De Tres al Cuarto plays comedic cards to help a pair of comedians work through their comedy acts together. But there’s more to their relationship besides jokes.
Bonachera and Garza are a pair of comedians that play off of each other to tell jokes. Bonachera’s been doing this for some time, but Garza is fairly new at it. He’s still pretty awkward at it as well, but he’s trying his best. You need to help him along by playing cards from a deck of possible outcomes. You can tell a solid punchline, build the joke up for a better punchline later, tell a lousy punchline, or screw the joke up entirely. Naturally, you won’t want to do the later ones as they result in a bad show, but as a new comedian, your mind doesn’t always offer up what you need.
While telling good jokes is important to what the pair are working towards, the game also focuses on the quieter moments with them between shows. You’ll be brought into their private talks about their relationship, Garza’s insecurities about comedy, and other aspects of their life and home. These provide a charming bit of context to their shows, and also give a bit of insight into their true thoughts. The talks, and this hidden background narrative, build up a sweet, warm look at the pair and their life together. It also delves into the challenges they face in being creative together and trying to make a living out of it.
De Tres al Cuarto is clever and involved in its card-playing comedy, forcing you to decide how risky you want to play at your jokes when you know you might screw up the punchline. At the same time, it’s a look at the humanity behind the pair as they try to keep each other going despite those screw-ups and challenges. It’s a lovely look at how our creativity can bring out the best in us even when it’s not doing much to fill up our bank accounts.
De Tres al Cuarto is available now on itch.io.
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