When I first started the demo for Ugly, by developers Team Ugly and Graffiti Games, my mind immediately went to the classic Spongebob Squarepants quote of “I’m ugly and I’m proud!” The comparison is only furthered by our main character’s features, which I can describe as Squidward-esque, especially the nose. All jokes aside though, Ugly’s demo was a fun puzzle platformer that left me appreciating its colorful design and attention to detail, as well as scratching my head trying to figure out some of its puzzles for the close to 22 minutes that I spent with it.
The first design choice that grabbed me was actually the main menu. You will see your traditional features of “start”, “continue”, and “options” to name a few, and they all have mirrored versions of their text next to them, previewing the main gameplay element of the story. Ugly casts you as a gentleman who does not have the most handsome features around. He’s no Leatherface or Jason Vorhees, but he is not exactly Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling. A strange light creates an almost mirror-like object that attaches itself to our main character, allowing him to use his reflection to move around the environment and help solve puzzles and interact with the background, the remnants of a once grand mansion, which reveal elements of the story. Fair warning, though the game does not seem dark to the extent of something such as The Binding of Isaac, it definitely is not sunny and happy, and looks to be telling a story filled with mistreatment and redemption. I love how the mirror gameplay works, where you swap to the spot of your other half in order to solve puzzles. If ever an area has a dead end that you get stuck in, it is a non-issue, as your character can whip out a bottle of what is presumably the cheapest scotch around and drink himself into a stupor, bringing you back to the start of an area – a funny, if melancholy, way to restart a level.
Ugly looks to be a well-crafted and well-presented experience when it comes out soon. If you have a chance to play the demo, I highly recommend it, as at twenty-two minutes, it is a short time well spent that will leave you engaged in this world, pondering at certain puzzles, and left asking more questions that you have even less answers for. Take a look at the man in the mirror today and see how Ugly plays out soon!
You can wishlist Ugly for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Matt O’Toole
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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