Fabric

Good looking voxel aesthetics, a simple concept, smooth gameplay and a really promising start define Fabric, a first-person puzzle that might be a bit of a game changer. It’s focused around a neat gameplay mechanic that has the potential to transform it into a mindbender of a game.

Fabric rocks some good voxel based graphics but they could be better. And they probably will since what’s being presented here is a very early build that’s meant to showcase the core gameplay and feel of the game.

It has a sort of retro vibe to it which makes it a bit eerie and at the same time appealing. There’s no tutorial to guide you through what you have to do and how to do it, which for a puzzle game is perfect. Fabric aims to be that kind of game that wants you to put your mind to the test and discover everything there is to it and then use the information to solve the scenarios with which you are presented. That’s how good puzzle games work.

Your goal in Fabric is to traverse the environments you are left in and reach a blue beam that takes you further into the game. Initially it seems like a first-person platformer but as you are introduced to more of the mechanics Fabric transforms into what it’s meant to be.

Some portions of a level will be inaccessible to you because they are either too far or too high up and you will have to use a special weapon to manipulate and morph segments of the level to reach your goal. How you do that is for you to discover, but as a hint, it’s really interesting and clever.

It’s one of those game mechanics that just great, the kind that you can’t wait to use and solve increasingly complex puzzles. And once more, exactly the stuff a puzzle game has to have.

On a closing note, Fabric is something you need to try. Not for the graphics but for the idea and gameplay. It’s far from being complete, it does need a lot of polishing but it got off on the right foot and it just might step up to meet almost all of your expectations.