I first caught wind of Toodee and Topdee at last year’s Gamescom Indie Arena booth. Developer dietzribi’s concept of combining 2D side-scrolling platforming sections, with puzzle sentric top-down block pushing, sounded incredibly unique. While both block pushers and platformers have been around for ages, the idea of mashing them up really peaked my interest. So much so, that I even took the time to sit down and interview one of the devs behind Toodee and Topdee, last year. The full game officially released on August 4th, 2021, almost a year after my initial hands-on with the Gamescom demo. Does the charm still hold out on full release?
The Story To Begin All Stories
Our story begins with the beginning of all beginnings; the creation of all existence! Lone being Aleph, was a god of sorts and set off to fill the emptiness in the universe. He noticed the universe was shifting erratically, causing imbalance to the newly created worlds. In order to ensure stability for the soon-to-be-born life, Aleph creates a semicolon; which he places in the center of the universe. While creating life, Aleph encounters universal glitches. In order to correct his mistakes, Aleph forges a new assistant, TooDoo. When nearing completion, TooDoo begins to realize he will no longer be needed. To circumvent his obsolescence, TooDoo steals the semicolon, causing chaos to all of the worlds. This sets up TooDee and Topdee’s introductions to one another. Throughout the entire game, charming little cutscenes tell our heroeos’ tale. These scenes really give Toodee and Topdee a ton of personality!
A Multi-Perspective Mashup
As the name of the title implies, the titular characters are Toodee and Topdee. Toodee controls from a two-dimensional plane and is only able to run and jump. Topdee can move 360-degrees in a top-down environment and can pick up, place, and push boxes. While both characters are available in each level, players only control one at a time. Switching between their perspectives is as simple as a button press. While Toodee and Topdee’s control scheme is easy to grasp, it’s also easy to make mistakes. I found myself switching between characters when intentions were to interact with a block. This really only became an issue late-game, when the timing of actions was essential.
Two-Dimensional Pixelated Pleasure
Considering the genre mash-up that is Toodee and Topdee, the visual design also takes influence. The majority of the game takes on a stunning 2D Pixel art style. As someone who really enjoys retro-themed aesthetics, I’m also equally judgemental. Toodee and Topdee’s landscapes are filled with vivid colors, expertly textured sprites, and are bustling with movement. Considering how overdone pixel art is, in today’s day in age, it’s difficult to stand out. There was a lot of polish put into Toodee and Topdee, since its initial showing. The levels in Toodee and Topdee are expertly crafted and have a sense of liveliness.
A (Literal) Whole New World
Our duo’s quest consists of five chapters. Each chapter inhabits a different world, with differing themes. These range from lush jungles, ancient ruins, mechanical cog-filled temples, glitchy test chambers, and more! Each world also brings their own hazards that add onto the puzzles. Examples include enemies that follow either character’s movement and must be manipulated to interact with objects. Shadow figures that clone movement and must be similarly manipulated. And one of my favorite inclusions, Portal blocks. Those allow either character to pass through, to wherever the other portal block is located. Toodee has the benefit of gravitational momentum, from his ability to jump into the portals. I can’t help but acknowledge the Portal influence here, especially since it works so well. These mechanics, and more, keep the experience feeling fresh and exciting. While these elements add challenge to the overall experience, the difficulty of the actual levels themselves vary.
No Walk Through The Pixelated Park
One of the biggest issues I experienced during my playthrough was difficulty imbalance. Each chapter ramps up the difficulty at a fair and gradual pace. That said, the issue lies within certain levels themselves. This could be fixed with a patch that slightly alters the level order. While these minor difficulty spikes presented a challenge, it was nothing I couldn’t solve myself. Toodee and Topdee also mix up the fun with world bosses. To defeat them, they must take 3 hits. Each boss requires a different usage of Toodee and Topdee’s switching abilities to actually take a heart. These mix up the gameplay and present a fun and feisty experience. Towards the end game, Chapter 5 specifically, gameplay completely changes. I won’t give anything away, so as to not spoil the experience. I will say, however, that the last few levels were incredibly difficult. These sections are best experienced blindly.
Achievements in Accessibility
While Toodee and Topdee may have a very retro feel, it is very much a modern game. The difficulty can be attributed to its old-school design. For less experienced gamers, Toodee and Topdee offer accessibility options. These range from extra lives to slowing down the game’s speed. Also included are additional powers that will help ease the challenge. Air Jumps, for example, give Toodee the ability to double jump. Topdee, however, can be given the ability to telekinetically pick up boxes from a distance. He can also be granted super strength, which allows him to pick up blocks previously only pushable. These abilities create new solutions to the puzzles and make them more approachable. Accessibility options aren’t typically seen in smaller indie titles. Its inclusion adds an extra layer of polish to the overall experience and makes it much more accessible.
Modern-Retro Musical Marvel
We need to take a moment to truly appreciate the music of Toodee and Topdee. Kajinoon, a lone musician/screamo vocalist, composed the entire album. Kajinoon combines synthesized chiptunes with influence from modern genres, such as pop, rock, and lo-fi. The upbeat level tracks and intense energy-driven music playing during boss encounters are almost euphoric. This mashup of genres meshes well with the modern-retro visuals and adds a ton of variety. Many sound like they could be from entirely different games while retaining a familiar feel. This incredibly well-composed soundtrack quickly became one of my favorites to come from an indie game. The entire soundtrack is available on Bandcamp as a digital album, for a modest $5.
You’ll Be Back For More
Toodee and Topdee took me between 4 to 5 hours to beat the main story. After completion, I went back through previous levels to collect red and blue ladybugs. These are acquired by completing levels within certain goals. Red ladybugs are collected by completing the level within a certain timeframe. Getting the blue bug requires limiting the number of times the characters are swapped. These present a great challenge and add a ton of replayability. For bug collecting purposes, I’d recommend taking advantage of the accessibility options. Using these features really changes up the way Toodee and Topdee feels, and plays.
An Indie Darling
At the end of their journey, Toodee and Topdee were able to triumph over TooDoo. Placing the semicolon back in the center of the universe, they successfully saved all worlds. Toodee and Topdee are sent back to their respective dimensions, as a result of successfully restoring peace. If you’re actually following the storyline throughout the game, the end is actually pretty touching. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything. Toodee and Topdee is one of the most charming indie titles I’ve played all year. While the initial concept appears simple on the surface, the end result is anything but. By uniquely combining two staples in the gaming pantheon, dietzribi impacted both the indie scene and the puzzle genre as a whole.
Toodee and Topdee is available now on Steam for $19.99 USD. For more information on the developers, visit dietzribi’s official site. Be sure to check out my interview with one of the game’s developers, Gonen. Also, don’t forget to check out Frank’s video review, over on his YouTube channel.
A digital copy of Toodee and Topdee was provided for the purpose of this review.
