Will You Snail: Review

pczone.co.uk:

Sweat drips from my brow. My hands are shaking. Suicidal thoughts run through my mind. No, I’ve not just returned from war. I’m just playing one-man developer Jonas Tyroller’s latest offering, Will You Snail? 

On first glance, this appears to be like any other indie 2D platformer, imitating older games in predictable ways. But in the opening sections of the game, it is easy to see there is so much more here. 

Tyroller does this by tearing apart and stitching back together the basic principles of video game design. It feels like the developer got a  bit bored with the rules, so he decided to make his own. 

What if, he posited, instead of static level design, a playfully sadistic, arrogant AI kept fucking with the position of obstacles all the time so no one play-through was ever the same? And this, my friends, is exactly what he did. And oh, how well he did it!

Because of the presence of a Squid, the game’s omnipotent, omnipresent AI and arch-nemesis to the player, the player always has banter. Something painfully lacking from many games. 

“I’ve decreased the difficulty. But I still doubt you’ll complete the level, anyway.” Squid quips. Oh yeah, making the game easier is one of the few things he can do that’s actually quite helpful.

Or at other unfortunate times of death, he will simply shout, “HAHA! I’M SO GOOD AT THIS GAME!” And in the end, you’ll find yourself talking back to the screen at Squid, as you realise who is really playing who. 

On one such occasion I found myself shouting back, “Calm my nerves with meditation, should I… I’ll calm your bloody nerves, pal!” 

But the conception of this game was part of a jokey kind of challenge for the developer.  A “wouldn’t it be funny if…” moment that went a bit too out of control,