Game: SwayBods
Genre: Puzzle, Action, Strategy
System: Steam (Windows) (also available on macOS and iOS)
Developers | Publishers: Seema Datar
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $4.99 | UK £4.29 | EU € 4,99
Release Date: August 22nd, 2024
A review code was used, and many thanks to Seema Datar.
After playing the demo for Swaybods, I was happy to see the full game. I had a lot of fun with the demo, so I was expecting to love the full game quite a bit.
Tons of Content for the Money
I had a feeling that the first few levels were going to be boring since I had already played them in the demo, but they surprisingly remained challenging. It’s all about timing, and sometimes you just get that very wrong when you are trying to complete the game. This means that SwayBods will most likely have a lot of replay value.
Also, there are tons of levels to play. The level menu blew me away and how extensive it is. There are like 100 levels in the base game with promises in the menu of more to come. Also added from the base game are single-use powers that can shield monsters, slow them down, or even skip whole levels if you are overwhelmed by one.
For only a few dollars, you get all these levels with a lot of replayability; it’s a pretty good deal, in my opinion.
The Gameplay of SwayBods
Much like it was in the demo, you play SwayBods by clicking on monsters to get them to move. You need to move each one along its path without hitting any other monsters. While this sounds very easy, getting them to move in the right way when they move at different speeds and in different directions can be hugely challenging.
These puzzles are all about timing, making the critters move in the right order at the right time, and utilizing your new powers to help yourself win. There have been a lot of features added since the demo, including said powers, more levels, and variations to the levels to make them harder.
One of the levels I played had a built-in timer; there was an additional monster that would drop down and smash your monsters if you took too long to complete the level. SwayBods gives a helpful, easy-to-read meter for the timer, making it simple to check on your progress as you play. Everything about this game is incredibly intuitive; the bright colors and tutorials make everything so easy to play and understand. And the colors are bright without being grating on the eyes either.
The Downsides of SwayBods
There are a couple of things I did not like about SwayBods now that it is complete. After a certain amount of levels, the helpful arrows that show which direction the monster will move in are gone, and there are a lot more overlapping monsters that will crash into one another if you don’t get them moving immediately.
On top of this, the timed levels get so challenging that you barely have time to think, and I think having the arrows on all levels would mitigate some of the easily avoidable mistakes I made. My brain has never been great at remembering these types of things, and the levels basically got impossible after a certain point.
The powers that were added were also a little frustrating. You get an extremely limited number of them, and the power goes away if you don’t win the level. So you probably only have two shields; if you use one to try to win a level and fail, you have to use another to try again. It seems like we should have been given more of these or they should be refunded if the level isn’t completed.
Some Other Things I Noticed about SwayBods
Overall, this puzzle game was pretty fun. Here are some things that I think stood out about SwayBods that potential customers might want to know before buying.
The music is fine; it changes back and forth every few levels to ensure that you don’t get too sick of the same song over and over.
I also tested the game with a color blindness simulation test, and it seemed to be great for anyone with color blindness, which I love. Accessibility for everyone is always a plus for me.
When I played the demo, I was a little worried that the levels would be too challenging, but SwayBods proved me very wrong. The price is great for what you get, and I didn’t get a single bug while playing.
Conclusion
As I mentioned in my review of the demo, this is not my kind of puzzle game. I don’t normally play things like SwayBods, but I found this particular game appealing. It’s really well done, so if you like these kinds of games, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I think this is the most well-polished, colorful, and fun game in the genre.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot.
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