The playtest for Tony The Mole for developer Lucktape Games was super fun and unique. I was able to tunnel under obstacles as I collected objects to complete quests. What an adventure!
The Backstory for Tony The Mole
As you may have guessed, I played as a mole! That was an interesting and unique experience. I could walk around on all 4 paws, but I moved quicker if I chose to tunnel underground. Personally, I’ve never played another game where I tunnelled to get places so that was different. The game began with a very short but pretty comprehensive tutorial.
The point of a playtest is to have actual players test out a game before a demo or the full game is released. This is a great way to get feedback from players regarding the gameplay as well as finding hidden bugs. Often developers make some changes to their game based on the feedback they receive. I was a bit confused about the stamina meter in the game and relayed that in my feedback. The devs replied very quickly and said they would work to clarify how the meter works.
Other than that bit of confusion on my part, Tony the Mole played nicely and was easy to understand. I played as a mole, performing quests for various humans including my owner, Mordekai. In the playtest, I was collecting bolts and spare parts so the humans could fix things.
The Look and Feel of Tony The Mole
The world of Tony The Mole was really interesting. It was all shades of green, blue, gray, beige and red. It’s very distinctive. The game is being developed by a couple who created the studio Lucktape Games. Paya created the art for the game, and her partner Efe did the programming. I think they have created something special together.
Tony The Mole is a 3D open world game. I was able to go anywhere I wanted in search of bolts and spare parts. There were high places that I could reach and even higher ones that I could not reach yet. There were water features and mud patches. There are worms that lived in the mud, and I liked to eat them because they gave me stamina. Fortunately, I was able to press a button on my controller and have the worms be visible even though they were underground. All I had to do then was dig down into the mud and eat them. Neat-o.
There’s a low-key, slightly jazzy soundtrack in the background which I enjoyed a lot. I make a shuffling sort of noise as I walk on all fours, doors make a cool sound when I open them, and water splashes when I interact with it. But digging through the dirt is silent. As I guess it would be in real life.
The Gameplay of Tony The Mole
Tony The Mole‘s ability to tunnel lends itself to interesting game mechanics. For example, I am able to tunnel under fences and even some hard surfaces like concrete tiles. But I can’t go back through hard surfaces as I can do with dirt. That presents some interesting challenges because I could see boxes that I want to open, but they are under a hard surface floor. I guess that will have to wait until I get new abilities.
One of my favorite games is The Spirit and The Mouse. Speaking with the dev, I learned that it was a reference game for Tony The Mole. No wonder I like this game so much! There are a lot of bolts to collect here, and they are all used to repair items. There are some serious collectathon elements in this game.
I also have a great quest journal, inventory area and place to store my hats. I love how the quests in the journal are detailed and also how they are clearly marked when they are completed. It’s so nice to have the game take care of these details for me.
Once I had collected enough parts to repair something, there was a cute little mini-game to do before the repair was finished. It took me a minute to complete it because I’m not very skilled with fast movements, but it was fun anyway. Even though in general I don’t like quick time games, I look forward to more time with this particular mini-game as I gather more parts.
The playtest is a long one and the demo will be similar, I played for over 3 hours. After about 2 hours I began to experience platforming in the game. I am very bad at platforming, it’s definitely a ME thing. It wasn’t even very difficult, but I struggled. The devs helped me as much as they could but sadly they said that platforming was a part of the game that could not be totally switched off. They will be trying to make it a bit more accessible, easier and clearer in the demo and I hope they succeed. If you do as badly at platforming as I do, just make sure you play the demo to the end so you can experience it in Tony The Mole. Chances are you’ll do just fine with it.
Final Thoughts
There is so much more to Tony The Mole than I have described, but I will leave that for you to discover on your own. There is lore, there are moving machines that can transport you, a hint feature telling you where to go next, and there are wind tunnels to lift you up. There’s also mysterious blob-like creatures that speak a language I don’t understand yet, caves, mines and toilets. Toilets everywhere! Intrigued? You should be.
The playtest has ended, but the demo will be launched on Steam on August 6, 2026, during the Wholesome Games Festival. The Steam page can be viewed now. The game has no projected full release date at this point. In spite of my difficulties with platforming, I still had a great time playing Tony The Mole. I highly recommend you give the demo a try.
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