Premiering with Humble Monthly’s latest bundle, Morphblade is the newest game from Gunpoint developer Tom Francis. But while Gunpoint was all about wall climbing, window smashing, and Rube Goldberg-esque hacking chains, Morphblade is a much more subdued compact game, a roguelike distilled to the peer strategy of movement and positioning. Each move expands the board, and in turn expands your toolset, as you face increasingly challenging waves of enemies.
Your hexagonal battleground is comprised of various tiles, each one granting you a specific ability while you’re on that tile. The hammer will smash a single bug-like enemy in front of you, the blades will strike adjacent foes, the teleport lets you jump to any spot on the grid, and so on. Killing bugs upgrades those tiles, letting you imbue a tile’s ability with the additional powers. Survive long enough and that teleport might also heal you and let you take out three enemies all in one move.
You’ll need to plan every move, and consider how best to combine powers, to overcome Morphblade‘s relentless bugs; each type challenges you in new ways, from long-range snipers and armored ones that must be melted with acid to flying bugs that can move two spaces at once. A poorly-planned move can easily led to being trapped in an impossible situation, cornered with no decent options, if you don’t analyze the grid, predict enemy actions, and figure safe spots and effective use of your abilities.
Morphblade is available for $ 4.99 on Steam, or in the March Humble Monthly Bundle if you’re a subscriber.
