Can you name a video game where you play as a seed?  Yeah, me neither.  But now you can with TumbleSeed, a new downloadable game for PS4, Switch, and PC (reviewed on PS4 here).  In this game, you must guide a seed up a mountain so it can plant itself at the top to save the world or something.  It’s a very unique, but also very difficult, game.

You must guide the seed safely up vertically scrolling stages.  You control the left and right sides of a long stick, and move them up and down on the left and right sides to tilt the stick.  This will cause the seed to roll, and you must roll it past holes and creatures who can destroy your seed.

Scattered about the levels are patches of dirt that you can plant into to do various things.  You can switch your seed’s power at any time, and depending on your power, different things will happen when you plant into these patches of dirt.  You can plant flags at these places so that if you die, you’ll start back at that spot.  You can also grow thorns so you can attack enemies, or refill your hearts.  Each time you plant something, it’ll cost you a crystal.  In fact, there is even a power that lets you gain crystals at these spots, so you must use strategy in switching your powers.

And that’s pretty much it.  There is an adventure mode as well as daily challenges.  The stages in both modes are somewhat randomly generated.  I love the uniqueness of this game, but I found it way too difficult early on, as there are so many holes and other obstacles for you to avoid.  The learning curve is very steep, and I think the game could’ve stood to be a little easier.

Kid Factor:

TumbleSeed is rated E for Everyone with ESRB descriptors of Mild Fantasy Violence and Simulated Gambling.  You can fall into holes and crumble when enemies get you, but that’s it.  I didn’t see any gambling in the game, but I might’ve not have gotten far enough to see that.  Again, this game is very hard, and would probably frustrate younger (and even older) gamers.  Reading is helpful for the text, too.

Tags: Game Reviews