14 DAY TRIAL // Nowadays, many new independent games coming from small teams go back in time several decades and bring back iconic genres. From side-scrolling shooters, to puzzle platformers, and so on, plenty of fresh games just bring old ideas. One particular old-school genre is the brick-breaking one which isn't so popular with independent studios right now.
Dutch team Crimson Owl Studios wants to prove that there's still life in the old genre with its new project – Caromble. The title is now in Steam Early Access and promises to not only take the old genre and modernize it but also add a few fresh ideas in order to draw in new fans.
Does Caromble manage to make a good first impression or should its bricks be broken? Let's have a quick look.
Brick breaking evolved in interesting ways
Right from the beginning, Caromble makes a pretty good impression with its visual style. Instead of going abstract or cartoonish, Crimson Owl has managed to bring a more realistic perspective. Instead of bricks you're controlling a platform and guiding a ball into boxes, barrels, containers, and other industrial elements, throughout a very peculiar warehouse.
While things stay pretty colorful throughout the different levels included in the Early Access build, the floor textures do get a bit tedious to look at.
In terms of gameplay, Caromble sticks to the tried-and-true brick-breaking mechanics. You control a platform that moves from left to right on the bottom of the screen and try to clear out a stage by guiding a ball and smashing into objects. Once you've cleared most of it, a portal opens and takes you and your ball to the next area. Do this several times and you'll get a pretty interesting boss encounter.
Right now, Caromble has four story stages and two skill unlockable skill levels. For the final version, the game promises 24 story stages, many other skill-based maps, and other such things.
Powerups are fairly standard, ranging from extra balls, to wider or narrower platforms, to charged shots. The sensitivity of the actual platform isn't all that great, so make sure you change the mouse sensitivity. This does have the adverse effect of making the mouse way too fast in the menus.
The Early Access build also has a few performance problems and Crimson Owl notes that it's yet ready to fully optimize the game, so things will get better in the future.
Even so, Caromble is looking quite good in its Early Access version and should delight both brick-breaking fans as well as newcomers. You can check it out right now via Steam. You can also admire a short gameplay video and some screenshots below.
