40. Flywrench (Messhof, Playstation 4, 2017)
More and more as I go through my trove of games for this blog, I find myself looking not for games that are interesting so much as I look for games that will be easy to write about. That is how I came upon Flywrench, a small, simple game from the makers of Nidhogg, one of my top 100 games of all time.
Flywrench consists of navigating a small quadrilateral shape through a level to a goal. There is a small amount of story framing that involves satellites, but I'm not the kind of person who needs to have characters or story to enjoy a game. Progress can be impeded by different barriers, which require pressing one of two buttons (or, crucially, pressing no buttons) to get through. Eventually the game takes the training wheels off and introduces pink barriers that have to be avoided (see screenshot above), which is around the time the difficulty ramps up to a "comfortably masocore" level.
I love challenging games with deceptively simple controls, and this game nails those so well. EVERYTHING about this game feels, looks, and sounds tuned and purposeful. The aesthetic is both minimal and lo-fi, while still maintaining a unique look. The music is both chill enough to relax you yet peppy enough to keep you engaged. And crucially, the feeling of controlling the game is a god darn triumph. Flapping with the X button, spinning with the square button, selecting a level, even moving left and right has a beautiful depth to it.
Probably my favorite thing about Flywrench is the pace of the game, which moves at an incredible clip. Each level only lasts about 10 seconds at the most, which I love. I find myself subconsciously holding my breath during a level and then exhaling if I succeed. Character movement is some of the fastest I've seen in an action game like this; I think it might actually be faster than Super Hexagon. I'm terrified to even look up a speedrun of Flywrench because I think it would give me a heart attack. Selecting a new level has a quick Robotron-like screen zoom transition with accompanying sound effect that I still look forward to after playing about 100 levels. This was the only video game I played on my birthday and I have no regrets.
Flywrench consists of navigating a small quadrilateral shape through a level to a goal. There is a small amount of story framing that involves satellites, but I'm not the kind of person who needs to have characters or story to enjoy a game. Progress can be impeded by different barriers, which require pressing one of two buttons (or, crucially, pressing no buttons) to get through. Eventually the game takes the training wheels off and introduces pink barriers that have to be avoided (see screenshot above), which is around the time the difficulty ramps up to a "comfortably masocore" level.
I love challenging games with deceptively simple controls, and this game nails those so well. EVERYTHING about this game feels, looks, and sounds tuned and purposeful. The aesthetic is both minimal and lo-fi, while still maintaining a unique look. The music is both chill enough to relax you yet peppy enough to keep you engaged. And crucially, the feeling of controlling the game is a god darn triumph. Flapping with the X button, spinning with the square button, selecting a level, even moving left and right has a beautiful depth to it.
Probably my favorite thing about Flywrench is the pace of the game, which moves at an incredible clip. Each level only lasts about 10 seconds at the most, which I love. I find myself subconsciously holding my breath during a level and then exhaling if I succeed. Character movement is some of the fastest I've seen in an action game like this; I think it might actually be faster than Super Hexagon. I'm terrified to even look up a speedrun of Flywrench because I think it would give me a heart attack. Selecting a new level has a quick Robotron-like screen zoom transition with accompanying sound effect that I still look forward to after playing about 100 levels. This was the only video game I played on my birthday and I have no regrets.
5/5, perfectly minimal in both controls and presentation; happy birthday to me
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