Exploring the PAX Rising booths is always a highlight when attending PAX Australia and this year was certainly no exception, with a number of indie games catching my eye. One game in particular that struck a note with me was Brinko, a cute little platformer with interesting elements of puzzle solving.
Brinko tasks players with exploring numerous levels and collecting all the coins found in each stage. Adding to standard platforming mechanics, the game also allows the player to construct their own platforms to forge ahead. The world is event driven and does not wait for the player with a full day / night cycle changing the behaviour of the enemies you may come across. While it may at first sound like a cinch to complete the task ahead, you’d be foolish to think that achieving your goals comes easily. When playing I found myself in several situations where I had to apply a lot of trial and error manoeuvres to land perfectly on a moving platform. I was also pleased to learn that I possessed the ability to create a limited number of additional platforms so that I could make it over to areas that were previously impossible to reach.
According to game creator and director Zain Ul Hassan, Brinko’s time progression, in-game, plays a significant role. The enemies and bosses found in Brinko don’t simply wait for the player to come and kill them, and it’s up to the player to seek them out or avoid them. Time progression doesn’t just apply to creatures found in Brinko, with certain time specific events also taking place on certain days. Incidents like a meteor shower, which fall on the fifth day of the game, will encourage you to take advantage of this event, but again you can totally ignore it if you desire.
The day and night system that was in place also took some getting used to, as stages became more difficult to complete when darkness fell, owing to impaired visibility of platforms. This essentially meant that any stage attempted was best done when the sun was up. It’s worth noting that enemies found in game will also change up their behaviour based on the time of day too. Brinko’s art style and soundtrack have taken inspiration from older Disney works with previous animation artists even lending a hand to work on the game – something a Disney geek like me greatly appreciates.
While only a small portion of Brinko’s demo was available to play, it’s pretty obvious that this will be a game to keep an eye on. Its release won’t be for at least another year, as they are still working on completing additional stages as well smoothing out the gameplay kinks that come with any game in development. For more information and updates regarding Brinko, gamers can follow them on their official website and even subscribe for news as comes.
About the Author
Kieren Munn
A typical gaymer, I enjoy most RPG's, Platformers, and Fighting games. I started gaming early with Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat and Alex the Kidd on my Sega Mega Drive. This started a "healthy" obsession that has spanned 5 generations of consoles, and I won't be stopping anytime soon.
