Hands-on
As part of the MomoCon Indie Game Award Showcase, three finalists were chosen for a specific “local developer” award, and one of them really stood out to me.
Prisma might look like an endless runner at first glance, but it’s actually a fun little platformer with some familiar, but well executed, elements.
Over the course of the roughly 15-minute demo, I slowly acquired three core powers, each linked to a different dimension and, conveniently, to a color on the Xbox controller — blue (X, jump), yellow (Y, sprint), and red (B, attack). By swapping these dimensions one at a time, players can temporarily take advantage of its specific buff, or switch out platforms and objects that correspond to that pigment.
This will probably bring back memories of Outland for the Xbox 360 (and eventually PS3), but it’s a bit different. Instead of merely switching between two polarities, you’ll need to micromanage multiple elements at the same time. For instance, players could swap to sprint (Y) to get enough momentum to clear a gap, and then trigger an enhanced jump (X) to clear a vertical leap — but all the while there’s specific colors of platforms you have to take into account.
It gets especially difficult when you’re running into an area with three different hues, where it’s easy for your brain to basically turn into mush. More concepts rush in as well, like dodging enemy fire and dealing with moving platforms. It’s rare for a platformer to make me feel like I have to learn something completely new again like this system, and it’s a really fun feeling.
Having spoken to the Prisma team there isn’t much news in terms of the release window, but they’re hoping to share more later this year. The visuals are a little rough at the moment (you can try the demo for yourself), but I really dig the art style and character designs, and the responsive controls. I’ll be watching this one!
