'Project Totem' Brings Indie Platforming to Xbox One
Indie games were mostly a curiosity on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but now represent major opportunities for the PS4 and Xbox One. Press Play is an indie studio under Microsoft's wing, and hopes that its new "Project Totem" will be a feather in the Xbox's cap.
Tom's Guide went hands-on with "Project Totem" (which will not be the game's final title) at PAX East 2014. We found that the game delivers the kind of polished visuals and creative gameplay mechanics that the best indie platforms deliver.
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"Project Totem" began as a way for the Press Play developers to blow off steam while doing extensive QA testing on their previous title, "Max: The Curse of Brotherhood." Press Play wasn't sure that Microsoft would have much interest in a game about pieces of a totem pole toying around with gravity, but the Xbox manufacturer was delighted with the initial build, and gave Press Play the go-ahead.
In the single-player campaign, players control two displaced heads of a totem pole simultaneously. Each head is a different color, and players control a different pair in each new level. An evil shaman has split apart an enormous totem pole, and it's up to the player to help the pieces reassemble and put the shaman in his place.
We tried out three levels, and each one presented a healthy mix of reflex-based platforming and physics puzzles. Both totems advance and jump with the same button, so knowing when to jump, when to back off and when to use your special abilities is vital.
In the first level, for example, we controlled a purple and a green totem simultaneously. Only the green totem could pass through green energy fields, and the purple one through purple energy fields. We could swap the totems' color palettes, leading to some tricky challenges where we had to alter colors mid-jump.
Other challenges included reversing gravity, sliding down slopes to jump in arcs and using the two totems in tandem to reach high platforms or unlock doors. The game is simple and not very punishing, but we still had to exert some brainpower to keep up with rapid force field color changes, or reach a high place to gather collectible orbs.
We also played a cooperative level alongside one of the game's designers. Each of us controlled two totems, and we couldn't change our color palettes. This forced us to work together to traverse every energy field, and to maximize every jump. Although the co-op level was more difficult than the single-player experience, we found it was more fun and satisfying as well.
Press Play prides itself on sticking to releasing a new game every year, and wants "Project Totem" out before the end of the year for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The price, while unannounced, will be "accessible," said a Press Play developer, and in line with similar downloadable titles.
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