Maybe it’s because Splashteam’sTinykinis still fresh in my memory or perhaps it’s a long-held pleading for 3D platformers to make a resurgence lasting longer than a year or two. In either case, my mind was at ease mere moments into getting my hands on Togges. As soon as the core mechanics finally clicked, after some minor fiddling-around and getting accustomed to the control scheme and visual language on show, I was fully on-board. On-board with the oddball premise, the hyper-cutesy visuals (to the point one would think any semblance of grit had been well and truly sanded off the edges of its environments, as if the level is one big kid’s inflatable) and most important of all, the reassurance that developer [the irony] Regular Studio were looking at the big picture. Not just from the basis of latching onto nostalgia or appealing inoffensively to some broad demographic, but the idea that 3D platformers, like that aforementioned highlight of the year from Splashteam, are sandboxes at their heart. Playgrounds that appeal to all ages; level design that may be precision-based, puzzle-oriented or an elaborate, linear-progressing obstacle course of such. But in the end, are there to be studied, examined and joyfully messed with.
At the risk of setting expectations a “smidgen” higher than need-be here, there’s one name that immediately flashes up the moment you’re finally let loose: Super Mario Galaxy. There are obvious nods of course – the way you zip to and fro between planetoids, the adjoining blue stream of light your path as the camera dramatically pans out wide-shot style during that brief flight – but that’s not to say these reminders are in anyway bad or misleading. Togges' structure in so far as challenges to complete and areas to explore have just as much of a task to convince you they are worth your time as the core mechanics are in balancing complexity with ease of use.
So let’s tackle that latter component first: the basic gist of Togges is having to essentially create chains of the titular block-shaped creatures to solve puzzles and hoover up collectibles. The catch is that a chain can only exist between specific types of objects. New opportunities open up throughout, meaning that so much as a basic premise, you’re establishing a sort of network with which one can span out from. The other point to note is that the amount of Togges you’re able to put down is finite. Your carrying inventory is around a thousand, which sounds like a lot, but if you’re just plotting Togges mindlessly, that cap can quickly hit you. Meaning it isn’t long before you’re vacuuming up as many prior placements as you are putting down new ones at any given time. Like a snake coiling its body to maintain momentum, there’s this constant looking over one’s shoulder and determining how far back you want to break the chain to maintain progress. To ensure you have enough reserves in the bank so to speak. Mistakes are inevitable naturally; over-confidence in what you’re doing potentially back-firing, requiring you to go all the way back to that last unlocked node to start the slow trudge forth all over.
And that on it own sounds laborious, right? A platformer that grinds the natural pace down, deliberately forcing you to take something as simple as mere movement at a much slower speed. But to possibly do that same process all over, again and again for what, a mere collectible at best? Even if that is where the puzzle aspects partially come into play. I thought at first that would be the bane of any potential enjoyment to inevitably relish, but if anything it’s what defines it and it’s a rather brilliant trust in player intuition. Not only can you create chains, but you can also stack Togges on top of another up to a certain point. Once this rule is laid out as well as the fact Togges can only have one grid space apart between platforms, suddenly you have all the tools to begin experimenting. And Togges' very level and puzzle design is built around these moments of deduction, assumption and simply trying it out for yourself. Dipping one’s toe into the pool and bracing for the reaction, whatever that may be. It’s only through some further belief in a player’s own willingness to explore and succeed is that core repetition as consistent and consistently-engaging as it is.
A side-quest – one that, like so much in the vertical slice – was just there, off to the side down some branching cylindrically-shaped path. Not demanding attention or sign-posting its importance, but having faith players will naturally gravitate to it eventually via sheer curiosity. Requiring you to clear a crop field littered with pesky crows. Some obvious to spot, some not. But it’s the objects and parts of the environment present that are the key; there’s no blatant suggestion they’re even interactive or that anything will happen. But you doodle a square-shaped grouping of Togges five-high and lo and behold, those wooden boxes break to reveal one crow. Stack a column to shake a tree and another appears. Togges – and the team at Regular Studio most importantly – are utilizing the power of suggestion here. There’s no invasive prompt to tell you to break those boxes or shake those trees. You have the mechanics at disposal and past a brief tutorial at the start, the world is one grand puzzle to work out, Regardless of how vital that new solution might seem. A mere one box-higher step should seem like the most basic of sights, but because Togges reframes it all through its gameplay, something as insignificant as climbing a set of steps becomes intriguing all over again.
I could’ve spent the rest of my afternoon – and to be frank, the rest of the event – sitting there at Thunderful’s booth engrossed in this hyper-cutesy yet hyper-addictive sandbox environment that Togges creates. Naturally, out of courtesy for others and the constant reminder of plentiful other titles to see to, one’s time had to sadly come to an end. But surely this is a welcoming sign of a game with a unique selling point. The idea one must move on not because you want to, but you have to. And as bold a statement it may sound to bring in the platforming behemoth that is Mario, it’s hard not to remind one’s self of those former times in awe of a platformer doing something different. A time where surreal concepts and Japanese studios usually went hand in hand.
Maybe it’s all coincidental, but there’s a clear, free-flowing philosophy in letting players loose that permeates a lot of Togges' introduction. A freedom if anchored down by a gameplay loop that requires some amount of repetition. One that is occasionally tricky – consistently challenging and testing on top – but nonetheless enjoyable to work out. Enjoyable too in how it so easily reframes the sandbox allure of platforming. Areas not just to explore, but work out all over again in the context of its mechanics. As silly as that chain of round-edged cubes may look as it stretches across a level and piles itself in heaps of a dozen or so at a time, but that’s perhaps where the most unhinged Galaxy-like energy is at its purest. A perfect harmony of concept and execution where its light-hearted but surprisingly-engaging core loop balances depth with ease of use. A rule-set that is quick to understand and a genuine pleasure to work out. Splashteam may have some healthy competition when it comes to aspired creations. Togges is such a fascinatingly-built iteration on the 3D platformer template and one I’m eager to see the full build of, whenever that may be.
