“The World’s Least Realistic Pool Simulator!” – Website
Title: Pool Panic
Developer: Rekim
Publisher: Adult Swim Games
Release Date: July 19, 2018
Platforms: PC, Switch
We can all get a bit obsessed sometimes. A new show you finished, a new YouTube channel you’re poring over. Suffice to say, it’s kind of refreshing to see a developer go wild on a single idea. As such, from time to time we see an indie game really run with an idea. Stretching and distorting a single concept into a crazy interactive experience.
Pool Panic is what happens when the calm, polite sport of billiards caroms off the cushion of indie gaming. It’s a pool game for people who only have a cursory knowledge of what pool is. There are balls, there’s some weird disembodied pool cue, and a bunch of holes. Pot the balls into the holes. Sounds pretty straightforward. You shoot the cue ball into the other balls, and try and get ‘em into the pockets. You know, vanilla pool. Ah, but this is an indie game. Hell, it’s an indie game getting published by Adult Swim… it’s going to get strange.
Some of the balls are zombies. Some of them are leading a marching band. Each new level is a new permutation with a quirky new rule. It all feeds into this off-the-wall aesthetic that the “hole” game is going for. Also, I can’t wait to see all the shenanigans you can get into with the local multiplayer.
Pool Panic reminds me somewhat of the success of last year’s Golf Story. It really demonstrates that regardless of some of the big AAA companies producing fancy sports games, there is plenty of room for bizarre, comical versions. I can’t wait to see the craziness this game has to offer. You can give it a shot soon! It rolls onto PC and Switch next week: July 19, 2018 to be precise. Check out the game’s website here.
Looking to put more indie games on your radar? Check out Graveyard Keeper where the life sim genre collides with managing the dead.
About the Author
Sam Harkin
he/him
A Melburnian nerd of 28 years and counting. A podcaster and critic of games. Uncovering the hidden indie gems, and exposing the dark underside of the AAA industry.
