Spiralagon, nonviolent 3D platformer has launched on Steam for Windows PC.
It’s pronounced “Spy ral ah gon”. Spiralagon aims to stretch a player’s navigation through spiral checkpoint courses, build their high-score by collecting points, and then crush it all down to a moment in time when they realise they must immediately begin to make their escape to the finish gate. Time management is as important as navigational skill in the hazardous, vertically spiralled levels which are the basis for the name, Spiralagon.
Spiralagon can be played methodically, or manically, or somewhere in the middle. Game modes include Speed (checkpoint courses for speed-runners), Greed (points collecting for high scores), and SpeedGreed (simultaneous points collecting and checkpoint course). Spiralagon gives players the choice of First-Person, Third-Person, and Side-Scrolling views. Players can select any of the nine characters. Players can select time limits from 2:20 to 42:00. Players can select single levels, level zones, or the entire campaign. Levels include snowy high-altitude peaks (Apoxic Ascent), magma wells (Corpse’s Coil), large frozen cores (Icy Incursion), and a curious arrangement of HVAC items and elements (Hypotherm Hole). Each level impacts the player’s ability to survive, with conditions progressively sapping health in the extreme heights or depths of the levels. Characters have different speed and jump stats, and different resistances to the environments. Some have oxygen tanks, some have cold-weather suits, some have safety suits, and one has a tuxedo.
All a player has to do is take control of their speed and greed to ensure they make the finish gate before the clock runs out. Speed boosts, jump boost, and teleporting can make it a simple mission, but a misstep can ruin an entire campaign. Equally, the boosts and teleporting can produce a thrilling escape, even after the time-limit elapses, so long as they don’t touch the ground after the clock stops. That’s quite achievable with the low-gravity and super-human speeds Spiralagon allows.
For players not so interested in the challenge and stress of speed-runs or high scores, the game also includes options to disable time limits, health limits, or both (No Pressure mode).