Quick Review: On Rusty Trails

The hate between the reds and the blues... it’s gotta stop, man. The skies are literally falling on our heads.

See Elvis? He's the triangle. Down there.
Wait, I'll get the magnifying glass...

Black Pants Studio presents On Rusty Trails, released on June 13th, 2016. It is the story of Elvis, a triangular little (and I do mean little) red robot whose home gets destroyed during a shower of deadly green meteorites. Thankfully, the house was still under warranty, so he hurries off to get a brand new one from the factory. There’s only one problem. Well… two. First, there’s an intense hatred between his kin and the blue tentacular blobs, who begrudgingly coexist in a world that tries to accommodate all but just ends up making it dangerous for both; and second, the meteorites haven’t stopped falling.

In this tough 2D puzzle platformer, Elvis has a lot of skills. The first: As far as platforming protagonists go, Elvis has incredible mobility. Maybe he’s a robot with magnetic feet, I dunno; but he can stick to all four sides of any surface. You thus control him on solid ground, up walls, even under the cubes. Takes some getting used to, but it's a major element.

At least the blue costume fools everyone.

The second skill is gained early on: A “blue creature” suit that he can put on or take off in an instant. This allows him to walk incognito among the blue creatures. However, it’s not used to get through racial conflicts between the red triangles and blue beasts; no, it’s more that this world is a deadly goddamn mess. Most platforming elements are made either for one or for the other. Elvis can swap between his red and blue forms at the press of the tab key, and radically changes the game each time.

Laser good? Only when I'm red.

Red platforms are only solid for his red form, and vice versa for the blue. While red, Elvis can walk through lava and even pass lasers without an issue, but waterfalls will instantly kill him. Meanwhile, the blue suit allows him to survive under the same waterfalls but makes him vulnerable to lava and lasers. Thus, to progress, you have to regularly swap between the two forms, which switches both the platforms available and the deadly hazards on the way. This even applies to the elevator at the end of every stage – you’re in the blue form, the elevator asks for red? You can’t come in.

Oh, and remember when I said that the green meteorites haven’t stopped falling? Yeah, doesn’t matter which form you’re in; you touch ‘em, you’re dead. Keep in mind that Elvis dies in one hit. Oh, and sometimes, those green things move, as well. Good luck. You’ll need it. Needless to say, things only get harder and harder from there.

I'm starting to feel a little more worried that, not only are
those green things still around, someone is turning them into
moving hazards in the neighborhood.

And the rain clouds move of their own free will?
Half the people in this world die from water!
I wanna speak to the manager of this universe!

On Rusty Trails is a game that’s highly stylized, looking great and having great music to accompany what we have on the screen. There’s a good amount of variety topping the basic concept here. One thing I do criticize about the look of the game is that, sometimes, we’re zoomed out from the game, and in those cases, Elvis is so small that we can barely see him on the screen. Makes it tricky to avoid hazards. The themes are pretty clear and the story goes to interesting places; after Elvis goes through a neighborhood that’s a failed attempt at having reds and blues living together (as evidenced by billboards encouraging it having been vandalized repeatedly), he enters the factory… and something even fishier is going on in there.

There's even the occasional puzzle-based boss
battle in there, as well!

There’s a fantastic complexity to the system here – even if it’s just about switching between two forms, this changes the world considerably every time you do. Very frequently, you face hazards that force you to switch literally for a split second, the time to get past it and return to the other form. Speed is encouraged, with each stage keeping track of your time and comparing it to literally everyone else who's ever played through it (thousands of players). The puzzle aspect is all about getting to the goal, which can be very tricky between all the red and blue platforms and the deadly green meteorites, and figuring out the right timing. The difficulty is high. It’s definitely a game for someone seeking a challenge. If that sounds like what you’d like, by all means, do check it out!

On Rusty Trails is available on Steam for 14.99$ USD.