‘Toodee and Topdee’ Review: A Small Package Full of Big Ideas and Tons of Heart

Toodee and Topdee

Toodee and Topdee dares to mix 2D platformer and top-down puzzler, and the result is well worth your money.

 

It’s not every day that we get to play an indie game that skillfully mashes together two entirely different genres (though they do try a lot), and dietzribi‘s Toodee and Topdee nails the formula in spite of some minor quirks. For a debut game, this is a notable effort with plenty of heart and charisma.

 

Against my expectations, Toodee and Topdee also comes up with a pretty cool little universe and plot which, quite honestly, could be used to kickstart an adorable animated TV series. The story kicks off when a God creates planets that spin and move erratically. To correct this, he creates a Semi-Colon (yes, really) that holds the whole universe together. But one day, his helper decides to steal the Semi-Colon, which causes the worlds to crash into each other. As a result, Toodee and Topdee, our main characters, meet and must collaborate to bring back order by using their worlds’ unique realities and physical properties, which now exist one on top of the other. By the way, the humor in this game is genuinely good and at no point feels like it tries too hard (something that, sadly, happens too often with indie games).

 

 

There are several worlds/acts, each containing a sizable number of levels that fit inside your screen and play out like multi-layered puzzles (multi-dimensional in this case). While it’s easy to rush through the first batch of levels, they quickly become head-scratchers and start to require not only a methodical approach, but also coordination and swiftness. On top of that, enemies eventually pop up, and some levels even include hazards that won’t stop advancing, making a number of situations extremely stressful (see the screenshot above).

 

Much like in other indie darlings such as Super Meat Boy, one of the game’s biggest positives is its “easy to pick up and play for a few minutes” nature. Even if you’re dying over and over again, the restart is immediate, and you’re willing to give it “another go” as soon as you fail. “I’ve got it this time,” you tell yourself. Some puzzle-based video games can rapidly become boring or tedious, but Toodee and Topdee completely avoids that pitfall thanks to its brisk pacing and gameplay ideas that don’t overstay their welcome. Moreover, the bosses are much better and fun to fight than I was anticipating, proving the game’s core systems are rock-solid. A minor negative is how the top-down controls often lack the precision you need at certain moments, but it never soured my overall experience.

 

 

Toodee and Topdee is a good-looking indie game too. Many times, titles with enticing gameplay are hard to get into due to rough and undercooked graphics or art styles. But that’s another problem which doesn’t appear here. The pixel graphics are clean and easy to read without feeling derivative. Furthermore, the game’s constant switching between 2D platforming and top-down puzzle-solving is totally seamless and highlights a beautiful approach to 2.5D that wasn’t necessary at all to represent the mechanics. But dietzribi went there and came out unscathed. Impressive stuff.

 

I already said it at the very beginning of my review, but this one’s an easy recommend for almost everyone. Of course, you have to moderately enjoy puzzle games (and have some degree of patience) to avoid dropping it as soon as you hit a major difficulty spike. Plus, some levels feel more carefully designed than others, though I kinda understood that once I looked at the massive complete collection of scenarios. If you’re okay with these small warnings, Toodee and Topdee totally hits the right notes and presents itself as an excellent “under 20 bucks” pick. And, as an added bonus, the original soundtrack is super catchy.

 

Toodee and Topdee is now available on PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.

 

Thanks to dietzribi for the Nintendo Switch review code.