Table Manners
- February 14, 2020
- Echo Chamber Games
Get on Steam"Table Manners" is a physics-based simulation game that puts you on a dinner date with challenging table settings. Your objective is to impress your date while handling the unpredictable physics-driven objects in the fanciest restaurants. With a focus on humor, the game offers various levels including humble eateries and high-end sushi bars, ensuring plenty of hilarious and disastrous situations.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a fun and unique premise that humorously explores modern dating through chaotic physics-based gameplay.
- Many players find the game entertaining and enjoyable, especially when streaming or playing with friends, leading to hilarious moments.
- The art style is appealing, and the hand customization feature adds a fun element to the gameplay.
- The controls are awkward and frustrating, making it difficult to complete tasks and often leading to chaotic failures.
- Levels can feel repetitive and lack variety, with many characters appearing too similar and limited in personality.
- The game is plagued by bugs and glitches that can interfere with gameplay, causing items to stick to the player's hand or not function as intended.
- humor10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in "Table Manners: Physics-Based Dating Game" is widely praised for its clever commentary on modern romance and its ability to evoke laughter through challenging gameplay. Players find the game charming and funny, often appreciating its absurdity and the relatable frustrations of dating, despite some minor glitches that add to the comedic experience. Overall, it offers a unique blend of humor and challenge that resonates well with those who enjoy quirky dating sims.
“It's funny and maybe it taught me how to do some pickup lines :)”
“The game is charming, challenging, hilarious, it runs smooth, and it's incredibly satisfying to succeed at.”
“Funny, weird, annoying and slightly repetitive... just like the real thing really.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the appealing art style and decent visuals, while others criticize the character models for being repetitive and experiencing glitches. Overall, the graphics are described as decent but not exceptional, with a need for improved rendering and polish to enhance the overall experience.
“I did enjoy this game; the art style, the gameplay, the physics kept me captivated the entire time, but left me wanting more.”
“Very fun, great art style, delightful gameplay!”
“Beautiful art style.”
“There really is nothing redeeming about this game aside from the decent graphics; however, the character models are all clones of each other.”
“The art style and start of the game is okay, but it falls hard when you notice your hand glitches into everything. You grab one thing with a 50% chance, and it shoots everything around it away, making you fail the date. Sometimes the mission just doesn't work, like 'pour ketchup on the plate' not working, which makes you fail the date.”
“Decent amount of content, but the presentation and visuals leave much to be desired.”
- gameplay8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed feedback, with some players enjoying the art style and physics while finding the mechanics, such as using chopsticks and mixing drinks, to be trial-and-error and occasionally frustrating. Others noted that the simplicity of the gameplay allows for quick completion, but it may lack depth and challenge, leading to a desire for more complexity. Overall, while the core mechanics can be engaging, issues like items getting stuck can detract from the experience.
“I did enjoy this game; the art style, the gameplay, and the physics kept me captivated the entire time, but left me wanting more.”
“The gameplay is so simple and easy that it is likely you won't have much of a problem completing the main game in one sitting, as long as you know what you're doing and are familiar with the controls.”
“And a couple of the mechanics take some trial and error to work out, like the chopsticks, the drink mixing, cooking, and melting iced-over bottles.”
“It's just that the core gameplay isn't really there for me.”
“Sometimes things get stuck and won't make their way to you (sushi conveyor and boat tray). These interfere with the basic mechanics of the game and are game-breaking, in my opinion.”
- stability7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits several stability issues, including hand glitches that can disrupt gameplay, such as objects unintentionally flying away or getting stuck. While these bugs can be frustrating, many players find them amusing and feel they add to the overall experience. Overall, while stability could be improved, it does not significantly detract from the enjoyment of the game.
“The art style and start of the game is okay, but it falls hard when you notice your hand glitches into everything. You grab one thing with a 50% chance, and it shoots everything around it away, making you fail the date. Sometimes the mission just doesn't work, like 'pour ketchup on the plate' not functioning, which leads to failing the date.”
“There's still quite a few glitches to work out, like when you want to drop an item, sometimes it attaches to your hand.”
“The game has a few glitches such as objects flying away for no reason, glass glitching into my hand or the table, but that's more funny than it is bothersome.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some find it enjoyable and a nice addition to the gameplay, others describe it as grating and repetitive. Overall, it is seen as a fun and entertaining element that enhances the experience, particularly for short play sessions.
“It has lots of good treats: you can customize your hand, pick how your partner looks, unlock stuff, nice music, and okay graphics.”
“Fun, entertaining, good music, and something to play for a couple of minutes at the end of a long work day.”
“The music is grating and drones on and on.”
“The soundtrack feels repetitive and lacks variety.”
“The audio quality is poor, making it hard to enjoy the music.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to clunky controls and a lack of variety, which makes navigating menus and progressing through levels feel cumbersome.
“The controls are mostly fine, but certain things like navigating to and from a menu are quite tedious.”
“Not really enough variety, clunky controls, tedious level design, etc.”
- story2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The story features a quirky and absurd dating premise set in visually appealing locations, but it suffers from frustrating gameplay mechanics, such as glitches and unresponsive missions, which can hinder the player's experience and lead to failed dates.
“This is clumsy courting at its best; there are some truly absurd dating missions and beautiful locations.”
“The art style and start of the game are okay, but the story falls flat when you encounter glitches that disrupt gameplay. For instance, your hand often glitches into objects, and when you try to grab something, it can send everything around it flying, causing you to fail the date. Additionally, some missions, like 'pour ketchup on the plate,' simply don't work, leading to further frustration.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game revolves around the player's role in navigating a delicate and awkward date, where their actions—such as lighting candles and serving food—are crucial to creating a comfortable atmosphere for their date, who struggles with basic tasks. This dynamic fosters a sense of empathy and connection, highlighting the challenges of social interactions and the importance of support in relationships.
“The success of your date depends on you using your awkward hand to light a candle (because your date seems deathly afraid of touching matches), pour a drink (because you spilling a never-ending bottle of beer all over the table is preferable to the date doing this by themselves), putting your date's food on their plate, and then seasoning it for them (because even the act of putting salt on their own food is monumentally impossible for them).”
