Check out this 3D puzzle game, PHOGS!, by developer Bit Loom Games and publisher Coatsink, featuring two dogs pieced together like Nickelodeon’s Cat-Dog. If you want a positive, feel-good environment, I would definitely recommend this title. I’ve had a good time with it, and if you want to share this experience with a casual gamer friend or even your own children, I’m sure they will also enjoy themselves.
The premise of PHOGS! seems to be a cooperative puzzle solving game with level progression and collectables (in the form of golden doggy treats). You can play by yourself, using both analogs and bumpers to control each puppy’s head, or you can play couch co-op with someone else and struggle together in plenty of whacky situations.
The level design is impressive in my opinion. You might not feel that way in the very beginning, because PHOGS! uses two icons to teach you how to interact with controller. Once you play other levels, you will encounter other scenarios that don’t seem obvious at first, but what you need to do is subtly given to you.
I have one great example in mind. There is a nighttime scene where you encounter life size teddy bears, bugs with instruments, and large plushy giants trying to sleep. Earlier in the level we learned that we can bypass dark barriers by shining a light onto it and that we can solidify other barriers with the same method. A giant plushy guy dreams of a door, and we can see it and even touch it. The problem is we are barred from opening it. So how do we wake him up? SPOILER: We find a living alarm clock hidden behind a dark barrier, but there is a series of barrier we need to selectively shine the light on in order to guide the clock to the plushy guy. We apply what we learned and keep building upon it. It’s very intuitive.
You can also do little side hustles for the inhabitants of this surreal world. You can walk up to a teddy and let it pet you, you can light a lantern for a bug with a banjo and he’ll play you a song (and pay you with a dog treat), and you can get an owl its bedside literature. These little things made me feel good for completing despite being a part of a Pavlovian simulation. I felt as though I was interacting with this mini world, more so than in other straight-forward puzzle games. I don’t have any children, but I could see this being a cool experience for them.
The design is nice. It looks like a low poly featured game to me, and there are many assets reused in a way that no one would give it a second thought. The animations and sound effects work well together. Lighting is interesting because, like I mentioned, it can be used as a level progressive tool. My favorite scene is rowing a rowboat with a banjo-playing bug toward the smiling moon and that only required a minimal amount of effort – but it was such a strong finish to a level.
My only criticisms for PHOGS! come in small nitpicks. There were moments that I inadvertently got stuck between world objects and had to go to pause menu and respawn. The only other thing is that when one puppy head goes off the side of a ledge it almost seems entirely improbably to pull it back. It’s not impossible, but I would like to see if there’s a better way to pull that rigid body back from the edge. Or I’ll just respawn. I would just say it pulls me out of the game for a brief moment because I don’t want my other half to fall into the abyss (and me subsequently).
Overall though, I would give PHOGS! a 9 out of 10. If you thought a three-legged race was interesting, go get your friend or loved one and live out your fantasies of being a conjoined puppy with another puppy. You may be surprised with how quickly you can clear levels and think “one more” every time.
Check Out the PHOGS! Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://playphogs.com/
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I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.
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