The name might suggest innocent playground fun, but the latest game from ace German designer Philipp Stollenmayer, aka Kamibox (Supertype, Zip-Zap) is a truly devilish concoction.
It’s a platform game where momentum is everything, though see/saw’s hapless test subject – who’s tasked with collecting three round tokens on each stage – only moves when you tilt the stage left or right.
You can’t shift very far either way, but it’s more than enough to send your lightweight avatar hurtling down slopes and up curved ramps. Move fast enough and they might end up on the wall or even the ceiling.
Boost pads will give you a spring, or bounce you between walls, while a sudden shift in the opposite direction can see you pull off spectacular arcing leaps. Air vents boost you up to the height you fell from, resulting in some death-defying feats.
You may not defy death for long, though sometimes you’re not even meant to. These chambers are filled with whirling blades that regularly cut you down, and yet you don’t need to be alive to collect the final token. Kamikaze jumps abound, while one stage sees you guiding a giant circular saw to crush you into the tiny alcove where the final token lies.
Even at its most fiendish, see/saw is never frustrating: you can swipe down at any time for an instant restart. And with bonus tokens for completing each chamber in double-quick time, it’s a challenge that’ll last you weeks. Yet another winning effort from the master of intricately designed indie games, Kamibox.