Memory and meaning melt away in Wilmot's Warehouse, out now
What even is a circle
Welcome to Wilmot's Warehouse, where boxes come in and meaning fizzles out. Or at least dissolves into puddles of tenuously-related nonsense. It's a puzzle game about storing and delivering objects - lots of them, under time pressure. It came out yesterday, and should appeal to anyone who's ever been secretly pleased when vast quantities of different-coloured beads have scattered across the living room. Or got a buzz from placing cutlery in the right receptacle.
I've played for ten minutes and already have a pile I'm referring to as "circles I don't understand". I think most people will like this, to be honest. Especially after seeing Pip's evident delight in the trailer.
Normally I'd say something about how much I like the trailer's understated approach, but yep, that's ex-RPSer Philippa Warr. We've played Dota for thousands of hours together and I have all the bias. You'll just have to decide how much you like it by yourself so we can move on.
The game is like a memory challenge created from your own arbitrary decisions. The tutorial rubbed that in by telling me to sort a pile into "winter" and "hats", then serving up a woollen hat while a triangle who I think is my supervisor gave me a smug 'whatcha gonna do' look. I did not wake up prepared for surprise Pip or passive triangle aggression.
It's being made by Loot Rascals developers Hollow Ponds, who've taken a simple idea and sprinkled it with smaller, equally smart ones. You're given fine control over moving multiple boxes in a way that's fiddly at first, but before long I know I'll be towing boxes from all four of my weirdly sticky sides. Some objects seem to just be abstract shapes, which has already lead to me deciding something is a boat for convenience's sake. I'm worried I've already sown the seeds of my own destruction.
You can grab Wilmot's Warehouse for £11.40/$15/€12.50 from Steam or Itch.