There’s this type of puzzle game that’s pretty prevalent on mobile and I never quite know what to call it. I want to call it Sokoban, but it’s not quite that. I also want to call it a block-sliding puzzler, but that often refers to something like Blockwick ($4.99) and that’s not the type of sliding block puzzles I’m talking about. No, this is a game where you need reach a goal, possibly collecting items along the way, but the only way you can travel is by swiping in any of the 4 cardinal directions, and when you do swipe you’ll continue moving in that direction until you hit something that stops you. Anybody got a name for that type of game?
Anyway, developer Tom Brinton aka Beep Yeah is doing something very clever with one of those types of games. He’s taken the basic framework but blended it with the “kill yourself and use your own dead body as a tool in future runs" mechanic from games like Sometimes You Die ($1.99) or Persephone ($3.99). This game is called Poor Thief! and in it you play the titular Poor Thief who is “cursed with immortality and an insatiable hunger for treasure." Here’s a trailer.
As you can see, you’ll be taking advantage of that whole immortality thing in order to solve the more than 50 levels spread across 3 worlds in Poor Thief! You’ll need to collect enough coins to unlock the door to the REAL treasure in each level, but with all sorts of hazards in your way avoiding death just isn’t practical. In fact upon each death you’ll leave behind a tombstone which also acts as a handy dandy environmental block, and so more often than not one or more deaths are actually required to solve a specific level. I mean, you’re immortal so what do you care if you die?
Poor Thief! is for iOS only for now and will be free with ads and an IAP to remove those ads. It’ll be hitting on October 15th and you can pre-order it on the App Store right now or head over to our forums to talk about it ahead of release.