- Genre: Arcade, Puzzle, Action
- Developer: Graverobber Foundation
- Publisher: Graverobber Foundation
- Release Date: April 28th, 2022
- Platform: Steam
- Price: Unknown
- Reviewed on: PC
It might be time to reconsider my self-proclaimed award as an outstanding gamer. Yes, I gave myself an award back in July of 1988 for an exemplary performance behind the Tron arcade machine. I’m sure others would’ve done the same if they saw what I did. But I digress. My current predicament involves a 22y old software rights activist whose name is Mimi Hirasawa. See, there’s been a crypto crash and I’m trying to get a hold of her cryptocurrency before it loses all of its value. But here’s the thing. I’m not employed by her to retrieve her valuables.
Yes, you guessed it. I’m nothing but a simple commoner, a hired hand if you will, who does the work of a thief. Well, that isn’t entirely true. There’s nothing common about me at all. Fact is, I’m a worm. And I’m not talking about the kind of worm that leaves a trail of slime behind itself. If anything I leave a tail behind me—a tail I’ve seen the backend of more than I care to remember.
Back to the future
As I said, I’m a worm—a digital worm. I guess you could call me a computer virus of sorts and I’m stuck in a six-sided cube of death with the sole purpose of finding people’s valuables for my employer to enjoy. It can be anything from pieces of passwords to cryptocurrency. However, the valuables aren’t what’s important. Yes, I know. My employer would argue otherwise. But even so. What’s important is you get out with said valuables without taking any damage. And guess what? It won’t be the easiest of excursions. You will take damage as well as die. The sooner you accept that fact the sooner you’ll learn which routes to take and why.
Disturbance in the force
Imagine that you have a cube with six sides and three exit points. One exit points to the left, one exit points to the right, and one exit points downwards. Easy enough, right? Now, imagine there’s a sphere in said cross-section that rotates you clock-wise or counter clock-wise. I won’t even try to describe the directional mayhem that your brain will create from this scenario. But I can say this much. You have to be a quick thinker to get out of that mess. If not, you might end up having the backend of your tail in your face. And that, dear gamer, is as bad as ticking into a mine or wall.
This game is out to get you at every turn. Not even the directional indicator that points towards the location of your pickup is spared. That’s right. Some levels have dead zones where your directional indicator goes haywire. It’s so bad it points in directions you didn’t think the 360-degree scale had. What I’m trying to say is that you, at some point, need to use your common sense and just hope for the best. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m running on nothing but sheer willpower and the hope I will beat this game in its entirety.
Mission complete
You could theoretically beat the campaign in an hour if you know where and how to move. But the likelihood of you doing so is slim to none. Let me put it like this. I’m closing in on 9 hours in the game and still have levels left to beat. I could easily spend 9 more hours in the game while trying to figure out the optimal path and max out the star rating for each level. And that’s true for all levels no matter if they’re part of the campaign or the arcade mode. But even so. I’d like to see procedurally generated and user-created levels in the game. That would take NeuroWorm from 0 to 100 and make it shine even more than it already does.
Buy Now
NeuroWorm is an arcade game that builds on the classic Blockade game and flips it six different ways on its head. And I’m here for it. You should be too!