Patchman vs. Red Circles

Possibly the first Linux/SteamOS timed exclusive? Very quirky and unique game. Personally I love it! You Start off as Patchman, who sets off to Rid the world of junk food, and feed people homegrown fruit, so that they may literally ascend. While the levels aren't huge, they can become difficult and requires a bit of planning to get through each level. Tip: if you get lost in the first level, just turn on Hints under the Settings menu, Update: Since I'm currently (8/11/15) the sole review for this game, I decided to add a bit more objective info about the game. The game is a sneak style game, where you're required to grow items and sneak them into the sheeple's fridges. Pros: Decent consistent artwork style Great music Objectives are straightfoward in most levels Requires strategy to progress through levels, making it engaging. Cons: Camera will automatically zoom back into the player after being zoomed out. Since it is Early Access, the game is currently limited to 5 levels. At times, it lacks conveyance of in-game mechanics. The level will totally reset if you die. Levels do not have any checkpoint system, making recollecting the needed items a pain if you fail. Neutral: With the limited set of levels, the game uses difficulty as a way to limit the player's progression. While the first 2 levels are straightforward, some players may find this game either too difficult or near impossible. This is especially true in the last two of the five levels, which require a good deal of strategy and/or luck.

[h1]Introduction[/h1] It’s been a while since I played and reviewed an indie game that defies conventional descriptions. In this particular case, the genre is harder to pin down than the title’s main or secondary topics. Patchman vs. Red Circles is the Steam debut and so far only project from Naturally Intelligent. This is one developer who wanted to wrap his environmental and healthcare concerns in a funny, albeit quirky video game that won’t really feel judgemental at any point either. A very fine line exists between conveying your message as a noteworthy warning and being overcritical. I have to say that the naming conventions on this particular title, are quite baffling. Both in-game and on the Steam Store page, it occasionally appears as “Don’t Be Patchman vs. Red Circles”. To be or not to be, is that the question, Naturally Intelligent? [h1]Story[/h1] I also have to admit that it took me over an hour to figure Patchman out. Even the title itself makes little sense until you reach the first few levels. Nevermind the protagonist, the action, locations and foes, all seem to point towards voluntary confusion. It’s not a level design oversight, the game really is meant to be played without even a bare minimum in terms of introduction or future explanations. Players control a titular Patchman. A walking, stuffed purple doll which is trying to understand its purpose, just as the players struggle to understand what’s going on. Patchman has a grandmother apparently. She looks like a frog and gets kidnapped by a mysterious tractor beam. We can only hope that it’s not probe-loving aliens, that took her away. It already feels like a Lewis Carroll sketch at this point. The abductors are a mechanical race of laser-shooting drones that remind me of Pokémon’s Electrodes. They seem to be controlled by an evil cyborg which hates nature for some reason. Between these hovering spheres and our courageous purple hero, the main objective appears to be the salvation of the “Sheeple”. Yes, they really are called so in-game. Frog-like beings which have an abnormal appetite for junk food. Patchman has to convince them to switch to a fruit-based diet, while the drones shall try to prevent this. I’m lost for words. Is this a prequel of sorts to 2006’s Idiocracy? Granny is also a Sheeple, but she wasn’t force-fed anything. I get it that “sheeple” is a derogatory term for individuals which are easily manipulated, but what does junk food have to do with mind control? And how are fruits going to revert this and represent “salvation”? Just move along with the flow, don’t try to read too much into this nonsensical plot. Patchman has his work cut out for himself. Between tearing down “evil posters” which warn against the consumption of fruit, to planting seeds, watering the trees and inexplicably harvesting the aforementioned fruits in the span of several seconds, I seem to understand where Patchman vs. Red Circles is aiming at. It takes potshots at our unhealthy habits, most likely. Are those cyborgs supposed to represent the corporations behind mass-produced burgers, soft drinks and