Every now and then, there comes a game that is such a delight to play in every aspect, that you completely forget about everything else you were interested in and end up losing track of time because you’re having such a fun time. This is how I felt with Squidgies Takeover, an adorable and charming little indie game created by Australian company and Hobart-based studio Giant Margarita.
Squidgies Takeover is a puzzle game, in which you are tasked to help out these cute and adorable little alien-like puff-ball creatures called ‘Squidgies’ to make their new home on various planets across the galaxy. You are to help with guiding the Squidgies to safely toward the portal located in each level, using their various powers that they possess to help reach their destination.
For example, some levels may have Squidgies that can use the ability to attach to the wall or ceiling above and swing across a gap in the ground so that they don’t fall to their death. Some Squidgies are able to teleport others from one section to another to avoid death, some can be used as an arrow to help propel Squidgies in the air or give them a boost of speed uphill. It’s as simple as touching the screen on your Nintendo Switch in order to use these abilities with the Squidgies, and it’s incredibly fun to do. You must use these abilities provided to you in each level in order to help the cute little critters to the portal and it requires good thinking and planning to proceed further.
My favourite thing about each challenge is that there isn’t one definitive way to always pass each level. You can be creative with your way of finishing each one, and the more creative ideas you can think of may be the best way to tackle the game and journey on. It’s not only great in terms of replayability for every single level but it’s also so, so fun to mess around with and see what else you can achieve. I found myself replaying various levels over and over to see how else I could get each Squidgie to the portal using their power-ups. There are so many creative ways to successfully help the Squidgies out and I love this!
Once you successfully complete a level, you can also attempt some tough challenges to do as optional fun simply known as ‘feats’. These feats range from simple challenges such as ‘save 3 Squidgies within 15 seconds’ to rather complicated ones like ‘save all Squidgies without touching the ground’. As mentioned, these are totally optional to do but personally, this is where the most fun experience of Squidgies Takeover lies.
I spent so much time trying to complete every feat I came across. The majority of these feats are so challenging and require a lot of thought and planning using the power-ups, which is a mixture of frustrating but super addictive to the point that you simply can’t let it go until you manage to pull it off and complete the challenge. Once you think outside the box and figure out how to accomplish the feat challenge, it’s a very satisfying feeling. This feature is one that I thoroughly enjoyed the most, even though I struggled with most of them, it was still a lot of fun.
There are also plenty of levels to satisfy players and keep them entertained for hours. And for those who also enjoy a bit of competition, depending on the score you manage to rack up per level can get you in the online leaderboard with people around the world. All this depending on how well you complete it. I was really happy to actually grab the leaderboard top spot for one level, although I imagine it won’t be long before the speedrunners and Squidgies experts take over!
Each level has a certain criterion to meet in order to unlock other levels. While mostly you need to save a certain amount of Squidgies each time to unlock the next level, (at the very least, if not all Squidgies in one level) completing a level may also grant you items to proceed, such as a jewel-like item or a gem that will help you pass through to the next level If you’re a bit of a completionist like me, you’ll be making sure to help every Squidgie and item to proceed, but you’ll also have a lot of fun doing so. Squidgies Takeover never feels dull or boring after all the levels and feats to complete. Each and every one is exciting, lots of fun and challenging, but fair.
In terms of visual and sound, this is also quite the colourful, cute game to look at and listen to. All the Squidgies are colourful, adorable and even make the cutest of sounds when plopping on the ground or even simply appearing on the screen. While witnessing their cute high-pitched voices squeak “hi!” when they appear on screen is adorable, watching them fall into a pit of fire or being electrocuted is most certainly not, especially when they instead cry out. It’s the little things like this that add to the characters personality and adorableness that I can’t get over (just not when they get burned or electrocuted alive – that’s not nice).
Another thing to note that this game has (that I very much welcome) is a feature to slow down or speed up the gameplay. Need to concentrate on how to complete the level without messing up? You can slow the game down to a very slow speed for all the focus you need. But if you want to hurry through a level because you’ve spent many times re-doing it one over and over and you feel like you’ve finally cracked the code on how to complete it, you can also fast forward and speed through! Play away at your own pace. I adore this feature very much.
Squidgies Takeaway is such a fun and solid puzzle game that I honestly recommend EVERYONE to try this out, even if puzzle gaming is not your cup of tea. You are bound to find fun out of this. Even if you aren’t a completionist or would prefer to just complete all stages and not bother with the difficult challenges that lie ahead, there’s fun to be found for everyone. Just be prepared to find cuteness galore with the Squidgies, that’s definitely assured.
Squidgies Takeover is available to buy on Nintendo Switch from November 14th, 2019.
