Tribal & Error

Apparently someone figured out how time travel works and for some unknown reason decided to lend a helping hand to our caveman ancestors. That’s how things start up in Tribal & Error, you’re a 60s sci-fi cinema inspired robot that is sent back in time to see how cavemen we’re preparing for the upcoming Ice Age.

You initially find yourself in a cave where a few cavemen seem to be sealed off from the outside. As you float around exploring the surroundings, you get to see that your lovable cavemen aren’t necessarily the sharpest stones in the cave. They’re cold, trapped, one misses his family and it’s up to you to help them out.

The biggest challenge in the game is also its best feature. You know nothing of their language and because of this you need to study what they say, take note of each word and figure out what they mean. Afterwards, using your steadily growing vocabulary, you will have to form short sentences which they can understand.

Tribal & Error’s name isn’t the only clever thing about it. The game relies on simple point and click mechanics to move the robot around and interact with the cavemen. Approaching one and playing back the recording of a word or combining multiple ones triggers a response from the prehistoric man.

Since you’ve already noticed that they are very cold, starting a fire is the first thing on your agenda. There’s no shortage of rocks and sticks so it’s pretty obvious to you what needs to be done but if you’re not careful with word arrangement in the sentences, you’ll have the cavemen punching rocks and looking at sticks, which by the way is really amusing to watch.

Although it’s pretty much work in progress, Tribal & Error radiates with potential for a memorable game. It has a great design, smooth animations, clever gameplay, it’s amusing and most of all, it challenges your mind like every good puzzle game should.

On a closing note, though Tribal & Error’s demo might be the shortest one you’ve ever played, it will convince you that it is something to keep a close eye on.