Braid Plus Magnetic Personality: Teslagrad
Hark, I appear to have happened upon an independently developed and published videogame with elements of platforming! Will wonders never cease? But this one's magnetized together just enough brains and personality to generate a healthy amount of intrigue. Also, magnets. Titled Teslagrad, the outwardly Braid-esque (read: hand-drawn and utterly gorgeous) sidescroller deals not in time-bending, lionsheep-smacking hijinx, but instead traverses terrain by magnetizing objects and characters. Opposites attract, likes repel. Want to hover? Switch to the same polarity as the surface you're currently on. That kind of thing. See it in action after the break.
In addition to plentiful punching and puzzle-solving, Rain AS also recently announced an upgradable super suit, which sounds like it'll lend a slight tinge of Metroidvania to the proceedings. Here are the basics:
"Teslagrad is a puzzle platformer with action elements. Magnetism and other electromagnetic powers are gained trough the game and used to surpass the games challenges and explore the long abandoned Tesla Tower. The game is set in a Steampunky alternative vision of old Europe. Trough voiceless storytelling we intend to tell the story of the fall of the king of Electropia and the rise of a new (and not necessarily better) order."
A staff that fires "a long-range beam of magnetized death" will apparently round out your arsenal, so probably expect a few tussles with baddies that aren't so big into magnets. Evil computer hard drives, maybe? Or perhaps diabolical cassette tapes? I imagine they can't be too happy in this day and age. Maybe they finally snapped.
At any rate, a playable alpha's currently available, though apparently only if you ask Rain nicely via Twitter and things of that nature. Personally speaking, I quite like electromagnetic powers' chances of going from simple to brain-scramblingly complex quite well, so I'm certainly interested. How about you?