Getting a Head

Developed by Caramel Column, Aznana tells the story of a mute boy who finds a talking head in a garbage dump. That premise alone got my attention, and the game didn’t disappoint. The story, art and music are all great and work together to create a fascinating combination of grungy and twee. However, the game sits in an odd place of feeling like it should be an idle game while it isn’t.

The world of Aznana is undoubtedly intriguing, and I mean that in the literal sense of creating intrigue. You’ll likely start off with a lot of questions. Why can’t the Boy speak? How is Aznana alive if she’s just a head? Why is their Town a giant walled-off garbage dump? Why do most people have an inanimate object for their head? All these questions have answers, and finding them is a big part of what makes the game fun. Even the meaning of Aznana’s name has a fun little revelation attached to it.

Can Collection Grindset

Unfortunately, I’m less sold on the gameplay. The player’s goal is to escape the small, walled-off Town that was the Boy’s whole world before finding Aznana. The player eventually learns they can buy a travel pass for 1,000,000 Dimes, and there are a few ways to get Dimes. The first, is by collecting cans as you travel around Town.

The Town consists of seven locations arranged in a ring around the sprawling central factory, which The Boy and Aznana bicycle between in real time. As they travel, they pass a steady stream of aluminum cans. Each can the player clicks on gives them five Dimes. While that might not sound like a lot, it adds up quickly, as travel is the main thing players do in the game.

It’s also not a particularly fun or challenging experience. The cans appear at regular intervals and always in the same place. You can collect every single one just by holding your thumb on the edge of the screen. Periodically, a pair of drones will fly overhead carrying a dumpster full of cans and broken robots which players can catch. This is the only time travel is ever engaging, but those instances are few and far between. Considering that travel times range from 15 minutes to nearly an hour, there’s a long time where “gameplay” consists of putting your finger on the screen and not moving it.

Trading Up

Granted, you don’t technically have to engage with Aznana’s can collecting if you don’t want to. You can also trade with the stores around Town, either by buying goods from merchants or salvaging them from the dump. The latter would be the best way to make money if not for the 20-minute cooldown between attempts.

Meanwhile, Different merchants will buy goods for different prices, and you can potentially double your Dimes with a particularly good trade. It evoked fond memories of playing games like Port Royale 3 and Escape Velocity Nova, taking goods from port to port to find the best deal. Of course, sailing from Tampa to Havana in Port Royale didn’t take 15+ minutes in real-time.

You might think the slow pace is because Aznana is an idle game, like developer Caramel Column’s Alter Ego. However, that’s not exactly the case. You can select a destination, close the game, and return when you reach your destination. But unlike Ego in Alter Ego, there’s no passive Dime income, and you are depriving yourself of a significant income source by not engaging in Aznana’s can collecting.

Do I like Aznana’s story? Yes, very much. Its characters and world are fascinating and, essentially, carry the game. The art and music are also good, even if the latter could use more variety. But the gameplay just isn’t fun. I remember giving Alter Ego a pass for this, but in retrospect, I’m not sure if I should have. I still absolutely recommend you give Aznana a try. I just don’t think I’ll be giving it a second playthrough.