Once you hear the identify SWAPMEAT, your first thought is perhaps about cooking or grilling. However this upcoming recreation from One Extra Recreation is one thing utterly totally different – and much stranger than you’d anticipate.
What’s SWAPMEAT?
SWAPMEAT places gamers within the function of Meat Scientists working for a mega-corporation known as Rangus Meats. Your job? Harvest alien physique elements and connect them to your self for brand spanking new powers and skills. It’s a third-person roguelite shooter the place each physique half you swap utterly adjustments the way you play.
The sport works round a easy however wild idea: your character is made up of three elements – a head, torso, and legs. Every half comes with its personal talents and well being bar. Chop off your legs and exchange them with rocket boosters, and all of a sudden you’re flying throughout the battlefield. Swap in a turkey head, and also you get utterly new expertise to experiment with.
It’s much like video games like Borderlands, however as a substitute of simply discovering new weapons, you’re actually rebuilding your physique to achieve new powers. The combos are infinite, and every one adjustments your complete strategy to fight.
How the Recreation Works
Every run by means of SWAPMEAT takes about 45 to 60 minutes. You’ll battle your manner throughout three alien planets earlier than dealing with a boss. The present model has two full acts, that means six planets and two bosses to deal with.
The physique half system is surprisingly organized regardless of its chaotic nature. Heads all the time offer you aiming-based talents, torsos present offensive or utility expertise, and legs unlock totally different motion choices. This consistency makes it simple to know what new elements will do, even after they look utterly ridiculous.
Fight is quick and responsive, mixing gunplay with melee assaults and your particular physique half talents. You need to use keyboard and mouse or a controller, and the motion by no means actually slows down. Every weapon has energetic reload mechanics – time your reload proper, and also you get bonus results.
The well being system provides one other layer of technique. As a substitute of 1 well being bar, every physique half has its personal well being pool. Take an excessive amount of injury, and also you’ll lose that half together with its capability. Every half additionally absorbs some incoming injury, which retains the sport from turning into too easy.
Like different roguelite video games, you get stronger the extra you play. Greater difficulties unlock over time, and enemies come in several sorts – ice, fireplace, electrical energy, slime, and kinetic vitality. Combining these can set off particular results throughout fights.
Every planet additionally has a “Menace Stage Meter” that goes up as time passes. Full targets to decrease it, however wait too lengthy and a harmful Hunter will come after you.
The sport helps each solo play and co-op. Associates can be a part of or go away at any time, with enemy problem adjusting based mostly on what number of gamers are within the recreation. The story development is non-linear, so you may play with associates irrespective of how far forward they’re within the recreation.
Behind the Absurdity: Interview with Jamie Stormbreaker
Jamie Stormbreaker, co-founder of One Extra Recreation and Recreation Director of SWAPMEAT, brings practically twenty years of recreation improvement expertise to this uncommon undertaking. The studio has about 13 full-time builders working remotely throughout the US, Sweden, and Canada. Over the previous two years, round 30 totally different individuals have contributed to creating SWAPMEAT.
The sport’s humor attracts inspiration from exhibits like Rick and Morty and Grownup Swim programming, however the crew is cautious about the place to attract the road. “Making one thing absurd is like telling a narrative in Dungeons & Dragons with your folks,” Stormbreaker defined. “So long as everybody feels secure and the gamers take pleasure in it, we’ll push it. If one thing feels an excessive amount of, we minimize it.”
The story follows a ridiculous premise a few fast-food company attempting to resolve galactic starvation, full with quirky characters and surreal touches. However when fight begins, all focus shifts to the motion. Story moments occur between fights so that they don’t interrupt the gameplay.
The sport’s objects replicate this absurd humor too. Gamers can discover issues just like the “Scorching Wiener” (a Rhode Island specialty) or a literal “Spaghetti Bucket.” These food-inspired objects are deliberately nonsensical – as a result of, as Stormbreaker put it, “Why not?”
Studying and Rising
Since physique elements change so shortly throughout gameplay, SWAPMEAT builds its long-term development round weapons, final talents, and private stats as a substitute. Every run teaches gamers higher determine and mix physique elements, turning it right into a recreation of mastery.
“The explanation we’re known as One Extra Recreation,” Stormbreaker joked, “is as a result of after each failed run, you’ll assume: only one extra.”
A few of the recreation’s finest options truly got here from accidents. A bug with spider legs created an unintended model of rocket leaping, which the crew preferred a lot they saved it as a characteristic. For Stormbreaker, the enjoyment comes from giving gamers instruments and watching them discover new, sudden methods to make use of them.
What’s Subsequent
SWAPMEAT is at the moment in testing, with a brand new playtest scheduled for September 4th on Steam. The sport will probably be out there on Home windows, Mac, and Linux, with full assist for each controllers and keyboard/mouse controls. Whereas the crew isn’t ruling out different platforms sooner or later, they’re centered on getting the core expertise proper first.
Stormbreaker ended our dialog with a message for potential gamers: “That is the one recreation with this mechanic. It’s wild, it’s dangerous, and as indie builders, we actually hope gamers will assist us. Wishlist us, be a part of our playtest, and assist us make one thing actually particular.”
SWAPMEAT guarantees to be in contrast to the rest in gaming – a weird mixture of absurd humor and tactical fight that challenges gamers to actually rebuild themselves to outlive. Whether or not you’re drawn to its uncommon premise or its distinctive gameplay mechanics, it’s positively price maintaining a tally of.
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