PEGBRJE: Sandcastles and Adventure of a Radish
Happy games only thanks.
Sandcastles is a small creation title made by Vectorpark, indie dev extraordinaire as their latest creation back in 2017. If the name sounds familiar, that would be thanks to the two previous iterations within the bundle of Metamorphabet and Windosill. For this title, however, the minimalism is at its peak, for there is only one thing to do; create and watch something destroy.
Players will be given a small patch of sand to happily work with, using their mouse to click and drag castles out of the sand and into weird shapes of their choosing. Bend them, twist them, straighten them, readjust them afterwards, and marvel at the work that I’d be jealous of since sand rarely works with me to create something in the real world. If the crenulated/western tops aren’t to liking, there are many other styles to choose from in the top menu, allowing for dozens of different combinations. Since no two sandcastle will look identical thanks to the vector creation, there’s an endless amount of cute sandcastles to create. Aaand then watch as the water comes in and slowly destroys all of them before the tide goes out.
There’s no saving the sandcastles once the tide comes in; holding on to them just delays the inevitable of their demise. It’s sad, but like with all things it must be done to clean the slate and start again. Celebrate the ease of creation that was given, and once the castles have died build them again in a different way and see what new creation can be made. Enjoy the soothing melody of the sea since we really can’t do that right now. Everything about this game was designed to be small, repeatable and soothing, to allow for anyone who needs a break to simply drag sandcastles from a flat surface and watch them spiral into the sand once wet. There is no true reason to play, but that doesn’t stop me from leaving it on in the background to just listen — and when I need a small break, create a few sandcastles and watch them fall once again.
If that sounds like break you need, grab this title and relax to the ocean.
Adventure of a Radish is a cute platformer made by SorcererGameLab, indie dev and asset artist, with music Nicole Marie T and featuring a small vegetable on a quest to collect all of the items, crush all of the baddies, and enjoy a good retro time.
Players only need to worry about the stardard WASD and spacebar for controls as they explore this 2D world. Each region is entered via a door — reminiscent to the older arcade adventures — and features many characters for the player to stomp for the golden coin-esque flora. After 3 doors have been cleared, the boss is opened up and available to take on; if defeated, the player is able to go to the next region and continue forward. There are also other items that players may run into, such as the ‘orange’ which unlocks hidden pathways within the level, and the ‘radish coin’ which teleports the little protagonist out and away to a bonus level to gain more points or hearts.
It’s not a complicated game, nor does it wish to be — all the Adventure of a Radish wants is to be an homage to the titles that came before it while offering an environment of comfortability and relaxation. The music and artstyle are both adorably fun to watch and jump around in and draw players into their world with each new region. It doesn’t take long, but it’s a fun and simple title for anyone that is either looking to relive some of the older days of gaming, or perhaps for younger players wishing to find games that have low barriers to entry in all departments. Hope you enjoy being a radish!
