Isopod: A Webbed Spin-off

this feels like how I remember dodgy PS1 platformers (complimentary) but with trade union propaganda lots of bugs, mostly the cute, non-computer kind

Its... Alright? In the very specific genre of "Funny critters with physics movement abilities" this one has all the good bits in the places I wasnt expecting: Set Pieces and cinematic sequences. Theyre like, really good for what it is. What I wasnt expecting was that I would have to take a break multiple times from the game because the movement started to frustrate me. Theres a lot of little points of design issues that really stood out compared to how slick feeling their previous game "Webbed". One of those little things is the time before resetting when you fall into say, a pit of spikes. Isopod, as a result of it being much larger and having way less air control than webbed means if you miss a jump you are stuck in a pit taking individual damage until you reset to the last checkpoint. Funny thing is theres a fish that tries to eat you when you fall into the river- and without their SWIFT CONSUMPTION of your isopod (Winston) you will be stuck in the water for several seconds longer than the time it takes for you to miss that jump in the first place. I found myself thanking Dave for their services to put me back to the last checkpoint Its a really good case study for learning and I want to do a write up about it as a lot of little bits of it makes what should feel like a slam dunk in feel good design with a subsonic isopod rolling through dirt tunnels to a very tedious part of the game. With the story... I get that its more explicitly communist bugs and I dont think theres enough hilariously explicitly communist bugs but what made me fall in love with Webbed was the Absurdity of having Ant Mech Production Line- its still somewhat there but I feel theres just a bit toooo much telling and not enough showing yknow? I still think this setting has a lot of potential as bug communism but I didnt have as much fun this time around. Still a fun game regardless. If you're looking for this specific kind of game its still recommended but I cant help but think it missed some of the magic that Webbed managed to pull off.