Way back in November of 2010, developer Jesse Venbrux released a wonderful little puzzle platformer called They Need To Be Fed ($0.99). It had you playing an adorable, armless little silhouette character with big eyes and a curlycue of hair as you traversed many different kinds of platforms and avoided deadly hazards on your way to the end goal of each level, which was to sacrifice yourself into the gaping maw of a monster. Why? Because they need to be fed, that’s why. What made They Need To Be Fed so special was its focus on gravity. Each platform was a little planetoid with its own gravitational pull, and working with that gravity was the key to moving past all the hazards and collecting all the gems on each level. It was a lot like a 2D Super Mario Galaxy.

We really enjoyed the original They Need To Be Fed, and in April of last year a sequel was released, appropriately titled They Need To Be Fed 2 ($1.99). In many ways, the sequel felt like a refinement of the original, much in the way that sequels usually do, and offered more of the special sauce that made the first game so good, along with a few new twists and turns. We liked They Need To Be Fed 2 a lot, too. Well, with pretty much no notice at all, Jesse Venbrux has returned with another entry in the series, They Need To Be Fed 3 ($1.99). I love surprises like this.

I’ve only just dipped my toes into They Need To Be Fed 3, but so far it looks like it’s going to be another solid entry in the series. In terms of how different the formula is from the first two games, it sounds like there are some pretty significant changes. There are 7 new worlds and each one focuses on a new gameplay mechanic, and there’s also an all-new Adventure Mode which the developer describes as “more like exploring a big interconnected world." I’m really excited to dive deeper into They Need To Be Fed 3 today. As for its surprise appearance, Venbrux says “I’m just a one man developer studio and I’m terrible at marketing, so I just make the game and put it out there hoping it gets picked up!" I like that attitude. For more impressions, be sure to check out the forums, but if you were a fan of the first two They Need To Be Fed games, I’m fairly certain you’ll enjoy this one as well.