The Magnificent Trufflepigs – Review

In The Magnificent Trufflepigs, we ready our metal detectors and look for an earring in rural England. Did we dig it? Here’s what we think.

What would make you happy? Like, really happy? A lot of folks look to the past when confronted with this question. They go back to what made them happy in the past, and try to replicate it in the present. The main character of The Magnificent Trufflepigs certainly thinks this way, and the game follows her mission for happiness at a leisurely pace. Will she get what she wants? Will she get it how she wants it?

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is set in the village of Stanning in Northern England, where a woman named Beth calls upon her friend Adam to help her find and dig up an earring that she knows is somewhere in her family’s fields. With a whole free week ahead, Beth and Adam take up their metal detectors, shovels, and trowels and explore the fields to search for the earring.

Why Beth needs the earring is a little complicated, and has a lot to do with her history. Over the course of the game’s five weekdays, you peel back layer after layer of Beth’s life through lively and sarcasm-laced conversation. Along the way, you catch up with her present life, and also learn more about what happened in the past.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs screenshot

In talking with Beth, you learn about the work politics at her family-owned outdoor equipment company, Mudalot. You learn about the troubles she’s going through with her fiancé, and you learn about her childhood. It’s an emotionally rich game, a trait that is realized by the game’s lively writing and evocative voice acting.

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It’s easy to get wrapped up in the game’s world – that is to say, in Beth’s world. The back-and-forth between Adam and her is always interesting to listen to, and it forms the bulk of the game’s experience. It sounds like it should be banal, but in a medium full of dramatic action, it’s refreshing when a big ‘oh no’ moment comes from a clerical mistake at the office.

Much of the game is spent walking slowly in fenced and grassy fields, where Adam waves his metal detector about, waiting for the beeps to intensify. Once you reach the right spot, you’re prompted to dig up whatever has been detected – a coin, a toy, a bicycle pedal, and so on.

It’s usually nothing too remarkable, but nevertheless Adam makes it a point to take a picture of each find and share it with Beth. This leads to conversations – either brief texts, or extended talks about that object and what it says about the village of Stanning (and, by extension, Beth’s life).

Although you’re encouraged to be methodical about your metal-detecting, it’s really not a gameplay concern to do so. It’s not a game about metal-detecting, after all – that’s really just a vehicle that drives the story forward. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you walk around, what you find, or even whether you do overtime to find more stuff. The story goes on regardless.

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The metal-detecting is a vehicle – but not a gimmick. As the entire story revolves around Beth’s history with metal-detecting, the game squeezes a surprising level of narrative mileage out of old objects that would otherwise be forgettable props.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs screenshot

What I’ve described so far should be a decent diving board from which to gauge whether this game is for you or not. All this aside, however, it really cannot be understated how pretty The Magnificent Trufflepigs is.

The lush fields of Stanning start out sparkling and bright, and over time, you witness them in a variety of fluent green shades as the clouds roll in and out, creating a natural dynamism in a what is a very static environment. It’s always a joy to behold, and taking screenshots for this game was an absolute delight.

It’s not a game that looks the prettiest up-close: dug-up soil and the individual blades of grass don’t look so hot, for example. Still, the vistas the game offers do a lot to convey the liberating and idyllic atmosphere of the game’s setting.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs screenshot

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is two hours well-spent in an emotional narrative about finding yourself and coming to terms with your inner demons. It’s a slow, relaxing experience with some of the prettiest views of the year and a compellingly-told story.

Developer: Thunkd
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Publisher: AMC Games
Release Date: June 3, 2021 (PC)

This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher. The PC version of the game was played for this review of The Magnificent Trufflepigs.

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  • WHAT DID WE THINK?

Summary

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is two hours well-spent in an emotional narrative about finding yourself and coming to terms with your inner demons. It’s a slow, relaxing experience with some of the prettiest views of the year and a compellingly-told story.

This Article was written by: Rahul Shirke

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