There have been a number of massive video games this 12 months which have felt all-consuming, like Monster Hunter Wilds or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Maze Mice provides one thing completely different: a small, pick-up-and-play expertise that takes a bunch of concepts from some classics and provides a intelligent twist.
The sport, from Luck Be a Landlord developer TrampolineTales, mixes components of Pac-Man, Vampire Survivors, and even the traditional Snake. As an cute, pixelated mouse, you zip round a maze to get blue expertise gems which are guarded by cats. Whenever you cross by the cats, they’ll get up and begin chasing you, generally making a hilariously lengthy line of felines. (Cute ghost cats can even seem and inconveniently float proper into your path.) All of the motion takes place on one display screen, so it’s straightforward to see the place the whole lot is at any given time.
Whenever you get sufficient gems, you’ll be able to choose from a collection of three power-ups. The upgrades are sometimes slightly foolish, like knitting needles that fly via the air to assault the cats pursuing you, however as with Vampire Survivors, it’s enjoyable to experiment with completely different talents to create fascinating builds.
Maze Mice’s most fascinating function is that point solely strikes whenever you transfer, like in Superhot. Whenever you inch ahead, the enemy cats inch ahead proper behind you, however whenever you’re not transferring, they’re frozen, too. Your talents are all on cooldowns, and the time on these cooldowns additionally solely advances whenever you transfer ahead. All of it signifies that as a substitute of the rising sense of being overwhelmed that you simply may get whereas dodging ghosts in Pac-Man or combating hordes of monsters in Vampire Survivors, Maze Mice provides you time to sit down and take into consideration the place you need to go subsequent — even in case you have 10 cats in your tail.
I actually like the way it all works. You’re nonetheless coping with a lot of enemies, however as a substitute of the anxiousness of getting to fend them off in actual time like in different video games, it’s all a lot far more laid-back. The charming ambiance and catchy music assist make the expertise really feel extra welcoming than aggravating, too.
After runs, you’ll unlock new upgrades and characters for future runs primarily based in your rating. I’m a giant fan of a mine weapon that blows up after I get the cats following me to stroll over it. And my favourite character to this point is a mouse named Jazz with sun shades and a saxophone — who begins with a saxophone weapon. Such a cool little man!
Maze Mice is in early entry, so it ought to get extra content material down the road. It looks like there’s a beneficiant quantity to play with already; TrampolineTales launched the sport this month with 30 characters and 63 upgrades, that means there’s rather a lot to dig into. However the factor I like most about it’s that I can play for a couple of minutes after an hourlong Doom: The Darkish Ages stage and really feel like I truly completed one thing – even when these pesky cats ultimately catch as much as me.
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