Collapsus is aCandy Crush-style game with a twist. That would be a boring description if I didn’t mean it literally.
AtPAX East, I got to go hands-on with the tile-matching game from Wraith Games, and it was the only booth I visited at the show where I was handed an old Kindle Fire. Apparently the game can run on anything, but I was glad to play on the e-reader because the device allowed me to take full advantage of the game’s gyroscopic mechanics.
Don’t Say Nope To The Gyrsocope
This is where that literal twist comes in. In most ways, Collapsus is a traditional tile-matcher. The rectangular board is filled with squares, each bearing symbols of different shapes and colors. Match four squares, and they’ll disappear. For each move you take, a meter at the bottom of the screen ticks down. You refill it by making a successful match.
So far, so familiar. But, in a throwback to Game Boy Advance games likeYoshi Topsy-TurvyandWario Ware: Twisted!, Collapsus uses a gyroscope to let players flip the board in any direction. When the board pivots, gravity does too. So, if a star tile is in the next column over from the star pillar you’re currently building, you may just flip the game on its side, and use gravity to maneuver it into place. It’s a cool way to change up a familiar genre, and I had a great time experimenting with it during the short time I spent with the game.
If you’re playing on console, you may simply use the triggers to twist the board., though the PS5 and Switch do support gyroscopic controls.
Collapsus Is All-In On Accessibility
Collapsus is also notable in how it goes above and beyond in its approach to accessibility. I spoke with Wraith Games' creative director Jay Kidd after my play session and was impressed with how many options the studio has included in an attempt to make Collapsus playable for everyone, regardless of if they have a disability or not.
“[We have] about a hundred accessibility options for disabled players. We have 50 color palettes and a custom color palette maker, so you can make your own color palettes and share them online, ten of which are colorblind palettes that are specifically designed to help people with colorblindness. We also have a palette that is designed based on the standards from the National Federation of the Blind. It’s a high-contrast mode,” Kidd says.
That’s on top of other considerations, like fully remappable controls, dyslexia-friendly font options, and a screen narrator that can tell players where blocks are using coordinates. “Even if you’re blind, you can play the game,” Kidd says. “We wanted to ensure that anyone who is interested in games can play. "
Though accessibility options are increasingly common, it’s rare that they’re quite as robust as what Collapsus is aiming to include. I was curious about what motivated Wraith’s decision to do so much more than the bare minimum.
“To us, it’s a no-brainer,” Kidd says. “We just want people to enjoy our game. It’s kind of the same reason we’re not doing microtransactions. It’s another reason why we’re doing pay-what-you-want. It’s because we make games for other people. We would want as many people playing it as possible. It doesn’t make sense to not put resources into doing that. It’s just kind of the right thing to do.”
After eight years of development (17, if you go back to the game’s earliest prototypes), Collapsus is now available in Early Access on itch.io, where you can pay as much or as little as you want to pick it up right now.