so on? You should just cut the middleman and eliminate corn syrup from the equation. Along with exaggerated consumption of saturated fats, salt and many chemicals which are sadly regarded as adequate consumables nowadays. Look, I’m not the Surgeon General. Feel free to chug, gulp or devour anything you wish, I won’t judge. This game does that on its own but we’re still here for the ride. Male Sheeple prefer apples while females love oranges, for some reason. Despite claiming that it’s showcasing an environmentally friendly message, Patchman vs. Red Circles offers its titular chararacter, all sort of farming tools and even a good ol’ fashioned axe. You’ll be cutting your way through foliage, while trying to escape the deadly laser shots fired by the drones or the motherships’s massive laser beams that erase everything in their path. Deforestation never looked better! As for the scenery and the visual diversity, most levels occur outdoors alongside several cabins. Late-game sections involve industrial buildings with even more deadly traps scattered around. [h1]Graphics[/h1] I never heard of Moai SDK before, so ModDB clued me in. Patchman vs. Red Circles is powered by an obscure graphics engine that you’re more likely to find on mobile “games”. Yes, I’m definitely not a fan of those titles and yet the game I’m reviewing now is not shovelware or a time-waster, like most things you’d play on your tablet or smartphone just to avoid an awkward waiting period. Moai is nowhere near as popular as Unity or RPG Maker, Flixel and so on, yet I admit that it looks more than decent while rendering Patchman. Indeed, 2D graphics all the way, along with various zoom levels. Those sprites and visual effects are adequate, I only met one crash during the transition from a level to another (no game progress was lost) and it all scaled perfectly to my screen’s native resolution. I had to toggle the “Override high DPI scaling behavior” by right-clicking the game’s executable -> Properties -> Compatibility tab. Sure, having a resolution selector from the in-game Options menu would have helped, but this is PC gaming. If a title’s not featuring at least a single unnecessary complication, it’s not worth playing it! [h1]Audio[/h1] Wouldn’t I love filling this section with all the wonderful time I spent, just relaxing over Patchman’s soundtrack, professional voice acting and general sound effects which kept me on the edge of my seat! You guessesd it, none of that ever happened. Not even the exact opposite, since there would have to be sounds in the first place, for me to complain about their inferior quality. Not the current case. Even mall elevators feature an award-winning repertoire when compared to the simplistic tunes which represent “music” in Patchman vs. Red Circles. Don’t bother looking for voice acting either. Only subtitles for all the conversations with the various NPCs that won’t shoot Patchman on sight. Those are few though and the rest are simply sparing us of any wisdom. I don’t even want to imagine how those high-on-potato-chips-frogs would have sounded like. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] You should overlook the story and focus on the gameplay, which is Patchman’s saving grace. As weird as it looks, it features the right amount of challenge which never leads to rage-quitting. Make no mistake, the main character will succumb to those lasers quite often but instead of restarting the entire level and losing any current items from the inventory, the game cuts us some slack in this regard. Before you can convince the Sheeple of abandoning junk food (which seems to be stored within refrigerators, as an infinite supply), you have to grow apple or orange trees, harvest the fruits and eliminate the posters that warn Sheepla against your good intentions. Easier said than done, since those brainwashed frogs will call out their robotic overlords, the moment they spot you. The key to success lies in observing the patrol patterns of both target types and following closely in their footsteps. I could summarize that at least partially, Patchman vs. Red Circles is a stealth game. A platformer it is not, despite the frequency with which you’ll have to dodge foes, jump across obstacles and use the terrain to your advantage. It’s funny how a dark purple doll could hide perfectly in a flower bush that could be red or pink. Perhaps the drones rely on motion detection, rather than chromatic aberration. Each level features a high score at its end, so dying or taking too long to complete the section will incur penalties. [h1]Verdict, Summary & Rating are below in the Comment Section.[/h1]

