Tanglewood (2018 video game)

In Tanglewood, the player controls a fox-like creature named Nymn and later plays as another fox-like creature called Echo. The player must complete puzzles and avoid enemies to survive the night. Gamers can control Nymn to run, jump, push objects and use temporary powers granted by fuzzls. All versions of Tanglewood are displayed in a 4:3 aspect ratio, except for the scheduled Tanglewood: Definitive Edition, which is planned to have a 16:9 aspect ratio. Chapters Each chapter, except for the last, has a number of acts. The first chapter has four acts, chapters two through six have three acts each, and the seventh chapter has two acts. Chapter eight is the final boss. The planned director's cut will include scrapped levels and the ability to backtrack to previous levels. Interactive objects Fuzzls are mysterious fuzzy balls of unknown origin that are a part of most puzzles. If one pushes them to their nest, they temporarily grant the player different powers depending on the fuzzl's color; yellow bestows gliding faculties, green allows time manipulation, and blue grants the ability to tame large beasts called djakks. When the power is gone, the player can return to the fuzzl's location to reacquire it. Later in the game, the player is introduced to red fuzzls that can charge machines. During the final boss, larger white fuzzls give the player the ability to damage any enemy on screen but must wait between activations. In addition to fuzzls, the player can push boulders, crates, and logs to get through levels. Logs are unique as they can also be rolled on. Flues can launch the player's character into the air if the player jumps into them. Mushrooms give the player a boost as well. If the player jumps on top of the mushroom, the character will bounce higher. The player can use contraptions powered by red fuzzls to their advantage. Most contraptions are connected to buttons that must be held down for the player to advance. Gamers can either push an object on top of the button or slow down time using the green fuzzls's ability. Checkpoint totems will glow Nymn's color when the player passes them. The player will respawn at the last checkpoint activated if they die. To defeat Borgus, the player should push a boulder onto a contraption, move it to the platforms above, push it on top of Borgus, and repeat until victorious. The main villain in the game is an unnamed demon. The developer, Matt Phillips, never named it and prefers to refer to it as a demon. The final boss takes place during the final chapter. After obtaining a white fuzzl's power, Echo fights the demon. To beat game, the player must use the white fuzzl's power to damage the demon, avoid it after it turns into an orb, and repeat until the demon is defeated. The planned director's cut promises to include more bosses to the original game. == Plot ==

Tanglewood opens with a cutscene showing Nymn sleeping in a nest in a forest tree. An orb floats in, transforms into a demon, smiles at Nymn, reverts back to an orb, and then floats away. Nymn wakes up but sees nothing untoward and goes back to sleep. For the first few levels, Nymn makes his way through the forest, surviving its many hazards. At the end of the third chapter, Nymn finds another fox-like creature named Echo hiding from a djakk. After killing the djakk, Nymn approaches Echo, who jumps toward Nymn and howls with relief. Echo begins following Nymn. At the end of the fifth chapter, the orb returns. It floats in front of Nymn and Echo. Echo is scared and curls up into a ball. The orb transforms into the demon and kills Nymn. The player now controls Echo, who must continue alone. The ending depends on whether the player collects every firefly. If they do not, then Echo defeats the demon, arrives at Nymn's nest, and sleeps alone. If the player does collect every firefly, then Nymn returns to save Echo from certain death halfway through the fight with the demon. Once the demon is defeated, Echo and Nymn return to Nymn's nest and go to sleep. Tanglewood: Definitive Edition plans to include additional lore to the game's plot. == Development ==

Matt Phillips programmed the entire game in 68000 assembly language using original Sega development tools and processes from the 1990s with his own engine. The game was initially developed under the name "Project Watershed". Seven development video logs on YouTube presented game engine creation progress between December 2014 to January 2015. The third video shows a ledge grabbing mechanic that is not present in the final game. It took about five to six years to finish the game. == Music ==

All of Tanglewood's music and most of its sound effects were composed by Nathan Stanley under the name freezedream. The artist had previously made Genesis/MD music like his 2010 album Today released on cartridge. The first track in the album, "Winter in July", shares similarities to the song "Deadwood" used in Tanglewood at the beginning of the sixth chapter. A short version of the song "Rain" from the freezedream album Sonic Traces was used at the end of the first chapter. There is a Tanglewood OST cartridge that includes every track in the game and a new track called "Tanglewood (Reprise)". It also plays the full version of "Rain" instead of the short version used in the game. There are a total of 26 tracks from the official soundtrack though some are short jingles. The game uses the Echo Sound Driver, which is a Genesis/MD sound engine. == Reception ==

Review aggregator website Metacritic states that Tanglewood has received generally favorable scores from critics on PC. the 2018 Revival Retro's Best Indie Game of Show Award, and the 2018 Euskal Encounter's Retrotalents award. Tanglewood was also a finalist for the 2018 Develop Conference's Indie Showcase award. ==References==