Back in the day that dinosaurs walked the Earth, yours truly was a Boy Scout. Be prepared, do a good turn – all the usual good stuff. One of the facets of being a Boy Scout was learning how to “survive and live in the wilderness.” Would 13-year-old me have survived, with only my pocketknife? No, not a chance. But did I learn some things? Yes! Perfect example – the time that we had someone’s father drop us near the woods and handed us a map and a compass. He said “You’re here – you need to get there (points at map). See ya.” And thus was my first experience with orienteering. While Map Map: A Game About Maps may not have the same sense of danger, it does provide a similar structure.

Map Map: A Game about Maps (Map Map from here on out) is an exploration puzzle game coming to us from the folks at Pipapo Games and Rekoup. While the game was initially announced in 2024, this year’s Second Wind Spring Showcase provided the title with its last little bump out the door onto the markets. In the game, you’ll be the cartographer and create maps of the very locations where our main character treads. A main character…who has no name.

Yeah, for some reason we never get the protagonist’s name. So let’s just call her…Becky.

Gamer Social Club was provided a copy of Map Map and, never one to back down from a challenge, I agreed to cover the game! And thus, my fellow mapmakers – get your compass and your sextant, and let’s dive into this adventure.

The World & The Story

The World

The world of Map Map, from what I can tell, is clearly based off of the One Piece universe. This is because we seem to be exclusively making maps on tiny islands, atolls, and archipelagos. And the view from the shores? Nothing but more blue seas.

So yeah, not a whole lot else is provided about the world in which Map Map takes place. But in fairness to the game – the world is not really relevant, given the gameplay expectations.

The Story

So, while the world itself might be minimal, there is some actual story here – and other “living” beings (outside of the various animals you’ll run across). I put living in quotes because…well, we’ll get to it.

The story of Map Map focuses around the journey of Becky with the crew affectionately known as Billie’s Bunch. And before you ask – yes, the leader’s name is Billie.

Billie and her ragtag team are in search of the Raven King’s lost treasure and are, unfortunately, without the guidance of a skilled cartographer. Imagine the coincidence that Becky is an aspiring cartographer!

We mentioned a Raven King? Who, or what, is the Raven King? The Raven King is the fabled ruler of an ancient civilization that for all intents and purposes have been lost to the sands of time. The only pieces of their culture that still exist are the ruins of the settlements they left behind – and the treasure that they left underneath the ground.

As I mentioned, Billie’s bunch is a ragtag crew, comprising of:

• Billie – The Leader of the bunch, and also the one that settles squabbles.
• Byte – A robot who doesn’t realize that the world isn’t black and white
• Milo – A raccoon who is comically timid and unsure
• Rue – A flower fairy/sprite who is aggressive

And that about sums up the story. There’s a treasure out there. Group wants treasure. Let’s go find treasure. Now, let’s shift over to the gameplay of Map Map.

The Gameplay

Quests and Making the Map

A significant portion of Map Map is locating the requested “locations” that are provided by various members of the Billie’s Bunch. As to be expected, these requests go from very simple like “mark this tree” to more convoluted like “mark the northwestern corner of this one ruined building”. And then get progressively more difficult from there.

Now, the process of “marking” the map involves you placing the X where you think the location is on the map. Then, from the skies above, a marker will find down on the world…and note how far you are from the actual intended location.

If you’re thinking that this is oddly like GeoGuesser, you’re not alone. I thought the same exact thing. The closer and more accurate you are to the intended point on the map, the more Stars you earn. What do Stars do? Nothing – just a flex, I guess (seriously – there’s no reason from what I can tell).

Here’s the one frustrating thing. Well, one of several which we will get into. Billie’s Bunch will not consider it successfully until you’re within five steps of the location on the map. Outside of that range, you’ll need to try again. And boy howdy – they let you know it. I actually bottomed out the game audio, especially the voices – that’s how annoyed I got (we’ll touch on that later).

Using Various Tools to Map

Obviously, there is only so much mapmaking one can do with just their eyes. You’ll need tools – of which, you get several:

• Step Counter – Since all the maps are based on step distance, it stands to reason that Becky should be able to count her steps while making her map.
• Shovel – For digging up treasure – no more, no less.
• Hammer – Very multipurpose. You’ll use it to:
  • Build bridges;
  • Plant flags;
  • Construct trampolines;
  • Create targets; and
  • Deconstruct those same things you just built.
• Camera – For taking pictures, which comes in handy later in the game
• Telescope – For gauging how far away a specific object/location is from where you are
• Sextant – For not only measuring distance, but elevation – (this “evolves” from the telescope)

Becky is also provided with a hang glider to sail around the map with ease. Don’t fall in the water though. She can’t swim.

