If you've grown up playing puzzlers on your Game Boy Color, then a new offering from indie developer Derek Hugger will take you right back to the good old days of sitting under your duvet with a torch and pulling an all-nighter to try and grab key items. It's called Ecli, a fun little title that sees players taking a little character called Dev on a mission to solve puzzles and unravel riddles in order to prove its worth as the new leader of the Ecli.
Ecli is heading to Kickstarter very soon, but there's a playable Demo available on Derek's itch.io page for anyone who wants to give it a go. I've been testing it out and immediately thought of a cross between Portal and Toki-Tori with Zelda-esque puzzles when I began playing, and while that's an odd mixture on paper it works really well. Dev must travel through different portals to find puzzles to solve in order to acquire world keys, powering up at different terminals in the process and flying to new heights with its little propellor.
This could be the least threatening game I've ever come across and makes for a relaxing play. There's no chance of dying and no time limit - just play at your own pace and solve the 'mind-bending mechanical puzzles' at your leisure, all of which would definitely appeal to fans of the Professor Layton series. All the pieces of narrative rhyme too which makes me feel like I'm playing through a Dr. Zeus novel, and the level design of the Jungle I've been exploring in the demo looks vibrant and full.
The game will come with an instruction booklet and player guide if it meets its targets as well as a physical game cartridge and box! Head to the project's official Kickstarter to get notified when it launches, and get stuck into that demo!
