Platypus Reclayed

Format reviewed: Switch (compatible with Switch 2)
Other formats available: PC (Steam), Mac, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S
Developer: Claymatic
Website: Official Website
Players: 1-2
Age Rating: PEGI 3

Platypus was among the first of the wave of indie games that emerged following the increased popularity of the internet in the early 2000s, which allowed new distribution avenues for video game producers. Since its release in 2002 (a year before Steam launched), Platypus has maintained a loyal fanbase, who still produce mods and fan art to this day.

Fast forward 23 years, and Claymatic are resurrecting the game, rebuilding it from the ground up for modern platforms, with a new name, Platypus Reclayed.

Claymatic have kept the essence the same, retaining the game’s simple, one-button shoot-em-up play style, whilst adding numerous tweaks to cater to today’s more discerning players.

For one, the clay artwork has now been upgraded to ultra-detailed 4K. A new stage has been added too, alongside new weapons and enemies, whilst existing levels have been remixed. The soundtrack has been given a high-end remix too, and some new game modes have been added, like Practice and the permadeath single-life challenge mode Score Attack. The developers have also kept modders in mind, keeping the PC version, at least, fully moddable.

I opted for the Switch version myself, so I haven’t been able to dig into the modding side of things, but I gave it a good play-through to share my thoughts.

Right off the bat, the most impressive thing about Platypus Reclayed is its visual style. All the graphics have been created using clay modelling to give the game the look of a claymation film or TV programme. This is what originally attracted me to the game, as I’ve long been a fan of stop motion animation.

The visuals are made of clean, bold colours too. Each level looks notably different, and there are subtler differences between areas within these. For instance, I like how the second level, set in the clouds, gradually turns from day to night. The water level has a nice touch too, in how fallen debris causes a splash in the water at the bottom of the screen. Another clever flourish is how the stronger enemies’ armour is gradually broken down visually. Little holes grow in number before the craft finally explodes. The whole game is a pleasure to look at.

These pretty visuals would be nothing without a good game to keep you interested though. Platypus Reclayed, as mentioned, keeps things simple. It’s a refreshingly straightforward side-scrolling shoot-em-up at heart. Your craft constantly moves forward, as you dodge an onslaught of bullets and shoot as many enemies as you can. There’s no story. You just jump straight into the action.

This simplicity might not appeal to everyone, but for those of a certain age, like myself, who grew up in the 80s and early 90s, playing less sophisticated games, it’s a welcome regression.

Like a lot of these arcade-style retro-inspired games, Platypus Reclayed is not long. There are only 4 levels, though these each contain around 5 stages. It is quite challenging though, at least for a rusty, middle-aged gamer like myself.

These challenges only make the game more compulsive. If it were easy, you’d soon get bored.

Difficulty options have been expanded from the original game though, so you can fine-tune it to suit your abilities. On top of a basic difficulty setting for the gameplay, you get a choice of craft – beginner, regular and advanced. The choices affect how much of a shield you have, how powerful your weapons are and whether or not power-ups boost your shield. On easy mode, you also start out with some extra floating guns that provide added shielding too. These only stay for the first life of each continue though.

Whilst I struggled to get past level 2 on the normal-regular settings, I found easy mode with the beginner craft to be pretty straightforward to work through. However, I must admit, I haven’t defeated the final boss yet.

Handily, once you’ve finished a level at a particular difficulty setting, you’re also able to jump straight to that at a later date, at the same setting, so you don’t have to finish the game in one go on just 3 continues.

One of my few gripes with the game is that I got frustrated by the way the fruit power-ups dropped by some of the enemies go flying forward and fall very quickly. You end up missing most of them or have to launch into the wave of bad guys to try to collect them, getting battered in the process. They home in a little as you get closer, and you can sort of bounce them in the air sometimes by shooting them, which helps, but they remain frustratingly difficult to collect.

As with most shoot ’em ups of this ilk, you can upgrade your weapons via power-ups. These upgrades only have a limited life. Thankfully, this is based on actual use rather than a timer. So you can conserve your bullets when you hit a brief lull. You lose the upgrade when you get hit though.

There are a lot of different weapon upgrades. These begin with your standard spread shots and rapid fire upgrades, but later you get everything from homing missiles, to a boxing glove, to love hearts, doughnuts and hot dogs!

The game also has a 2-player mode, which makes it extra fun, though it causes bullet hell chaos. Player 2 can drop in at any time during play, which is a nice touch. I only tried this briefly, as my kids aren’t well-versed in these types of games, so they struggled to keep up.

Overall, I enjoyed Platypus Reclayed a great deal. It’s short and simple but looks gorgeous, and its fun, pick-up-and-play nature makes it furiously addictive.

Platypus Reclayed is out now on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.