Written by Caleb Taylor, September 13, 2016, at 7:16 p.m.
Woven is a game that I don’t typically play. It’s a casual puzzle game with a somber story, featuring a stuffed elephant as the protagonist. The developers were kind enough to send me a copy of the pre-alpha demo to review, and after playing it a few times I fell in love with the mechanics, idea and atmosphere this game presented.
Woven’s Story
I mentioned the game is in it’s pre-alpha stage at the moment. For a rough draft of a game, Woven’s story felt anything but incomplete. Glitch, a small mechanical bug has experienced the evil and corruption of the world they live in. Glitch understands what needs to be done, but limited by its anatomy (and size), Glitch must utilise a clumsy, knitted elephant named Stuffy. Together, they set off to unravel Glitch’s enigmatic past.
Woven’s Mechanics
The biggest technical feature Woven offers is the ability for stuffy to alter his appearance and function by re-knitting himself. For example, you may need to stitch yourself stronger arms to move something heavy, or change the pattern of your fabric to trick a creature. Using designs and fabric that you pick up through the game, it’s really up to you as to how you tackle a puzzle.
This dynamic feature allows for almost infinite variations of puzzles, each requiring a different permutation of patterns and body parts to complete. I see a lot of potential with this design philosophy and I hope the developers explore it further. With a few clever puzzles and added mechanics, I can see Woven becoming a puzzle classic similar to the Portal series.
Woven’s Unique Art Style
The art style, or styles rather, are immersive and captivating. On one end the game features soft, harmless knitted environment, conveying a sense of peace. Once in awhile the player comes across an amalgamation of mangled and rusted metal jutting out of the soft landscape.
Woven features both gritty steampunk style enemies and assets, and at the same time soft and inviting knitted textures.
Woven’s Kickstarter launched a few days ago, if Woven sounds like a game you would like to see completed go support their campaign!