Back again with my take on the next episode of the sitcom, narrative powered game, ‘3 out of 10’. Episode 4, aptly named ‘Thank you for Being an Asset To Our Company’, brings us back to Shovelworks Studio and the world’s worst video game developers.

As a reminder you can catch up on the previous episodes 1-3 at the links below:

Episode 1: https://www.mkaugaming.com/all-review-list/3-out-of-10-ep-1-welcome-to-shovelworks-review/
Episode 2: https://www.mkaugaming.com/all-review-list/3-out-of-10-ep-2-foundation-101-review/
Episode 3: https://www.mkaugaming.com/all-review-list/3-out-of-10-ep-3-pivot-like-a-champion-review/

This time around our episode splits off into two story arcs as Francine is tasked with a makeover of the office to impress the investors that are expected to arrive at the studio at any time and things definitely get out of hand. Meanwhile, a few of the other devs, led by Midge, have to figure out the mystery behind a change in their latest game. Seeking out the lead engineer, is this more trouble than it’s worth?.

This episode was a nice change compared to the previous ones and continued the misadventures of the studio. It paces along with the underline story arc that was set up in the first episode quite nicely. Along with the weird tongue and cheek humor present in previous episodes, this episode chose another underline poke at the video game industry in small ways such as outsourcing cheap assets in video games. Also, it takes aim at how all video game studios are perceived as wacky offices with large statues of game characters placed everywhere to impress visitors, a true mask of what really is going on behind the scenes. It’s all very topical and innocently funny.

The mini games did not disappoint in this episode as well, along with the mix up of playable characters, as the previous episodes it always seemed you were playing Midge, most of the time. The mini games showed more of a challenge in some areas than most, especially the puzzle style game. The cohesion of the narrative along with the mini games seemed nicely integrated into the overall episode and yet again was another enjoyable experience. ‘Thank you for Being an Asset To Our Company’ was everything I expected from Terrible Posture Games and I look forward to the 5th and final episode next week from these developers. Join me next episode as we wrap up the season finale. Bring your popcorn.

Written by: Simon Hayward