GLITCHED Demo

Most video games are designed to help you identify with the main character in order to experience his or her story as fully as possible, even if that story involves dragons or distant galaxies. However, there are also games that choose to break the fourth wall and create a weirder relationship between you and the characters. Depending on how it’s done, this can certainly work just as well.

GLITCHED is a top-down adventure game in the style of Earthbound and Undertale, in which your goal is to guide a hero and help him overcome a variety of puzzles and obstacles. On the other hand, there are certain differences when it comes to gameplay and combat that set the game apart from everything else out there, even if most concepts are borrowed from other games.

To begin with, the story is a tad weird from the first few minutes, but it gets even weirder after that. As such, you start by answering a couple of apparently meaningless questions in the beginning, after which you are assigned a hero and you must start your quest. The actual story is about the life of your character, who loses a friend after some sort of glitch appears in his world and turns everything upside down.

The weird thing is that you present yourself to your character as a human player, so Gus is aware that he is being controlled by some sort of super being. You can influence Gus’ choices and help him develop certain traits by making use of the ESSENCE SYSTEM, which allows you to change his personality. It’s unclear how well this system works at this point, but it’s certainly interesting and engaging.

The combat is turn-based and pretty exciting as well, at least if you do not mind the slow pace of the action and the weird mechanics. You get used to it after a while, but it’s not as straightforward as it is in most other RPGs. The same goes for the graphics, which are pretty colored and enjoyable, except for when the glitches start and everything gets a tad difficult to make out.

In the end, only you can tell whether GLITCHED has what it takes to help you have fun, because the weird gameplay and story are definitely not everyone’s cup of team. On the other hand, it’s great to see developers try new things every once in awhile. Speaking of which, you can support the developers by backing the game’s Kickstarter campaign, or by voting for it on Steam Greenlight.