Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘WILOO’,
‘The Old Man + Extra chapter’, and ‘Try’
The olden days
WiLOO is an adorable 2D platformer created by lightUP, a solo indie developer in Brasil. Players will follow the titular Wiloo as he attempts to rescue his buddy and the animal friends from an otherworldly and villainous Dr. ETvaldo.
The best way to describe Wiloo is simple; ever played Super Mario? Wiloo is the adorable Mario-esque protagonist in a jumper hopping alongside the vast and various worlds of the 2D space. Various angry individuals will march back and forth just dying to be jumped on to gain points, while coins litter the sky to be collected. Hit any enemy or fall down a pit to lose health, so keep limber as Wiloo needs to go far in order to rescue his friend.
Progressing through the world will reveal upgrades that can greatly enhance Wiloo’s abilities, usually stylized in suits that he can wear like the monkey suit above. These are lost on death, but can greatly help in traversing the levels in a quick or efficient manner. Items that are found are instead put in the backpack to be viewed and understood at any time.
What makes Wiloo an interesting addition to the 2D retro-like platformers is its emphasis on secrets. The three coins under the health bar are found in each level, and become increasingly difficult to uncover as the game goes from level to level. Some require finding strange ‘holes’ in the world, while others are a combination of clever thinking and certain upgrades that have been carried over from previous levels. It can really begin to stump a player how certain items or coins can be acquired when they are through three layers of dirt and grass with no obvious way in.
With 50 stages to complete, you’ll definitely get all of the feelings of a platformer from years gone by here. It’s designed to be simple and easy to pick up, making it a great fit for any age to enjoy. It’s even available on Android if that is more your speed (do note that the android version is not available from the bundle to my knowledge)! The soundtrack by Eduardo Castro is also worth noting thanks to its upbeat and cheerful tone, kept during even the most dangerous of times.
If this sounds like the game you’ve been waiting for, then dive right in.
The Old Man + Extra Chapter was an indie point and click game by Okamizt Studio, but unfortunately it has been delisted and the studio’s online presence has been scrubbed. No word as to why or what happened, so assume it will not be possible to play. I will update if something changes.
Try is a randomized puzzle game created by JohnLee Cooper, the solo indie dev from Canada that brought us two titles earlier on. This time, players will be attempting to ‘solve’ a Sokoban that may not even have a solution. Granted, it was submitted to Ludum Dare 43, which had a very specific theme: “Sacrifices must be made”.
Quick recap; Sokoban is the puzzle style originally coined in Japan in which a player attempts to push blocks on to specific spaces without the ability to pull the blocks. It’s commonly seen in many games nowadays and is a staple of many JRPGs (think the Pokemon Gyms of the years gone by).
Here, however, Try has players starting with a snippet of text about the futility of many things, and entering a room in which question marks cover the floor. Upon moving close enough, the marks are removed to reveal that the puzzle has been randomly generated. What this means is that the level may be silly easy, brutally difficult, or perhaps not even solvable at all.
This is, for as strange as it sounds, the point of the game. Not every level is possible, and players need to acknowledge that — which can grind against many who see themselves as completionists. The idea is to relinquish the fact that it is possible, and to reset the game either through pressing R or going back down to the entrance and ‘leaving’ the room. There will be a new room, and a new set of possibilities — but never discount the possibility for it to be another dead end.
No matter how mad you may be at the inability to solve the puzzle, you may keep trying over and over. That’s the point; sacrifices must be made sometimes to succeed. Some maps may be sacrificed, but you’ll eventually find one that works perfectly.
