Verlet Swing swooshes out today
Wheeee
I've had fun swinging around New York this past week, but I'm ready to move on to somewhere more exotic. Pretending to be a super-strong man-spider hybrid with a supernatural sense of danger just feels so... tame.
Fortunately I've come across Verlet Swing, a grappling hook game where you hurl yourself through a fever dream of floating pizza slices, majestic goldfish and malteasers. The full game is out later today, but there's a free prototype that's well worth slinging through.
This is a wild departure from Passpartout, developers Flamebait Games' previous game, where you play as an artist attempting to flog your MS Paint creations. I'd like to think all this takes place inside that artist's head.
I wish my dreams were this colourful. Nobody wants to play my grappling hook game where you fling yourself through all the exam halls I've turned up naked to.
The prototype includes fifteen levels and takes about fifteen minutes to finish, depending on your swinging prowess. It's maybe 90% of the way towards nailing that swooping sensation a good swing 'em up revolves around, which is hopefully close enough for another six months of work to have bridged the gap. I didn't quite feel weighty enough, but some snooping in the game's Discord channel suggests that's been addressed in the full version.
It's a little goofy, but I do like how the dreamscape setting means you don't know what's around the next corner. One of the prototype levels kicks off with you swinging through the crumbling pieces of a giant statue, while another attaches you to a rocket. There's plenty of room to play, so I'm looking forward to what other surprises the full game's 100 levels have in store.
Just FYI, do not mistakenly search for "Velvet Swing". That product offers a very different high.
Verlet Swing is out on Steam at 4pm today for £10/$13/€11. A demo for the full game (though not the game itself) should appear on Itch, too.