Speedy platformer Remnants of Naezith swings onto Steam
Hooked on grapples
From our 82st floor window at RPS Towers (actually it's more of a palace, but we don't like to brag), we like to keep an eye on what the smaller developers are up to. We'd previously caught sight of Remnants of Naezith, and our Brendan Caldwell had a few positive things to say about it, mixed in with some trepidation that the game would put him through the wringer.
Landing on the release date promised, lone developer Tolga Ay has now launched his blazingly fast grappling-hook platformer onto Steam, challenging all to swing their way to fame, glory and a place on the global high score board worth bragging about.
From the looks of the release trailer above, there's a solid slab of content here, with full online leaderboards and all the split-tracking goodness you need in a game built around being replayed for speed, along with a level editor that (with decent sharing support) should keep the game growing for some time. My only reservation is with the theming of it all - ancient dragons, magical possession and ANGRY RAGEFACES seem strangely out of place in a game about using a piece of glowing rope to launch yourself through the air at a hundred miles an hour. Even the casually cruel wasteland of The End Is Nigh put a smiley face on your depressed blob-monster protagonist.
The core grappling movement fills me with fond memories of Rocketcat's excellent Hook Worlds, an early iOS platformer with a surprising amount of depth despite its simplistic control scheme. There's a surprising amount you can do with a length of virtual rope, a weighted protagonist and a world designed for you to fling yourself around like a self-possessed and suicidal conker, and it looks like the 80 levels at launch are designed with enough savvy to capitalize on that.
Remnants of Naezith is out now on Steam for £7.10/$9, before the now-standard 10% launch discount.