It’s increasingly rare for new games to feel unique, thanks to the pressures of an increasingly crowded marketplace that seems to favor iteration on old ideas over exploration of new ones. But a few minutes with Semispheres, during PAX South 2017, was enough to convince me Vivid Helix is bringing something new to the table later this month.
Semispheres is a “meditative parallel puzzle game” from the independent studio located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Metaphorical ground was broken for Semispheres during Ludum Dare 30, a 2014 game jam — multi-day events that see small teams of developers build even smaller video games — with “Connected Worlds” as its theme. But game designer Radu Muresan says the game’s mechanical roots can be traced back to a cult classic from the last console generation. A game many Semispheres players may have missed when it debuted.
“The game was inspired by Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons,” Muresan said. “One of the things that confused me was when they switched sides on the screen and the right-stick controlled character would be on the left side of the screen. So I decided to fix that by constraining each of the characters into their own world.”
In Semispheres, players guide a pair of jellyfish-like creatures through a series of stages that require a combination of precise timing and critical thinking. Some scenarios mimic the stealth gameplay while others require clever use of ability nodes scattered throughout the map. The demo being shown at PAX South only included a few stages, each intended to familiarize players with a basic mechanic, but Muresan says the launch build of Semispheres includes more than 50 levels. Vivid Helix expects most players to finish the game in two or three hours, depending on how quickly they figure out the game’s toughest puzzles, but the studio doesn’t expect anyone to get stuck for long. Serving up seemingly impossible challenges is pretty much the opposite of the studio’s goal for Semispheres.
“The game gets a bit harder during the later stages,” Muresan confirmed. “But the music and the whole environment, the background, everything is meant to soothe and get you immersed.”
Semispheres hits Steam and the PlayStation Network later this month. Vivid Helix isn’t currently planning a physical release for the game; however, Xbox One owners interested in the studio’s meditative puzzle game can look forward to seeing it on Xbox Live later this year. And those who already know they enjoy Vivid Helix’s take on the puzzle genre, thanks to numerous convention appearances over the last few years, might like to know Muresan is already thinking about what’s next for Semispheres.
“I definitely have more ideas for the game. It’s just that there’s only so much time,” Muresan told iDigi. “There’s different abilities I think I can add to the game. Whether that’s going to be a DLC kind of thing or Semispheres 2, I’ll have to see.”
For an early look at Semispheres , take a few minutes to watch the game’s launch trailer. Then head down to the comments section and let us know if Semispheres is the sort of puzzle game you could see yourself getting lost in when it debuts later this month.
Semispheres is in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game hits PSN and Steam on Valentine’s Day. Semispheres will head to Xbox Live sometime later this year.
