Zack and Hannah kept laughing and joking as they continued their game.
They had to admit, Rose's room was the most interesting stage so far.
The earlier space journey was already something else.
But this hopscotch stage, with all kinds of fun mini-games, kept amazing them nonstop.
After reaching the train station, the Book of Love, Dr. Hakim, appeared again and pulled them into a kaleidoscope.
Every stage was fun to explore, and all of them were connected to toys.
The puzzles in these stages were also really creative.
For example, after making it to the train station, they had to find four matching dolls to unlock a new stage: "Dinosaur Land."
There, their cart crashed into a sleeping dinosaur, so they had to find a way to wake it up and make it open its mouth to continue.
One player controlled a big dinosaur to bite a handle, while the other rode a little red dino forward.
After that, they had to use different dinosaur toys in the park to get past the mechanisms.
This was probably the most complex puzzle Hannah and Zack had faced so far.
But right after that came an exciting naval battle.
The final boss fight in that part was against the giant octopus from the trailer.
It was thrilling and intense.
After beating the octopus, the game switched to a circus act—one person rode a bike while the other balanced on a beam.
The teamwork here was much more than just flipping switches like in the beginning.
It was tighter, faster, and more in sync.
Leaving the circus, there weren't any puzzles for a while—just pure cooperation to make it to the castle.
That gave Hannah and Zack a short breather.
When they arrived at the castle, the guards spotted them.
Cody and May tried to lie their way through, but Dr. Hakim suddenly appeared, accusing them of trying to assassinate the queen.
The guards threw Cody and May into the dungeon.
Here, Cody and May worked together to escape, gaining new powers in the process.
Cody got ice magic, while May got fire magic, and the camera switched to a top-down view.
The game suddenly turned from action-adventure into an RPG dungeon run.
Cody could teleport through bars and freeze lava, while May could dash long distances.
Like most RPGs, this stage had you fight regular enemies, then elite ones, and finally the chessboard king and queen.
The battles were simple—standard RPG combat.
But Hannah and Zack were having a blast.
Mostly because they never expected this game to include so many different playstyles.
Gunfights, naval battles, racing, fighting, and now even RPG combat.
Along with the huge variety of mini-games, the only way to sum it up was "amazing."
But after the excitement, the next part of the story made Zack and Hannah feel a bit uneasy.
After escaping the castle, Cody and May met the elephant queen, Cutie.
"I'm Rose's best friend. Do you want some cookies?"
Cutie looked at Cody and May, forgiving them and even kindly inviting them to eat cookies.
She also sensed they seemed troubled and went to give them a hug.
But what she didn't expect was that Cody and May's goal was to break her.
"Oh my gosh! Why are you trying to hurt me?"
"I'm just Cutie, a lovable little elephant!"
"I love Rose, and Rose loves me!"
"I don't want to be broken!"
Crying, Cutie tried to escape in a rocket, but they knocked it down with a rock.
Believing that making their daughter cry would turn them human again, Cody and May destroyed her as she screamed.
Compared to the original version, Lucas toned down some of the cruel parts here, mainly because this scene was considered essential.
After all, the theme of this chapter was: "What adults see as just a toy they can throw away at any time, to a child can be their best friend."
But in Lucas's view, in their previous life the way this part was done just to create that double layer of irony— even making the player personally play the executioner — was a bit too much for the game itself.
So for this section, Lucas changed everything.
Even so, many players who reached this point still felt a bit uncomfortable.
In the game, they find the little cutie falling from the cupboard and getting damaged.
At last, their daughter Rose couldn't hold back and started crying sadly.
But at this moment, Cody and May instead happily ran up to their daughter.
And even danced in the middle of her tears.
What shocked them, however, was that they didn't turn back into humans as they had expected — they were still dolls.
But by the bed, they found a letter that seemed to tell them how to turn back.
Just then, Dr. Hakim — who had been stirring up trouble all along — appeared again.
And tore the letter to pieces.
At that moment, Zack and Hannah couldn't help but cheer for his move.
All along, Dr. Hakim had clearly played the role of a guide in the game.
But because of all the times he ruined Cody and May's plans and kept fueling conflicts—
Zack and Hannah had never liked him much.
But now, this scene actually made the two of them feel very satisfied.
After all, the earlier scene had been rather heavy.
Before this, the game had always given players a feeling of fun and joy.
Cody and May kept messing with each other along the way, pulling little pranks.
And with the over-the-top antics of Dr. Hakim,
The whole game had felt like a cheerful comedy.
So much so that many players unconsciously ignored the relationship between May and Cody.
But the elephant queen cutie scene pulled players right back to it.
Even though the visuals were still very cartoonish, without a single drop of blood,
Many players still found it hard to bear.
One big reason was that the previous bosses they defeated — the vacuum cleaner, the toolbox —
Had all shown a clear desire to attack.
But Princess Elephant never fought back, she was very friendly, and only her subordinates had blocked Cody and May.
As for the beetle mount in the tree's heart, which Cody and May had promised to give honey, many players forgot all about it — it really didn't leave much of an impression.
(End of The Chapter)
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