Ever since Braid was released back in 2008 puzzle based platformers have kind of been indie bread and butter. As time has gone on we’ve seen a lot of games innovate in the genre but we’ve also seen a lot of retreads of old tired concepts. I had the pleasure over the past few days of spending some time with a beta build of Extend Studio’s upcoming title, So Many Me, and I’m happy to report it takes an overcrowded genre and makes it feel fresh.
In the game you control a green blob by the name of Filo as well as his numerous clones who are simply referred to as “Me’s”. These clones represent the game’s core mechanic and can be used to traverse levels in a number of different ways. If you press the “D” key while jumping and you have a spare clone with you they will freeze into a stone block even in mid-air. Filo and any remaining clones will then attach to the frozen block and are able to line up a new jump from whatever position they’ve wound up in. When you’re ready you can call back any frozen clones by pressing the down arrow key.
But your clones are for more than just turning into stone. Throughout levels you will find “Transmuter Fruits” which will cause your clones to mutate and perform special functions. These fruits have effects ranging anywhere from creating a bouncy clone that will send Filo springing into the air to creating a boxing glove that will slowly rise to the sky and push objects in the environment.
The game is really good at doling things out to you in slow digestable chunks, but that doesn’t stop it from getting quite tricky as you progress. While the puzzles in So Many Me can be challenging, you do have some control over just how difficult your game experience is overall. Most levels aren’t too much trouble to stumble through but the real head scratchers are centered around the game’s collectibles, they are of course optional but you also miss a lot of the game’s brain teasers by skipping them.
Although some of my compatriots may disagree, So Many Me plays a lot better on a controller than it does on a keyboard. The early beta I played had Xbox 360 controller support built in and switching over to it immediately felt better to me.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the game’s stellar art direction. The entire world feels vibrant and alive both in color and in animation effects. Filo and his clones make for a fun main set of characters to control and even enemies have a certain charm to the way they’re drawn out.
The game’s music is in good hands as well, Extend has commissioned a very befitting soundtrack from HyperDuck Soundworks whose tunes you may have heard before in other indie titles like Dust: An Elysian Tale.
All in all I had a great time with So Many Me, the game feels very cohesive and for a beta I really didn’t encounter a large number of bugs or glitches. If you want to try the game out for yourself there is a demo available on the Chrome Marketplace. Check it out, and if you like what you see you may want to consider contributing to their Kickstarter as well. The game is already confirmed to be launching on Steam early next year, but depending on the success of their Kickstarter other systems may follow.
