TumbleSeed (A rolling roguelike)

[Shay Chaise]

I heard Dave Turners singing its praises on last week's Computer Game Show and decided to go for it at twelve quid. It looked a bit confusing in previews and a bit simplistic but I quite liked the Hokokum/Loco Roco aesthetic and I like the idea of a challenging indie game which will give me plenty of hours play. I've only put an hour or so into it but it's made me stop and write this post, in any case.

First of all, in motion and on the portable screen, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's very vibrant, a combination of Pop Art, 60s psych and a clean mobile-inspired Modernism. I understand it's by one of the guys who made Threes. Beyond that, the soundtrack is up there with the best on the Switch so far. It's somewhere between Boards of Canada and Disasterpiece (Fez, It Follows, Hyper Light Drifter). It's damn good and really adds an emotional depth to what is superficially quite a simple game.

The basic premise is that you control a thin bar which runs across the screen, and you tilt it to manoeuvre the rolling TumbleSeed around various obstacles and hit various little goals en route to the top of the screen. I haven't actually played anything quite like it before, though it reminds me of a mechanical early years toy, like bagatelle or something. It's not like that but there's a real physicality to the control scheme.

On that note, it also features the best use of HD Rumble on the system. It's like a much more nuanced version of the Marble Box from 1-2-Switch, if you've played that yet. It's also coming out on PC and PS4 but the portability and HD Rumble make the Switch first choice by a mile. As it rolls from one side of the screen to the other, you feel the weight shift gradually, accelerate and then bump to a standstill against the edge of the screen. It's really cool. It's also an example of haptic feedback actually influencing your control over the game. I can feel that I'm rolling it too quickly and can compensate accordingly. It's hard to explain but it really works.

There's plenty more to it in terms of power ups and risk/reward stuff and a basic little story and NPCs but I'll leave you to find all that stuff out. As a pure mechanical and aesthetic experience, it's as unique as Flower was when it arrived on PS3. I doubt it has the same emotional resonance or intent but it's well worth my time so far.

[Kelvin]

How is it controlled? Do you use tilt controls in the controller, or the control sticks? Do you have to use detached joycons?

[Shay Chaise]

You use the thumbsticks, and I suspect it works best in portable mode, as I say. If you push up on the right stick, it will lift the right side of the bar, sending the seed rolling down and to the left. And vice versa, obviously. If you push both sticks up simultaneously, it lifts the bar up and you move up the scrolling screen. You can, for example, start a tiny tilt, then hold both sticks up and it will maintain the gentle gradient while scrolling upwards. I didn't really explain this because it's almost impossible to put into words what it feels like but after about twenty seconds, you'll just get it.

[Kelvin]

Sounds like another good indie game. I have Mario Kart coming in the next few days, and I reckon I'll buy Binding of Isaac next, as some guy on a forum I visit never stops banging on about it. After that, probably. :)

[Shay Chaise]

Hehe I'd say that's a good order of priorities!  I'm intrigued as to how you find Isaac when you do pick it up. I can't tell you how little I think of toilet humour and 'edgelord' dead baby crap but that has absolutely no bearing on the quality and depth of the game, which gets better and better.

Edit: OK, enough, enough. TumbleSeed thread.

[brat-sampson]

This got a sizable update recently, eschewing the original's apparently soul-destroying difficulty in favour of more structured level sequencing, unlockable perma-buffs, upgrades sans downsides and a Switch-exclusive multiplayer mode.

So if anyone picked it up then put it down pretty quickly for being just too bloody hard, know that it's probably worth another crack or two. Anyone who nevr did, know that it's basically just a much more well-constructed game than it was before.