Sheepo (2020)

It's interesting to work my way backward through Kyle Thompson games, because I'm moving from his games with greatest complexity to least. Yet there are some really great fundamentals across all of his games that effectively communicate his design approach. Moving backward through the titles lets me experience his core ideas that permeate all of his games, but instead of experiencing the games by perceiving the evolution of his design through progression, I'm seeing ideas stripped away to reveal their core and that isolates his key design verbs. And instead of feeling like Sheepo is an underdeveloped version of Islets or Crypt Keeper, like a first draft, it feels like a peek into Thompson's head, a minimalist rendering of the crucial verbs and affect he is aiming for. It's been quite an enlightening experience.

I'm also curious what effect moving backwards through his works now will have on my experience of Well Dweller later this year.

What I expected: Islets but not as good

What I got: This game actually does its own thing! It's using the same engine and its still a platformer but it's actually quite different! Which was a pleasant surprise.

You can still tell that it's an earlier game, it's not quite as pristine and polished, I can't put my finger on why, but to be clear there are no actual flaws, Islets is just a game that excels in that area.

The main differences between this and Islets:

• This game has no combat. It's all platforming. The boss fights are handled by dodging until some weak spot with a gimmick opens up.

• This game's map is not 1:1 with screen size. In other words, the world doesn't follow real logic, a 1 by 1 tile on the map can actually be a massive room. This allows for more rooms that are wiiiiide open and that you have to do lots of jumping and soaring through. This makes for totally different types of platforming than Islets.

This game uses a special upgrade system too, which I haven't really seen in any metroidvania. Each upgrade you get lets you transform into a new animal, but the animals are in fixed places on the map and you can only transform if you're next to one, and only for ~10 seconds at a time. Each animal mostly just lets you move around quicker, faster, underground, in the air, etc, they're not revolutionary but they're all different and all fun to use. Moving around in this game is fun, it's so smooth!

Music and graphics are nice, in fact this game might have my favourite area of both games - The dark sky right above the starting area is beautiful and Islets doesn't have any nighttime area similar to it. The game as a whole is really melancholic because it takes place on a dying planet. There's abandoned areas and stuff, it's all very pretty. The story is simpler than Islets but still has cute stuff and I enjoyed the dialogue with the main navigator character.

The important things are, a) this game is short, but b) the pacing is great, every area is unique and explores a different gimmick, it was just really fun to go through them all.

I almost ranked this higher than Islets which feels like it should be wrong, but I dunno. I really liked Islets, I played it twice and it made me wanna get this. This game is technically "worse" but it's just a nice bite-sized really pleasant experience. I dunno. There's also the fact that I prefer platforming to combat anyway so being a pure platformer probably made it better for me.

Sheepo is a mini metroidvania by a solo developer. It has a very unique art style, ambience, and plays like nothing else. It has some really great moments and overall is totally worth a play through.

That said, it has a couple issues. The level design isn’t as polished as the devs sophomore project, Islets. There’s a few pacing issues, where things can drag a little bit. The characters aren’t super fleshed out and it just feels like a first project a little bit.

But a first project from a super talented developer. There’s seeds here of a great vision - which I think Islets fully executed. There are really great moments of platforming, exploration, and fun boss fights. There’s a couple areas that are beautiful to just hang out in too. The soundtrack is wacky and totally fitting.

I definitely recommend starting with islets, and if you enjoy that and want more - give this one a try.