Developed by Nerd Monkeys and published by Hatinh Interactive, Out of Line is an upcoming unique adventure game with an exceptionally beautiful hand-drawn art style. It is a 2D platformer that mixes narrative story and adventure with its gameplay mechanics and delivers a unique gameplay experience. Out of Line is slated for release later this year however we got to play an early access preview build of this beautiful platformer. This is our preview of Out of Line in which we use our spear to jump around and escape deadly claws.
Out of Line follows the story of San who is trapped inside a factory that used to be his home. Now the factory is overrun by evil claws who are killing mercilessly, and San must escape his beautiful home which is slowly transforming into a deadly machine-infested deathtrap. The game is played like any other 2D adventure scroller with puzzles on it. Right from the very first screen, the game encapsulates you with its beautiful hand-drawn art style. Out of Line might be a puzzle game but I can easily say that the visual style of the game is just beautiful and some of the scenes in the game are brilliantly designed. It is the perfect mix of nature with man-made machinery.
Out of Line plays like a linear, narrative adventure puzzle game where you simply proceed to the next level after completing the current one. Most of the levels in the game are puzzle screens but they are connected to each other to form one big level instead of solving a puzzle, going back to the main menu, choosing the next level, and then resuming the game. Out of Line is a narrative puzzler and it feels like a proper adventure game with action going on in the background and foreground. Loading screens come after the completion of a chapter so it all feels like one connected world as you progress through the factory.
Stepping into the shoes of San, you begin your escape after witnessing huge claws breaking into your home and taking away your kind or just killing them. You survive the initial onslaught, but the tree of memories is destroyed, and all of the memories of your home are now scattered all over the place. You find these Blue Cubes or memory in different hidden areas and can collect them. At the start different levels, you can place these memory cubes back at the tree and it keeps growing back to its formal glory. It is a neat feature and really connects you to the world of the game.
Out of Line features a unique mechanic where you have to use your magical spear to help you navigate around in the game. The whole platforming element of the game revolves around this spear. Your spear in the game is just like a normal yellow spear that seems to have electricity in it. You can throw it to create ledges and platforms to jump on to reach harder to reach areas. You can also use your spear to interact with different switches to open up paths or use it as levels for various mechanical mechanisms in the game to move around platforms. After you have solved the problem, you can recall the spear which comes back to you in a very satisfying manner just like the Leviathan Axe from God of War.
Apart from you, running for their lives are other members of your community as well and in some puzzles, they will help you out as well. Some puzzles are made for different people and you will work with them in tandem to help them escape and they will in return help you escape. The AI of the game was pretty smart, and I do not remember a single bit where the AI would glitch out and make me restart the game. Quite often when you will reach certain locations, you will need to move around platforms to help your fellow members escape who will then trigger a floor button that will open up your path as well so it shows a good community aspect of the game.
Apart from these fellow ‘Sans’, you will also come across various unique NPCs who will also help you out in escaping to the safe areas. Apart from regular puzzle and platforming levels, the game also features fast-paced chase sequences where you will need to use your spear to open up the path ahead quickly as you escape from the deadly threats chasing you from behind. These chase sequences are not that much in the game, but they offer an excellent change of pace from the normal puzzle-solving and platforming and also test your skills with the spear in quick-thinking scenarios. Your spear plays a major role in these chase sequences.
For this preview, the build I received was obviously an early access build and the full game will be much better and might be more feature-rich as well. During my playthrough, I do not remember any sort of glitches or bugs with the game which was a welcoming sign. There were no crashes or places where I would get stuck because of a game-breaking bug. The visuals were top-notch, and the soundtrack is great as well. At this moment, my only concerns are about the gameplay of the title. Here, I will be directly comparing it with titles like Limbo and Inside because the game feels a lot like them despite having its own unique gameplay mechanics thrown in the mix as well.
Overall, the gameplay is pretty good. The platforming is solid, and the puzzles are satisfying. They are not too brutal, but they feature an average difficulty that you will be able to figure out relatively easily after a few tries. The game also supports controllers which should be your default means of playing the game as well if you have a controller for PC. One of the things that annoyed me most is the aiming mechanic felt a little slow. Especially during the fast-paced chase sequences, this was really annoying as you would be running for your life and yet San would take his sweet time to aim at the gears to lock them or a switch to activate them.
I checked in the options however there is no way to change this aiming speed at this point so this is perhaps one of the things that I would love to see in the full release, an option to adjust the aiming speed because every player has their own gameplay pace. Some like it slow and some like it fast. I like my aiming fast so it will be a good option to have in the game. Secondly, the jumps and overall movement could also do with a little bit of tightening. While San moves around just fine and the jumps and platforming is okay, a little bit of tightening of the controls would make the gameplay an absolute blast. Rest, I found the game to be in great shape.
Out of Line looks beautiful with its unique art style and the character design is really good as well. However, there are a few things that I would like to see getting worked on such as the gameplay controls which could do with a little tightening. I will say pretty frankly here that two games that instantly came to my mind while playing Out of Line were Limbo and Inside and Out of Line certainly has the potential to be compared with both of them. The spear-recall feature reminded me of the Leviathan Axe from God of War. It has the story, the artwork is unique, the gameplay feels good and puzzle-solving is satisfying however I would really like if the controls are tightened up a bit before the game releases. It has the potential of being one of the best adventure-puzzler titles out there and I am seriously looking forward to the full release.
