Browser Game Pick: The Company of Myself (Eli Piilonen and Luka Marcetic)
The Company of Myself is a platformer which implements the game mechanic seen in the likes of Chronotron and Time Donkey. Our storyteller Jack must reach the door on each level by using past copies of himself as platforms (and later on, vice-versa).
Some of the puzzles are pretty fantastic and require a great deal of concentration and logic to figure them out. There are lever-pulling puzzles which appear to be inspired by Braid, force-fields which only your copies can walk through and many gaps to fall down. Towards the end of the game a few of the puzzles which involve precision timing are a little frustrating, but there's nothing too hair-wrenching.
The story is also nicely thought out and again appears to take a little inspiration from Jon Blow's masterpiece. All in all, a lovely afternoon distraction. Give it a go over at Newgrounds. Thanks to Chetyre and Ethan for the tip!
Comments
using past copies of himself as platforms (and later on, vice-versa).
"Vice-versa" as "using platforms as past copies of himself"?
Posted by: Ilya Chentsov | November 27, 2009 6:34 PM
Later on your own copies must use you as a platform - I think what I said was pretty easy to understand. But hey, if you want to be an English Language nazi, you're more than welcome - I guess some people need to find things to do with their time :)
Posted by: Michael Rose | November 27, 2009 6:47 PM
Aw, come on, it was a funny remark :)
I liked it. It's barely something you haven't seen before and I felt that the ending was a bit too extreme, but I concur with that it's a very nice distraction :)
Posted by: MisterX | November 27, 2009 7:08 PM
Some clever tricks.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 27, 2009 7:50 PM
I remember playing this on FGL what seems like months ago. I never beat it so thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: Allen | November 27, 2009 8:20 PM
If you're trying to encourage us to play the game, statements like "The story is also nicely thought out and again appears to take a little inspiration from Jon Blow's masterpiece" are steps in the wrong direction. Nothing about Braid's story was nicely though out.
Posted by: Ponder | November 27, 2009 8:46 PM
I liked the vise-versa comment xD
Interesting game, but reeeally short. Would've been nice to have a few more, though with such limited game mechanics, more would have to be introduced.
Posted by: Groxx | November 27, 2009 8:52 PM
Wow, an art game that's actually a game. Lovely.
Posted by: Ken | November 27, 2009 8:54 PM
A curious thing: concerned by your comments about precise timing I almost didn't play this... As it turns out, I completed it without needing any precise timing at all. (And only one level seemed to require timing of any sort that I recall.)
Is it possible you missed some solution options? (Please say "no", because that means I'm some kinda of 1337 ninja timing dude!)
Posted by: Dom Camus | November 27, 2009 10:07 PM
This has much better storytelling than Braid. It's far less pretentious, and the gameplay actually reflects the story.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 27, 2009 10:52 PM
Your welcome :)
This game was immensely fun and original, and I'm glad that this game knows how to tell a story through gameplay.
Posted by: Ethan | November 27, 2009 11:10 PM
Other than the scrolling text before and after, the game did a good job of giving instructions and storyline while you were playing the game.
Posted by: Almost | November 27, 2009 11:42 PM
This is very well done.
Posted by: Vanguard | November 28, 2009 12:55 AM
Very nice. Reminds me of Cursor*10 and Korsakovia.
Posted by: c5 | November 28, 2009 4:18 AM
Very well done.
Posted by: Bob | November 28, 2009 7:08 AM
I liked Braid so I'll probably like this game too.
Interesting concept.
Posted by: Erika | November 28, 2009 5:11 PM
On second thought, now that I've experienced some of the gameplay and story, this game is almost identical to Braid in every way.
It's great that this is a freeware and everything, but it's a bit of a let down if you're already familiar with Braid.
Posted by: Erika | November 28, 2009 5:32 PM
Very nice, it also reminds me of this game http://www.pcgamestore.com/games/braid don't you agree?
Posted by: Swuave | November 28, 2009 11:43 PM
It remembered me a lot of Braid. Great music, puzzles and story.
Posted by: Dusan Vlahovic | November 29, 2009 4:30 PM
Great game by one of the Spewer creators. Remember playing it over at FGL.
Posted by: Miroslav Malesevic | November 29, 2009 6:01 PM