Quick Review: Verlet Swing

I’ve already made my opinion on vaporwave music clear – I’m indifferent, it’s chill and relaxing, but it’s not for me. Will this game make it click?

The end goal is that light peeking out from behind all those
Easter statues. Now, swing through, and reach it!

Created by Flamebait Games and released on September 18th, 2018, Verlet Swing is a puzzle and skill game. Controls are very simple: The left click button of the mouse to hook on to something on the screen, and WASD to move. Gameplay is just as simple: In each level, when you click a smooth object or surface, your first-person view hooks on to it and is sent swinging forwards. Let go of the button to let go of the swing, and click something else to carry yourself forward. Speed, velocity, and angle all factor into your next swing and how far you’ll fly. WASD is to “move” mid-swing to veer left or right, or speed up/slow down, to avoid touching things in your way. Why? Because touching anything other than the goal is instant death. Floor? Death. The ragged walls you can’t hook on? Death. Any object? Death.

Ironically, I think some early levels are harder than later
ones, simply because you are still learning the mechanics and
you're being put through incresingly tougher obstacle courses,
sometimes with many moving parts to keep track of.

But that’s okay, you’ve got endless tries and no penalties. It’s fast-paced, as every level can be finished in under 30 seconds – and most of them, under 10, if you know what you’re doing. But that’s the catch, isn’t it? The puzzle aspect is to figure out the optimal path to the end goal, and then pulling it off, which is easier said than done! You must calculate what you’re doing and let go of anchor points at the right time to swing how you need to. And then, grab the right item to swing further, or higher, while making sure you don’t hit the ground.

I don't know what the link is between vaporwave and food,
but this looks unappetizing. Like plastic facsimiles.
Which... may be entirely the point, I suppose.

Vaporwave tries to capture a nostalgic sensation for a nebulous ‘90’s-esque era that never quite existed as envisioned, music-wise; this follows in visual flair with iconography reminiscent of the era, be it technological items (floppy disks, CRT screens, arcade cabinets) or stuff computers could 3D-model (like basic shapes, teapots, statue heads, and the like). Those are combined to neon-colored environments, creating very peculiar levels. There’s a total of 100 levels across five worlds, each one with a theme (as an example, World 3, Nimis Non Laute, is based around food).

And if those aren’t enough, you can visit the Challenges section! You automatically unlock a Challenge about beating a whole world in sequence, with other tougher stints to unlock. Still not enough? You can design your own level and upload it. Or play those made by others!

Okay, I do get a kick out of the arcade cabinets showing
the name Polybius. That's clever.

Each level keeps track of your best times, so you can measure up against every other player to reach the leaderboard. Every stage includes up to four teapots, with tight time limits to get all four, often requiring finding quicker paths that demand extreme precision. The speedy gameplay focused on reaction time, figuring out the fastest and most direct path to the goal, and showing leaderboards, makes Verlet Swing a great “speedrun practice” kind of game. One that teaches the mindset.

Maybe it’s my lack of experience listening to vaporwave, as most of what I heard was in the slushwave sub-genre, and what I did hear used a lot of samplings and distorted jazz, but… the music in this game didn’t feel very close to what I heard of the genre? A quick search says it also dips into synthwave, where synthesizers are in focus – and, yes, that does feel a bit more like what I’ve been hearing.

World 5, comprised of levels 81 to 100, is where I hit
my limit (Level 83 specifically), but it was a fun ride
without too many annoyances up to that point.

This one turned out a lot more engaging than I thought it’d be! I was blinded by the vaporwave selling point when, really, we have here a test of skill and timing that’s worth trying. The aesthetics are an interesting part of it, but the levels are at their best when they have unique concepts, puzzles that force you to think outside the box, or design quirks that you can figure out and use to your advantage. The difficulty can vary wildly, all depending on a level’s number of moving parts, the twists and turns, and the current objective. You could finish some late stages in one try, and attempt others 50+ times before making the least bit of progress. But since most levels are kept short, it’s never an issue to try again! Not to mention, it creates an incentive to hunt down teapots and best times, and explore what other players have created in turn!

So yeah, a nice discovery here! So, if that concept intrigues you, you can find Verlet Swing on Steam for 14.99$ USD.