Honestly, I wasn’t prepared to encounter Mozart inside something called “Shovel Game.” Nor did I anticipate that he’d task me with excavating a pyramid made entirely of… well, waste matter, suggesting I start from the top to avoid any unfortunate collapsing. Funnily enough, Mozart is probably the least bizarre aspect of Shovel Game.
This game is a compact, first-person experience featuring destructible environments reminiscent of Minecraft (though, technically, it doesn’t use true voxels) with a touch of the unsettling vibes of AHL_5am. The core idea involves tunneling your way through “a series of strange and unfamiliar areas.” Here’s a quick look at the trailer.
Only certain blocks are vulnerable to your shovel, and you’ll need to dig carefully. The underground passages are infested with moaning, wailing entities resembling Zordon from Power Rangers. Imagine his energy tube shattering, unleashing his spectral essence upon the world in agony. Contact with these enemies is fatal, and I’ve yet to discover any weapons beyond my trusty shovel and a mysterious 8-ball – its function remains unknown.
Shovel Game is heading to Steam, but you can sample a playable demo on Itch.io. Prepare for some frustration; there’s a maze teeming with gooey blue apparitions that demands skillful maneuvering. Plus, a bizarre cosmic chapel filled with what appear to be flattened infants. Luke Vincent, the developer, created this gem for a “shovelware horror” game jam – a fitting theme, indeed.
Bonus! While browsing the submissions for that game jam, I discovered a new title from Mike Klubnika, the mind behind Buckshot Roulette and the recent S.p.l.i.t., which Nic reviewed with passionate thoughts. Klubnika’s jam entry, co-created with James Dornan, is called Crank It. It puts you in the unenviable position of operating a series of devices in a vast corridor, trying to identify horrifying creatures. I have to admit, that sounds much more disturbing than digging for Mozart in a waste-pyramid.