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Ynglet game5/2/2023 Personally, I like a reminder that not all indie games have to have the weightiness of What Remains of Edith Finch (or, for that matter, Welcome to Elk). Is it emotionally arresting? No! It’s a swoopy space dolphin good time. Is it long? No! Ynglet will probably take you two hours to play. The fact that a platformer can give you such endless power to save and remain challenging is a big accomplishment in and of itself. ![]() Also, any time you land in a blob, you can wait for a couple of seconds to set it as a respawn point, which takes the pressure off after you manage to navigate around a tricky part. For example, you might get to the “end” of a level and activate some colorful switchy thing that suddenly repurposes the blocks that you’ve already jumped through, making for a whole new return journey to the real finish, which is back where you started. It’s bright and abstract, and the levels have an understated brilliance to them. The game’s hand-drawn feel is reminiscent of a student’s notebook full of doodles come to life. ![]() Now, the million-dollar question: is it fun? Yes! Ynglet is really fun. And I’m not kidding about the Copenhagen thing-the levels are named after the city’s districts, and the “world map” looks like a city guide you’d find in the back of a brochure. In other words, it’s a colorfully minimalist game that has a bunch of water and efficient public transport. It’s all about flow and rhythm, which makes its dynamic soundtrack perfect (the press kit hilariously describes the game’s sound engine as “way too complicated”). These simple mechanics get combined in all kinds of innovative ways, from rails that mimic public transit by sucking you in and shooting you across the level to blocks that disappear and reappear every time you dash. If you go too slow, you won’t get up enough momentum to get from one blob to the next. If you go too fast, you’ll exceed the ability of the blob’s viscosity to catch you, and you’ll fall. It’s a floaty platformer where instead of jumping and landing on solid ground, you drift from blob to blob, eventually gaining the ability to dash and bounce around. ![]() Is there such a thing as a Scandanavian video game? A game that, you know, embraces nature and minimalism and whimsy all at once? Go play Ynglet and tell me what you think.
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