The puzzle system certainly isn’t perfect, though. If that important-looking box is up there…and I’m down here… The puzzles, for the most part, hit the sweet spot between too-easy and too-hard it’s arguable that they get somewhat repetitive over time, but I certainly didn’t get bored. I promise, it’s more intuitive than it sounds. The level and puzzle design itself is simple but often ingenious – for example, I’m particularly delighted by a mechanic that physically slings you across wide swathes of space while also automatically swapping you between universes. It’s a clever twist on both the multiverse trope and the “swap between worlds” mechanic, and it works in favour of both the game’s puzzles and storyline. Said universes sometimes have completely different layouts and mechanical properties, and swapping back and forth is often the only way to solve a puzzle and advance forward. The key “multiverse” mechanic here allows the player to seamlessly switch between universes on the fly. What Lies in the Multiverse utilises almost exactly the same mechanical concept, and it might feel somewhat familiar to others who’ve played Super Paper Mario or similar games.īut, importantly, the new twists that Multiverse puts on its story and mechanics set it apart from its stylistic influences. I have fond memories of being a kid in 2007, playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii and giddily flipping back and forth between the side-scrolling 2D world and an alternate 3D view to solve puzzles and access new areas. The puzzle aspect is another place where Paper Mario’s influence on Multiverse becomes even clearer.
The blocky stylisation of objects, the character design, and even the way the text pops up in the bubbles (often wiggling around or changing colour!) is often quite similar to the side-scrolling Nintendo venture. The most direct stylistic influence here, however, seems to be the Paper Mario series. It’s an easy and popular style to emulate, after all. Points off for lack of originality there, but perhaps it can’t be helped.
The side-scrolling pixel graphics of Multiverse are reminiscent of classic 90s platformers - or other contemporary indie game successes like Undertale and Lisa: The Painful. It’s the guy from the puzzle game with the funny top hat! - wait, no, not that one…
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