Have you ever stared at a M.C. Escher drawing, with its twisted, physics-defying use of landscape and structure, and thought, “I wonder what that would be like as a video game”? If so, then developer Ty Taylor and artist Mario Castaneda, and publisher The Quantum Astrophysics Guild, have created the game for you.
The Bridge is a hand-drawn, black and white 2D puzzle game which puts the player in the middle of up to 48 rooms, each a puzzle in the fashion of Escher’s near-psychotic designs. The control scheme is simple: the L/R trigger buttons rotate the room left or right and the action button (A on Xbox, X on Playstation) handles most of the controls. If you mess up, you can use the B/Circle button to rewind the game to save your life and try another possible solution. That’s it. Simple and elegant.
Simplicity aside, The Bridge challenges the player to think in three dimensions. There are keys to collect, and rolling balls with evil smiling faces that are reminiscent of the moon in Majora’s Mask that have to be avoided or manipulated, and as the game goes on, more and more obstacles are thrown at the player — such as shifting reality and vortexes — making sure that the challenge level stays high.
The art design, hand-drawn by Castaneda, is beautiful. The black and white drawing motif keeps each level in Escher’s uniquely-inspired world.
On top of the wonderful aesthetics, the music is atmospheric and calming and simply incredible, adding to the entire package and making The Bridge more than just a game, but a bona fide piece of playable art. There are four levels with six rooms each, and then the world shifts and each level gets a mirror version. This isn’t just some cheap way of extending the game — the mirror levels cause the player to rethink the solutions all over again.
Now, to be fair, some of the levels were solved purely on luck, and others made me feel very satisfied when I finally figured them out. Some puzzles I solved easily and others challenged me to the point of frustration, only to finally “got it” and was able to move on. It is a near-perfect balance that separates The Bridge from other puzzle games.
The Bridge is an interesting, unique gaming experience that challenged me on so many different levels that I’m still thinking about some of the wonderfully designed levels and wondering if my luck in solving them was, in fact, luck, or did I miss something in the true solution. It’s a game that sticks with you, and proves that in a gaming world of sequels and big, bloated, DLC-driven budgets, pure gaming magic can be made by two very talented artists with a neat, unique idea and the skill to pull it off.
The Bridge is available now in digital form for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One in the Xbox Store, and the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PS Vita in the Playstation store. The Wii U version will be available on August 21. This review was based off a review code provided by the publisher for the Xbox One.