The game is a little hidden gem, especially if you like some shrouded mysteries with [spoiler]dystopian[/spoiler] theme. Despite it, while the game is funny and suitable to all ages, don't mistake it for your usual casual game! It actually have more in common with Super Meat Boy with some levels being ridiculously hard, especially later down the road. Sure, it is beatable, but if you crank the difficulty to hard or aim for some achievements, some levels will get you annoyed until you finally beat it ;). The game originally launched as a Linux-exclusive after being kickstarted, but is available multiplafrorm now. At the time of review only episode 1 is available with 2 in works. Despite a few odd bogs and inconsistency in gameplay mechanics (which were tweaked over time and probably will be further polished), the game runs fine and is perfectly completable at the current state (it left Early Access after all!) – comparing to the previous builds, you can definitely see the work being put onto it :). The developer is helpful too – since the playerbase is small and the game was made on basically a custom engine, it's likely that whatever the bug you encounted will get resolved and your suggestions will get through, so you can have a direct influence making the game better, which is something I personally really like :). Overall, while not ideal, I'd definitely recommend the game, especially for it's current price and even less on a sale! It's also available on Humble Bundle for those wanting a DRM-free build aside your usual Steam key.

Updated Review: If you want a game that is quirky and different then this is the game for you. It's a little hard to describe/explain the game. The main levels involve tearing down posters and filling fridges with healthy food for brain-washed-junk-food-eating sheeple, without getting spotted. However I can say that this isn't a game for everyone it's defintely an aquired taste (for lack of better words).

Works well on ubuntu linux, no issues at all. Controller works well, and the developer made a special patch to handle disconnects. (See comment below!) Patchman's gameplay is a bit loose, a bit silly, and not immediately obvious. Still, I liked this game a lot better than similar titles that aim for humor. This one seems to have a lot more polish and a more serious attempt to get the level designs right. That said, there is a lots of gameplay repitition: non-stop growing fruit, avoiding drones, and moving that fruit. The game's real strength is the charming main character and even the dystopian game world. I appreciated the message, especially through the cutscenes portrayed within the in-game comic book pages. This is a different type of game, in some ways a throwback, in someways trying out a new style. There is a demo on the KS page, and you can try a slice of the gameplay. My recommendation is try the demo first before purchasing.

Mind-bending, bizarre, FUN game. I'm playing the Linux version and this is just blowing my mind. Indescribable, retro but new, beautiful soundtrack. Stylish. Basically, PLAY THIS GAME.

I really like the concept: the sheeple are being brainwashed by TV and copious propaganda and it's up to you to free them. Instead of picking up power-ups and weapons, you have to grow them (as fruit which you can eat). I'm really looking foreward to seeing what's in store for Patchman in the future episodes. The comic strip is a great new feature and I am curious about what sinister plan the Drones have going on... The art style is unique and the music fits the levels (and comic strips) quite well.

I took a chance on this one, which popped up in my discovery queue. I can now say it's my favorite game in the "stealth farming" genre, and I can recommend it to those who are looking for something weird and endearing. The graphics style reminds me of good old DOS games or early Windows 95 ones such as Lemmings Paintball. The soundtrack is excellently chosen to complement the style. If you're put off by stories about freeing the brainwashed masses, ones named "Sheeple" for that matter, I wouldn't worry about it. This game doesn't hit you over the head with some obnoxious message along those lines. Instead it draws you in and charms you, taking the timeless values of care for the environment, healthy eating, and not being controlled by the media or machines, and presents them in the most playful way. This game makes me want to eat more oranges. To date, only one episode is complete out of four, and the game design has a lot of rough edges. Expect to stumble through the first few levels and deal with a steep difficulty curve, even on normal. But the developer is listening and working on it, and the future is promising.

I'm so glad the Windows Beta is finally available! I was a backer on kickstarter and I've been looking forward to playing this game for a while now. This is a fun and charming puzzle game, with some really clever mechanics. The levels that I've played so far can be very difficult at first, but stick with it! Once you figure out how to solve the levels, they are tense and exciting and very satisfying. Also, I appreciate the art style - there is no game out there that I know of that looks like this.

[h1][b]Not Recommended[/b][/h1]