Developed by Cape Town-based QCF, it’s not just the neon lights messing with your eyes, it’s a brick breaker game that’s really, really fast.
The thing about brick-breaker games that they’re nearly always fun. There’s something oddly cathartic about bouncing a ball off a platform of unknown material and watching layers of bricks dissolve into nothing. It was the go-to game in high school, back in the days when everyone was enamoured with Blackberry phones because the brick breaker game on those old things was really the only enjoyable time killer on there. That being said, while I think it would be difficult to make a break breaker game that wasn’t fun, to make one that’s actively engaging is another story. They all tend to follow the same tired formula, never really doing much else with a form of game that’s been taken for granted for decades now.
So it’s really cool to see QCF Design, a South African development studio based in Cape Town, who also happen to be the creators of Desktop Dungeons, taking the brick breaker genre and actually do something unique with it. Something unique…and eye-wateringly stylish.
Drawkanoid is a “Hyperspeed Brick Breaker Without a Paddle” and instantly, you’re probably like, “Wait, how can there not be a paddle? Isn’t that the main mechanic in a brick breaker? What is going on here, who are you, where am I?”, and you’d be right to question what would appear to be something so fundamental being missing. See, that’s the hook of Drawkanoid: the ball is moving way too fast to try to bump it with a paddle. Your eyes can barely keep up with that thing until it hits a certain slow-down zone which gives you the opportunity to draw in your own paddle, determining the specific angle you want the ball to bounce at. Within that period of “bullet time”, players will be able to activate power-ups and steadily increase the speed of the game to score some wild combos. While everything is blasting off in the most frantic way possible, you’ll be able to listen to what sounds like some really good music and revel in the destruction you have wrought to dozens of neatly organised shapes. It’s like Tetris Effect for people who want a game that’s more bitchin’.
Published by Humble Bundle and releasing on January 21st, Drawkanoid will launch with multiple game modes, including a race against the clock in Countdown and a Zen mode to just enjoy the pretty lights as they shatter into a billion pieces because you just can’t resist, can you? You animal. You’ll be able to find Drawkanoid on Steam or learn more about the game through the official website. While I haven’t got my hands on it yet, Geoff apparently sat down with an early build and described it as “fun” which is just about the highest praise anyone could ask for. Keep your eye on Drawkanoid, it looks like it might be something special.
Last Updated: January 20, 2020
