Turning On The Water Works: Vessel

Physics puzzler Vessel is looking fantastic, with its impressive fluid simulation effects and strange inventive world. Along with the cleverness of the engine's handling of liquid, the game appears to have plenty of character and the Fluros, which are living liquid machines, remind me of goo balls in a way that makes my pleasure senses tingle. The game is now due on March 1st, landing on its lead platform of PC before PSN and XBLA, which it will drip down to at a later date. Hurrah. There's a video with some info about the Fluros below and a more extensive developer walkthrough, explaining how the game works.

The walkthrough highlights the focus of the engine, as does this quote from designer John Krajewski: “With Vessel, we wanted to push the boundaries of how hardware power is used in games. Typically, hardware power put towards graphics and physics is only an aesthetic addition. In Vessel, the foundation of the gameplay and puzzles is based in liquid simulation.”

Along with Pixeljunk Shooter, which is unfortunately locked down in Sonytown, these are the most scrumptious fluid simulations I can remember drinking up with my eyes, which is a bit like crying in reverse. We should have some hands-on experience to report before March 1st, at which point the game will available for $14.99 direct from Strange Loop Games, as well as through Steam and other (unnamed) digital distribution platforms.