You also get a compass later on in the game, which is an immense help. Why? Because each map is given a compass rose. However! There is no guarantee that north on the map compass…is actually north on the map itself. Trust me – this irked me to no end. If it’s not going to show the correct direction, don’t even include it.

Finding Treasure

Each of the map locations after the “intro” islands contain treasure chests to be dug up. However, you’re gonna have to work to even find out where these treasures are! Some of the maps will have a random tidbit of a map drawn within the world itself. You’ll then need to orient yourself to your own map and see where the X should be. Other times, you might just find a random X made with sticks on the ground.

Again, much like the Stars, finding the treasure chests serves no end goal, beyond the challenge of locating the chest to begin with. So, if you wanna spend the time looking for them, have at it. I found a few here and there, but I didn’t spend my time finding every single one.

And that, in a nutshell, the core of the gameplay loop in Map Map. Once you have finished the main story of the game itself, there is a bonus challenge mode to place your item markers on the maps and then find them. But again – only if you want – there’s no “bonus” from doing so, from what I can tell.

Now, my fellow globetrotters, it’s time to dive into what I liked and what I didn’t like with this title.

The Good

Cute & Cozy Aethestics

Map Map, at its core, is a cute and cozy game – there’s no arguing it. It’s a game where you can play at your own pace. There are no consequences to your actions. The character designs are cuddly and the exchanges between the characters are wholesome and a lot like children bickering. But they learn from their bickering and grow from there. Did you screw up locating that spot on the map? No worries – just try again!

It fits a niche that is just…cute, calm, and relaxing…at times.

Endearing Story

Despite not really enjoying the movie The Goonies, there are so many shades of this story in Map Map. A young group of individuals, who fight at times, are out to locate a treasure and prove to others that they could find it. While not an “original” story by any means, it’s still a tried-and-true story that people love. Heck, if we didn’t like it, people would stop telling it.

Vibrant Colors & Artistic Style

The game itself, while not incredibly deep in terms of its design, is vibrant and simple in its approach. And you know what? For a game about making maps – it works. I don’t need wildly complex details where there’s whole facets of the landscape that I might miss.

The Bad

Increasingly Annoying Voices

The members of Billie’s Bunch can speak. Oh yes! But here’s the catch – they can only say one word: map. And I will tell you – the first five minutes, it was cute. After an hour or two, it got very old and annoying to hear. I ended up just bottoming out the game audio, because for some reason, it wouldn’t allow the turning off the dialogue audio in game (despite having the option).

This repetitive voicework only becomes more frustrating when attempting to locate a point on the map. Which brings me to my next point.

No Consequences Results in Code-Jamming

Remember how I mentioned earlier that the bunch will pester you when you get a map point wrong? Yeah – combo’ed with the game audio, it got even more annoying. But here’s the point I’m getting at with this. Because it started to get to the point of wanting to wrap up a map in some cases, it ended up turning into code-jamming in some cases. To the unfamiliar, code-jamming is a term that gets used in escape room communities. Or in video game circles. It’s when you can’t be bothered to try and actually solve the puzzle/riddle for a code, so you just try every iteration of combinations until you arrive at the right answer.

Map Map is not immune to this either. Stuck? Just throw an X down on the map and see where it sits in relation to where you need to and triangulate from there. Does it take away from what the game is? I guess.

Feeling One Step Behind

One of the final points that I’ll note about Map Map is that throughout a significant portion of the game, I always felt that I was one step behind when it came to the tools that I had access to. Did I struggle in one map with determining how far away something was from me? Well, in the next map, I now have a telescope, which makes that process so much easier!

Maybe it’s just me but I always felt as though I was playing catch-up to the world around me, with regards to mapping it.

The Overall

Is Map Map: A Game About Maps a bad game? Not in the slightest! Did I realize that I absolutely detest orienteering and mapmaking and have no sense of direction in my real life? And the game pointed that out? Yes. Yes, it did.

Map Map is going to be a great addition to someone’s Steam library who truly loves solving a puzzle that does not have all the pieces in the box. And to them I say, I hope that you truly enjoy this game! If you, like me, are someone who frequently finds themselves getting turned around when walking in the city or driving, then you may enjoy the story that the game has to offer, but won’t find much to enjoy about it from there.

Map Map: A Game About Maps is currently out now on Steam and while it usually retails for $14.99, you can pick it up for 10% off until June 11th.

Gamer Social Club was provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This review was played on PC (Steam).