xoEl Demo

Simple gameplay mechanics can be combined to obtain a pretty difficult game, at least if the development team has enough imagination. However, simplicity has its price, and it’s also important that the mechanics are also functional at the same time. Thus, simple games are anything but simple to design, at least if you want to attract a big audience.

xoEl is a 3D platformer with a few interesting ideas, especially when it comes to gameplay. In essence, the goal is to move around from tile to tile until you find a gap, which leads you down to the next platform. Things get tougher after each level, since more traps make an appearance, and the levels also get more intricate, design-wise.

The story talks about an evil empire by the name of xoEI, which tries to take over the galaxy and transform every species into cubes. You play with one of these creatures, a creature called Yabbie. Yabbie’s special power is that he can roll around, a thing that’s extremely rare for a cube, and he uses this power to make a run for it and escape from the evil empire.

Although the cube can pass through the holes in the floor with ease in the beginning, later levels make things a bit more difficult. Hence, you need to make the cube of a certain color in order to pass through certain holes, so you really need to think about a specific path when it comes to navigating the stages. However, the demo is pretty simple in this regard.

Speaking of which, the graphics are fairly basic as well, given the fact that all you can see are cubes and floating platforms. There are not many textures decorating the environment, and the low number of polygons means that the game should run on very old computers. There’s not much of a soundtrack at the moment, unfortunately, but more content is on the way.

In the end, xoEl is really up to something, especially when it comes to the quality of the puzzles and the level design. Hence, this is certainly worth keeping an eye on if you are a fan of platformers, but the developers need your help in order to finish the game, and you can do that by supporting their Kickstarter project.