Astroslugs Preview

Astroslugs

A “polyomino” is a geometric shape that’s made up of one or more squares. The most famous is probably the domino, which is made up of two. It was Tetris that first convinced us that arranging such shapes into perfect rows could be immensely fun, and since then dozens of developers have offered their own unique spins on the concept. The latest is Astroslugs, an upcoming puzzler from indie studio Bit Barons.

In Astroslugs, you’re presented with a empty grid and a list of polyomino shapes that have to be fit into the playfield in such a way that no gaps are left behind. It starts off easy, with only a handful of simple shapes, but the difficulty gradually increases to include more complex shapes, rotation, mirroring and overlapping.

The “fitting shapes into a container” concept is one that pops up every so often as a mini-game in hidden object and adventure games, so it’s one that we had seen before. However, we really liked the way Bit Barons has streamlined the game’s controls. Instead of clicking on a shape and dragging it into the playfield, you can simply drawn the shape directly in the playfield by dragging the mouse. (And if you want to delete the object, just re-draw over it and it disappears.)

Here’s what Bit Barons CEO Alexander Zacherl had to say:

“If you compare the game to building said IKEA cupboard, you will soon notice three things: First: It’s hopefully way more fun. Second: This time it’s true that anyone can do it. Third: It will last much longer than the cubpoard. Finishing the game is quite a daunting task. There’s nearly fifty puzzles in the story line that will take you all around the Astroslugs home world. And should you be one of those who beat this challenge, there will be even more challenges to discover”

After the game launches, Bit Barons will also be releasing an update that lets players create their own puzzles and share them with the Astroslugs community. The game will be launching for PC and Mac.

Erin Bell