Number Punching: 10000000 Comes To Steam Today

I have a habit of downloading games on my iPhone at four o'clock in the morning whenever insomnia has taken a firm grip on my life. Sometimes I'm surprised to see the icon the next day because many of them don't linger long in the memory. I downloaded 10000000 before a train journey though and played it all the way to London, then continued playing it as I drank an overpriced espresso and then played it again on the way home. If this little match-3 RPG was a snack, it'd be the sort that makes a slender man like myself into the portly and jovial fellow I'll become after approximately another six months of hard-hitting, arse-sitting games journalism. Today, 10000000 comes to Steam. The video explains.

Or maybe the video doesn't explain as is so often the case. Allow me.

The little man at the top of the screen is you, the hero, always running to the right as heroes do. If he touches the left side of the screen he fails and must go back to the beginning of the dungeon, after upgrading his gear and abilities with whatever loot he found along the way. As he runs farther, he meets nastier creatures but finds more shiny treasures.

You don't have to make him run, he just does that. All input takes place on the grid, matching objects by sliding rows and columns into new positions. Match swords or magic to attack, f'rinstance, or keys to unlock chests. There isn't a lot more to it than that but because everything is happening so quickly, it's very tempting to try again and again and again. The constant development of the character, who is always striving toward the 10000000 points that allow freedom, provides a foundation on which the five minute sessions become a larger compulsion.

Although I haven't played the PC version yet, I reckon the frantic dragging and matching is best suited to a small touchscreen. But, hey, it's good to see an enjoyable little indie reaching more platforms and apparently it'll only cost four or five dollars.

Via Polygon.