Brief Description | The Pedestrian Game Review
Play as the Pedestrian across unique puzzles by connecting nodes between public street signs. Explore detailed environments in every chapter highlighted by signs, signs, and more signs. Each new chapter introduces another rule to the puzzle platformer to keep your brain stimulated. Yet, the very same rules may also induce intensified rage. What awaits at the end of The Pedestrian’s journey? Read onward into the game gush zone and find out!
History of the Developers | The Pedestrian Game Review
The Pedestrian was developed by a dynamic trio of friendship, Skookum Arts. The game was first conceived all the way back in 2013. Long ago, the first draft title was called Bathroom Break. After years of development and encouragement from fans, the team pushed out what we now know as The Pedestrian. And what an amazing puzzle game it turned out to be! The Pedestrian was first released on PC platforms, but luckily, was eventually released on PlayStation and Xbox!
Blind Playthrough | The Pedestrian Game Review
There are a few memorable things that stuck with me from playing The Pedestrian. The first chapter and the last chapter had some BLAM moments where I kind of go, “No way, they did that? What a great perspective of storytelling.” Then there are four or five specific puzzles that required some higher level of thought. Some were very exciting to solve. Others, dare I say, were an outright pain in the ass lol
Chapter 1
The first chapter was mesmerizing on its own because the game is honestly just something I have not seen before. Yes, I have played many platformers and puzzle games. But nothing is quite like hopping through interconnected street signs within a surrounding 3D environment. Logan Hayes, the audio designer, also hooked me right away with that beautiful intro music. You want to catch the cookie on the hook? You give me some choir and orchestras haha.
City Areas
There are seven main city areas: Warehouse, Subway, Downtown, University, Inner City, Rooftops, and the Final Area. Puzzles are straightforward in the first city area called the Warehouse. To progress to the next district, the Pedestrian needs to collect special pieces of equipment which will activate a battery-controlled device. Doing so will unlock a gate, a door, an elevator, or some other traversal obstruction.
Specific Puzzles I Need to Talk About
I enjoyed a lot of puzzles that were fun and unique. Like any good puzzle game, they start easy and progressively evolve to be complex and more difficult to process. Here are just a few that I’d like to talk about.
University Cut-Out Holes
The first puzzle that got under my skin was during Chapter 4 at the University. So, there is a design where certain signs will have cut-out holes inside of them. Putting the sign with a cut-out hole on top of another sign with a blank area will allow you to drop through the cut-out hole onto the other sign. It sounds complicated, right? Because it is! Anyway, the university area has this puzzle that uses 6 signs with these cut-out holes. Since I was new to the concept, my mind was completely boggled! Thankfully, trial and error prevailed in the end.
Being An Electrician
Chapter 5 in the inner city has an exciting puzzle that used electricity to power up different signs. This one was amusing because it’s like 4 smaller puzzles all wrapped into one large puzzle. Solving one piece unlocks the next sign which unlocks the next sign which unlocks the next sign. In some strange way, cracking the electricity puzzles hit my feelings differently. I don’t know, linking electricity and the connecting sound probably had an influence on why it was always so thrilling in the game.
Skylight | The Pedestrian Game Review
The Pedestrian traveled across a nice cityscape in chapter 6. Night fell on the town and the skylight shined with a dark purple/red. The rooftop chapter utilized a new concept that involved painting a sign green. The paint glues a sign onto the wall. When you disconnect a node, the painted sign stays intact. Obviously, this concept made puzzles more complicated.
With my peanut-sized brain, I think I made one puzzle way more challenging than it should have been too. My wife took a nap when I was doing the puzzle, she woke up later, and I was still stuck on it. Pretty sure it was over 45 minutes. I was absolutely losing my mind! The rage I felt and the fumes pouring out of my nostrils was so intense lol. So I put the game down and tried again 24 hours later. What do ya know, I solved it in 3 minutes!
Final Chapter — Major Spoiler Warning
Playing the final chapter of The Pedestrian on my Xbox Series X was remarkable. I have spent the entire game running around and jumping from sign to sign. It’s been a collective platforming experience for about 4.5 hours. Yeah, so I have grown attached to this little stick dude. In the final chapter, I’m riding up an elevator, something quite normal at this point. Moving in the hall onto a TV screen, I drop down a ladder and insert special equipment into a battery-controlled device. A spinning circle then loops in the middle of the device. As I jump inside the circle, there it is—the BLAM moment I spoke of earlier.
The pure amount of shock I emitted when I saw the TV flash control sticks was ridiculous! Honestly, my jaw opened wide because I couldn’t believe that I was now a person. The developers made this moment so impactful and there’s no doubt that it was my favorite part of the game. The last and final puzzle is also pretty dang good (hard) because it requires real-world manipulation and sign manipulation. The Pedestrian was so fun and I never would have played this hidden gem if not for Xbox Game Pass.
Beating The Pedestrian on Xbox will unlock all of the achievements for 1000G/1000G. None are missable! On my completely blind playthrough, I finished the game right at about the 5-hour mark. Another short great game for a gamer dad! Looking for more puzzle games, Glass Masquerade is fantastic and you can learn more about this game in the top video games to help relieve stress!