#wirm

After Isopod, Sbug Games has put out one more bug game to date. This time, the subject is an annelid; an earthworm. A smaller scale operation with a smaller team, the premise here is not a trek through the Aussie bush to cooperate with other bugs and have an adventure, but more a gameplay-focused high-difficulty physics simulator, although you do end up going on a slightly surreal journey along the way.

Have you played Snake Pass? Sumo Digital's fascinating 3D collectathon centred around the precise movement of a snake? (You should!) This is kind of like a stripped back, 2D version of that. Your worm has a "wriggle forth" button and a "stiffen unto rigidity" button, which have to be carefully managed to progress. It starts out with simple chomping through dirt, air gaps get introduced, and soon you're clambering between widely spaced and precariously placed rock formations above a raging torrent. Frequent checkpoints and a rapid respawn button help (a bit) to take the sting out of failure, but I soon found that progressing at all was like pulling teeth. If you're into this kind of super-challenging ragebait climbing experience, this could keep you busy for a while...

But luckily, the menu contains a vaguely-labelled assist modifier, which can add up to four pips that boost your worm's powers of momentum and control! This was the key to me actually enjoying the game, because it then becomes more of an exploration experience with a goofy movement system. Your path forward frequently branches, and I can’t imagine how long all the doubling back and backtracking would take without the assist mode, but I had a grand time squirming around in a zippy fashion.

As you climb higher you’ll find gimmicks like tyre swings, clouds you can float through, and eventually cannons that fire you into the sky. Soon your worm flies off into space, where gravity starts playing tricks like a microgravity section or planetoids that you rotate around. The ultimate goal is simply to progress until you find the credits, but there’s also sparkles in some dirt patches that hide unique collectibles, from Australiana like our defunct two-cent coin, to references to past Sbug games, among other trash and treasure. Since there’s no fast travel or in-game map, I made frequent use of Jumper’s Steam guide and map just to get my bearings or track down hidden items I was missing.