The King President flying across the universe carrying 3 togges on his back.
Togges is a Collect-a-Thon Platformer heavily inspired by Super Mario Galaxy and Katamari Damacy, with world design that in many ways resembles the former and certain aesthetics choices reminiscent of the latter. It was developed by the indie developer Regular Studio and published by Thunderful Publishing, released on 7 Decemeber 2022, available on PC and consoles.You play as a newly hired intern under King President of the Universe, just as the void started creeping in and likely threatened to erase everything in the universe. Then you and the togges set out on a journey, under the leadership of the King President, to save the universe. And then you will help the King President conquer it, or something.
The gameplay is more about solving puzzles than precise platforming. You have the ability to spread or erase togges - togges are those cute little cubes that come in various colors. For the most part, you can only create a new togge if
- It is near already existing one(s) that have the same color as it, or
- You are near certain designated locations within the level note .
Also, each togge costs a certain amount to create. Thus, there is an upper limit as to how many togges you can have out.
Almost all meaningful actions require you to spread those little cubes. For example, collecting a fruit (i.e., the main collectible in this game) requires you to stack 3 togges on top of it. Thus, most of the time, the gameplay revolves around the player trying to figure out how to spread the togges from the starting location to wherever the objective is. In most cases, this won't be immediately obvious, hence the "Puzzle" part of its "Puzzle-Platformer" classification.
Togges contains examples of:
- Advancing Wall of Doom: The second phase of the Final Battle against the Empress Minister of the Voids.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Since (1) you can erase your togges and (2) you need already existing togges to create new ones, in theory players can accidentally screw themselves over by erasing all of their togges. To prevent this, players are also allowed to create togges from already obtained fruits or certain checkpoints in the level. Both of these are indestructible.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The togges come in 6 different colors.
- The red togges are fireproof and can be stacked up to 5-cube high.
- The yellow togges cost twice as much as the red ones to create, but they can conduct electricity (very useful for solving many puzzles) and can be stacked up to 7-cube high.
- The blue togges cost the same amount as the red ones, but can only be stacked up to 3-cube high. They, however, have the ability to survive in water.
- The green togges cost 9 times as much as the red ones and can only be stacked up to 3-cube high. However, they are enormous and, when stacked on top of certain objects, can use their weight to destroy the said objects.
- The white togges vanish a few seconds after being created, but they can be stacked infinitely high note . Thus, they can be used to reach locations that other togges cannot even touch.
- The black togges cost 5 times to make as much as the red ones. Their key advantage is that they are nigh indestructible, making them crucial in certain hazard-filled environments.
- Dark Is Evil: The void is a force consisting of clouds of darkness and threatens to erase everything in the universe, though they still join the player for a party at the end.
- Dinner Deformation: A bizarre example. Whenever a bunch of Togges eat a fruit, they transform into a giant Togge with the exact same shape.
- Evil Matriarch: The Empress Minister of the Voids is referred to as "mother" by her void children.
- Floating Continent: The whole game is full of these. It makes sense, as you are supposed to be travelling across the universe, visiting different galaxies a la Super Mario Galaxy.
- Green Hill Zone: The Togges Palace, the very first level of the game, has this look. Somewhat strangely, while this trope is typically used on early game levels, the late game level Wind Hills also has this look (albeit quite a bit windier).
- Leitmotif: Every time you hear the soundtrack "Trio Musette" and its Waltz-like rhythm, you know the triplets (King President's 3 uncles) are nearby.
- Level Ate: The Carrot Cake Kingdom level looks like it is made of, well, carrot cake.
- The Lost Woods: Harv (the level itself) is even shaped somewhat like a large tree.
- King of All Cosmos: The King President bears more than a passing resemblance to the King of All Cosmos from Katamari Damacy, both being wacky older guys who serve as the God of their respective universe and oversee the player's actions. The King President does try a bit harder to be serious than his counterpart, though.
- Medieval European Fantasy: The aesthetics of the Medieval Moon level. The Carrot Cake Kingdom, being ruled by a princess and all, also has this aesthetics to a lesser extent.
- Metropolis Level: The Radio Savannah.
- No Fourth Wall: Pretty much every single character speaks to you, the player, directly at various points, to the point where you are essentially one of the game's main characters.
- The Sacred Darkness: Ultimately, the Empress Minister of the Voids and her children are this. After all, both the force of creation (which the Togges embody) and that of destruction (which the void embodies) are necessary for the balance of the universe.
- Under the Sea: Downplayed for the Carrot Cake Kingdom level. This level is far from being a full-on aquatic level, but it does have significantly more water than all the other levels and features quite a lot of puzzles that involve adjusting water levels.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Endless Wall. The moment you enter the level, you are hit with gloomy, menacing music (in stark contrast to the previous levels, which are all cheerful and light-hearted) that basically screams "yes, you are heading towards the Final Battle".
