SLUDGE LIFE

At the dawn of the war on terror, much talk was made of how American strategy toward the distant communities alleged to support international terror was to "bomb them back to the stone age." It's an imaginative, brutal piece of imagery, evoking a finished state for our enemies positioned as a far opposite to the modern comfortable standard of the American lifestyle. It's an idea that's been touched on extensively in dystopian fiction, a massive stressor like nuclear war or zombie apocalypse turning Western nation-states into nomadic, tribal wastes.

But what if that same progression of events, the breakdown of modern living standards from external stress, could be more subtle? For the people of Sludge, life is not as intended, a setting dominated by the overwhelming pressure of massive industry that has mostly decayed beyond use. You can see how things would've began, a convenient isolated harbor for manufacturing and shipping, mass housing for employees, basic chain restaurant food and triage towers; but you can also see that those plans went sour a long time ago, and whoever's still there is someone whose parents, grandparents, or maybe even further back, got left in the lurch, stuck in a place with no opportunity, and no way out. What happens to a community like that, where every lifeline was cut off, but life must still go on?

You can feel the decay, the rot, the absence of hope, the sludge around every corner of life here. The bureaucrats keep the big machines keep running as best as they can, and the

There's no ambition or motivation here, no way to get out, no climate or nature to protect, no hopes or futures besides the ones that everyone carves out for themselves.

I've got this game and played it with no expectations of any kind. But I ended up loving it. It's really weird to find games so compromised with exploration and world detail, this game is a gem in that sense. Everything has a propuse to be, the world history is IN THE WORLD, which is (actually) pretty unusual, specially in mainstream games. The dialogues add a lot of life and the sense of humor is just so well done. The main menu is pretty innovative, and it gives you more immersion to the experience, and it may seem like a dumb detail, but the level of detail of the menu that you seem at the start is just a sample of what this game will be later. It was made with love, and I love it for that. Good zooming everyone!

Sludge life is an odd little exploration game. You have the task of graffitti tagging 100 different spots on its small but very vertical map. There are also 4 main tools to find, and a couple of optional objectives.

The game features a low-poly look and vhs artifacts, which together with its cell shaded visuals really gives off a trippy feel. The game is packed with jokes and references, and is genuinely funny and bizarre. It feels like it has a similar style of humor to Jazzpunk, and it works most of the time.

What doesnt work so well is the gameplay, which rellies on tricky platforming that feels awkward with this first person camera. Its needlessly difficult in certain places as well, which creates frustration in a game that should be all about discovering its weird little world.

Not amazing by any means, but Im sure glad to have spent 2 hours to discover this one. The world needs more of these kind of experimental short games.

Sludge Life is a first-person exploration game, with a general objective of trying to find 100 areas to Tag with graffiti. There's smaller objectives too: find the CDs, slugs, cigarettes, magic mushrooms, warp points, items, and 2 ways to end the game early.

The game has a cartoon aesthetic but then has a blurry "VCR filter" over it. You can disable some of the effects to make the image much sharper in the options. After changing an option, you must then click the tick icon to save the individual option. It's a weird design to have to change then save each individual option. There's some drug references and some trippy visuals if you find the mushrooms. There's some crass humour like cats licking their own bums, and a massive turd left in the toilet and the culprit tells you how proud he is.

There's a few items that can help with your exploration. A glider allows you to travel further, control where you are falling and negates fall-damage (you can actually disable fall-damage in the options anyway). There's eyes that point in the direction of the nearest tag spot. There's a teleporter which gives you a quick-travel point and is necessary to solve a "puzzle" to get the secret ending.

There's some NPCs scattered about that give you a couple of lines of dialogue. Some imply they might say something different if you come back later with more reputation. I didn't find enough tagging spots to test out this theory though.

If you jump and collide near the top of an object, then your character will pull himself up. There's ladders, or things that can be used as ladders; but it's not always clear. One time I managed to scale a shipping crate but then I couldn't recreate it. I think sometimes it's a bit imprecise with its platforming and you will fall when you are convinced that you shouldn't. It's like a lame version of Mirror's edge - reduced climbing, slower, and no peril to push you forward.

Some tagging spots weren't clear how you are supposed to get to them, and I got to some but doubted it was the correct path; I seemed to have to perform awkward jumps/falls to get there.

There's tots of sludge separating the buildings and damaged structures. You can wade through the sludge without penalty other than slower movement. A few other creatures pose a threat but there's no real enemies, and no combat. A bird guarding its eggs will chase you. There's a snake in a toilet that kills you in one bite if you get close but given that it's a small toilet, you just have to remember not to go there again.

Sludge Life feels more like a demo. It has the fundamentals down but not really refined or fleshed out. It's too basic and dull really. After 1.5 hours, I had found the secret ending and I think I had seen everything the game had to offer. I probably only got a third of the tagging spots though.

Interesting visuals and music make for a world that is fun to explore for an hour or two. I did find the main "gameplay" of platforming/tagging to be uninteresting and would just rather just walk around and enjoy the dialogue from the characters.

Worth a check if you can pick it up for free, but overall I'm happy I didn't spend money on this.

I'm not sure what to think of this game.
On one hand, it's made by the devs who made Heavy Bullets & High Hell - both of which are fun in their own little ways.

But this just feels like a "project" game, where the gameplay takes a backseat to the experience of playing it, if that makes any sense. There's a bunch of quirky easter eggs and items to uncover, and the writing can elicit a brief chuckle. You play as "Ghost", a graffiti artist that wants to tag most of a polluted island controlled by a polluting corporation known as GLUG. The game is pretty much a sandbox; you explore, look for pre-determined sots to leave your tag, and even platform. You can interact with GLUG employees (who are all lazing around since they're on strike), and other graffiti artists.
Sometimes you find apps within the game, which allow to play games within the game using a laptop. Did I mention main menu involves Ghost taking out his laptop and clicking on icons, before tossing it away once you exit the menu?

Other than that, I found the gameplay was pretty...lacking. You're either scouting for pre-determined spots to tag, or trying to jump up to access aforementioned spots. Overall, SLUDGE LIFE feels like a demo. I'm glad I didn't spend money on this.