Don’t Disturb is a short point and click puzzle game with a beautiful traditional Chinese art style and moving story. Gameplay focuses on helping reunite a dog with their dead owner ‘Grandma’. Players travel through a traditional Chinese view of the afterlife and help other departed souls on their journey.

Release Date: August 30th, 2016
Developer: Midnight Party
Publisher: PQube Limited
Format: PC Game
First playthrough time: 30 minutes
All endings play time: 45 minutes

Find Grandma, don’t get eaten!

Major Pros:

• Wonderful art
• Sweet story

Minor Pros:

• Traditional Chinese views on the afterlife
• Two endings

Meet other spirits and help them if you can

Major Cons:

• Short

Minor Cons:

• Text formatting issues
• A little too easy

Not all spirits are pleasant

Don’t Disturb starts at Grandma’s funeral, where Grandma’s dog is ignored by her grieving family. The dog catches a glimpse of her departing spirit and chases after her, eventually entering the world of the afterlife. Gameplay focuses on interacting with spirits to progress through distinct areas, usually by helping them on their quests. Interacting with the environment is done with single clicks instead of choosing an interaction type such as ‘view’ or ‘touch’.

Sneaking through the Gate of Hell as a living creature is one of the first tasks

The story of Don’t Disturb is touching despite being short. Two endings are available depending on the final choice made. It took me 30 minutes to reach the first ending and then an additional 15 minutes to replay the game for the second time since I knew all the puzzles. I found both endings to be sweet and touching and enjoyed that there was an option at the end.

Help other spirits find closure

I really loved the art of Don’t Disturb. The traditional style matched with the afterlife themes and I loved the color palette and paper texture. I enjoyed being able to see all the Chinese afterlife beliefs they were able to fit into the game, although they aren’t directly explained in the game so players might want to do some research on their own afterward.

Encounter many Chinese afterlife beliefs

Unfortunately the text in the game was sometimes very strangely formatted and awkward to read. I assume this was because the line breaks weren’t adapted well from the original simplified Chinese to English. It’s certainly readable, but unpleasant at times.

This is the most common English formatting error

Overall I enjoyed Don’t Disturb and found it to be a touching point and click game. I liked the art, theme, and story and appreciated the two endings. It’s short and the text could use a touch up in the English version, but I still recommend it to any players that can appreciate the setting and feel for Grandma and her dog.

Find this game on Steam.