The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup

One of, if not, the most polished indie game I've ever seen. Puzzles are fantastic, music and ambient sounds are great, the narration is very well done also. I hope this game gets seen a lot more because it deserves it.

[i]"It's like Bioshock and Soma had a baby, and it was delivered by Banjo-Kazooie and raised on a steady diet of Lemmings and Creatures."[/i] Rusty Pup is, less glibly, a grim yet adorable (grimdorable?) brainteaser where you guide a cute (if somewhat dimwitted) little robot puppy from point A to point B across a forbidding underground industrial hellscape, picking up curious cubic brains as you go. Comparisons to Lemmings and Creatures are not made in jest: levels are replete with deadly traps which will make short work of Rusty, and manipulating the environment - and Rusty's own behavior - is your primary means of ensuring his survival. Rusty will frequently land atop crates containing platform pieces with various properties: stone builds fast but crumbles easily, metal conducts electricity and is difficult (but not impossible) to break, etc.. Needless to say, bridging gaps is only the most obvious use you will put them to. Rusty is also terrified of the dark and will avoid it when he can; fortunately, the underground is full of lights you can turn on or off to influence where he goes (or, alternately, where he [i]doesn't[/i] go). Other gimmicks, gadgets, and creatures will by turns help Rusty along or attempt to inflict grievous harm on him, such as teleporters, crushers, bombs, elevators, and the omnipresent Wats, (mostly) harmless wanderers who wake up when Rusty draws near and tend to make his life (and yours) [i]interesting.[/i] Adding character to the game are its dueling, rhyming narrators, one a sing-song saccharine voice offering encouragement, the other a cackling heckler who eagerly mocks your failures. However they might sound on paper, they're easily one of the presentation's shining features, offering not just their personalities but also tantalizing hints of a story thread. On that note, the storytelling in this game is delightfully subtle: most of it is through the environment and the occasional hint dropped by the narrators, but there is also the parallel thread of the story told through - of all things - the level titles, the true significance of which doesn't become apparent until you reach the end of the game. The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup is a hidden gem, and I can only hope it gets more love as it spreads to other platforms. I'll miss delving through the underground with him and his gently bickering companions, but I'm glad I was able to find a happy ending at the conclusion of the tale (or should I say...[i]tail?[/i] ;)).

GREAT game must buy thank you <3

So far it's all pretty surreal and amazing, on top of a solid gameplay foundation. As someone who built a fansite for (among other things) the Mario vs Donkey Kong games, this game is like a dream come true :) Rusty wakes down a storm drain during an air raid and seems to be caught up in a conflict between two talking voices, one of which follows Rusty around and narrates, the other which interacts with Rusty via various giant eyeballs scattered around. New areas are gated off via giant vault doors guarded by eyebots, which will only let you pass if you've collected and stored a requisite number of these odd cubes of brainmatter you can find lying around in jars, and which must be cached via flushing them down equally scattered around toilets. The world map offers some limited fast travel, but serves more as an indicator of which area has brains left to collect and how many brains are needed to unlock new areas. It's a bit like Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, in that it's got Metroidvania "unlock new stuff and backtrack" elements, but is split up into individual "levels", with fast travel points every couple of levels. You have very little control over Rusty himself, but can influence his path via interacting with the environment with your severed doll hand cursor. He's afraid of the dark, so you can influence his path by turning on and off lights in some instances. He also has a winddown ticker, which ticks faster when he's in the dark and scared. There's so far little clock thingy buddies that will temporarily halt his tickdown as they tickdown, and large clockwork rats that act as portable light sources (and trap triggerers heh). I know later on you also get access to that smelly sock item that allows you to lead Rusty around to a degree. There's also a simple 'building' mechanic, where you can lay down bricks or planks and whatnot. Some types of platform you put down will crumble after Rusty has passed over them, while others will hold fast and become permanent. I'm still early days yet in the game, so I don't know if there's even more types of materials to be found later on. lots of trial and error, lots of dying and trying again. I think the fastest I've gotten through one of the non-tutorial levels was like five tries. I've noticed that depending on how you died, Rusty's former broken body will still be lying wherever he fell in the level, making a nice "oh so this is where I croaked it" experience. Levels even this early on are beginning to have a decent amount of "I can't have my camera focused on Rusty the whole time because I need to be elsewhere in the level laying down bricks", so little signposts like the bodies help you pinpoint which areas you need to puzzle out when you've got Rusty on a safe stretch where you're reasonably sure he won't die while you look away for a bit. The two voices (one helpful, one hurtful) speak in sing-songy rhymes, and sort of leave cryptic hints about what's going on or what you should do next, while telling you not to listen to the other one heh. I've only briefly glimpsed the surface area, as one early level has you passing just underneath it, but I'm eager to get up there and see some of the Parashoot Stan references from the trailer, like Ottershaw's Toys, or that area where Baron Von Bully has apparently written up plans on a chalkboard. The air was filled with blimps and planes, so it looks like the war is still on. Even though I don't really know what's going on yet with the story, but I'm really enjoying the game so far. Everything from the aesthetic to the familiar voicework to the mechanics and the puzzles which aren't in the least handholdy but never feel unjustly punishing, this is a good well-crafted title. Can't wait to see what more of the game holds!

This is a clever little game! The atmosphere is spooky, the puzzles engaging, and Rusty is a good little pup.

After putting in +10 hours and reaching roughly half-way completion, I can confidently say this is what a puzzle game should be. A polished, challenging thinking game that gives you a proper sense of pride and accomplishment, without hand-holding, grinding exp, currencies, all that bosh. And a lovely aesthetic and charm to top it all off. You must hold, drag and drop objects to guide Rusty Pup—your adorable protagonist—through many detailed and dangerous steampunk environments, collecting Brains and flushing them down a toilet to progress to new levels. Everything can be done with one hand, which along with the slow pace, makes it very relaxing to play. New mechanics and narration is drip-fed to you as you progress and gain more understanding of Rusty Pup's world, which is brought to life through brilliant 2D visuals and eerie sound design. Now for the criticism. This game requires patience, and beating levels is very much akin to learning the notes of a song, remembering mistakes as you redo the first steps of a level repeatedly until you figure out the final solution. This can be frustrating for those that hate repetition. Early parts of the game can visually feel like a page of Where's Wally, as you try to diffrentiate what is interactive and what isn't. More than one clear solution would have been welcome for earlier levels too, to help someone ease in more comfortably and stick around for the harder parts. Overall the game is pure, beautiful, and littered with charming humour that adds to the fun. Give it a go!

Gorgeous Art, Challenging Puzzles, Chilling Atmosphere. A grim yet sweet puzzler in the style of Lemmings from the creator of Conker's Bad Fur Day. Sweet little Indie Game!

slower paced puzzle game with great visuals and atmoshpere, but its also a bit overwhelming when youre just starting. i had no idea what i was suppose to look for, and it might require a bit of trial and error for both learning the mechanics and seeing what you actually gotta do.

Despite not playing it for long, I'm already in love with the aesthetics and the way the story is told.

I love this game! It's a puzzle platformer that plays a lot like Lemmings except your focus is entirely on Rusty Pup, but that doesn't mean it's easy! You have to help guide Rusty Pup to the end of the level by building platforms and manipulating the environment (ie turning on lights, flipping levers, etc..). Levels may seem incredibly difficult at first, but most of the time there are other simpler ways of getting around and that's what makes Rusty Pup so fun. I've played Lemmings and later levels just had too many variables to deal with, but Rusty Pup is quick and simple yet still challenging. I love the atmosphere and the music and I highly recommend this game. So grab a drink and some snacks, get that brain working and have fun with Rusty Pup!