In 2019, indie studio Sbug Games showed off the prototype for a game titled Laser Spider. The project had been met with such a resounding interest that the devs decided to make a full-blown game. That’s Webbed that we came to love. In it, the team from Sbug Games did everything in their power to make players feel like an adorable little critter.
In Webbed, you play as a small and cute spider living her best life alongside her spider-boyfriend, a great enjoyer of all things shiny. At one unhappy point, while you are busy dancing and singing along with him, a big mean bowerbird attacks the happy couple. You try to scare the bird away with all your might, using your lasers (wow!), but alas, it grabs your lover of beautiful rocks and flies away with him.
As you play through the game, you will have to interact with your surroundings: Webbed will have you help others around you before you can advance the main plot. Overworked ants whose larvae have disappeared or a stressed out mother-spider that lost kids in the forest. Also, you will not be able to escape the desire to tie something up with your web (or someone!)
Speaking of webs…
A year after its release, the game is in its best possible form. If you compare the release version of Webbed to its earlier versions, you might be surprised that the webbing mechanic didn’t change almost at all – the developers managed to nail the spider physics from the beginning.
For example, the game allows you to weave spiderwebs to catch flies. As an adventure platformer, it will snatch you right up with interesting approaches to gameplay.
Gameplay itself is clear and, what is most important, fulfills its task of entertaining players quite well. However, it’s worth noting that certain quests are quite bothersome, in particular the ones that require you to perform lengthy series of monotonous actions in a row.
Our little spider can release webs and pull itself into a certain direction using it as well as connect various points of in-game levels to move objects or create additional platform pathways… as well as shoot from a laser, which acts as a way to destroy an unnecessary object or extra webbing.
Sounds quite exciting, doesn’t it? The game features swinging and flying on your webs between various obstacles, riddles, puzzles that feature a number of items such as rocks, various gears, pipes and so forth. It should be mentioned that some players can run into problems shooting the web – it might seem like you are launching it towards a wall while there is actually a void there.
The game is filled with a variety of interesting tasks and side-content to keep it from turning into a regular set of monotonous levels. There is also the key (“Q” by default) by pressing which you can start dancing at any time. Additiotional activities give new skins for your little cute spider and do not affect the gameplay in any way, shape or form, so if you’d rather skip them – you can do so with clear conscience.
The only frustrating thing in Webbed is its length. The game will have you jump through hoops and do a number of quests to reach the nest of one of the NPCs, but altogether the main campaign can be completed in just a couple of hours.
If you spend time collecting the items and finishing side activities, then the playthrough can be stretched to be a bit longer but not more than that.
Webbed also features the arachnophobe mode that swaps all right-legged spiders for small bug-eyed lumps.
Pros:
- Web mechanics
- Interesting story
- Pleasant graphics
Cons:
- Could use a few more types of puzzles
- Storyline is quite short
Note: the Steam version of the game is a verified purchase by the author
