Multidude Review – Single-Screen Puzzle Gameplay, but Is There More to It?

As I’ve said on multiple occasions, one aspect that I appreciate about the Evercade is how it introduces players to small, but still entertaining Indie titles. Many of these try to imitate the style of older games, while also being developed for earlier systems. Many of these are often produced for the NES. However, sometimes these titles are unique and not too similar to the games that were released during the console’s heyday. Such is the case for Multidude, which was developed by Retro Souls and published by Mega Cat Studios. It’s available on the Evercade in the Mega Cat Studios Collection 1.

Premise and Gameplay

The title is an initially straightforward single-screen puzzle game where you control multiple dudes of varying types to help them reach the exits on the screen. This is done through the use of the D-pad to move your characters around and the action buttons changing the dude you’re controlling as needed.

Each of the dudes have different abilities. For example, one is able to break blocks below him, another can make a pathway through certain floors, and a third can move all around the screen. Yet in this latter case, if he touches certain squares then they become solid and can’t be passed through anymore. As the game progresses, it introduces additional abilities, along with increasing complexity for each stage. Some require effective use of three dudes to reach all the exits. Each exit can only be used by one of the characters, so you have to be rather meticulous in how you move your dudes around so that all of them can make it to the end of the stage. Nobody can share an exit.

At the beginning, the puzzles are really simple. For example, the first has you just moving one of the dudes from left to right with almost no way to fail. In another, you’re taught how one dude can move blocks over spikes. After that, the ability to move all the way around the screen is explained by having you do just that. In fact, Multidude does a great job of teaching the player what the different characters can do.

Along the way, you have a limited number of lives, as represented by the hearts shown at the top-left corner of the screen. Unlike the previously reviewed Super Painter, this one doesn’t have any continues or passwords. Some may find that aspect irritating, but once you know how to complete the puzzles, the game can be beaten in under 10 minutes. As such, if you have to start over from the beginning, it doesn’t take too long to get back to where you were before.

Although I could go on from here to discuss the gameplay further, there’re other aspects of the game that need to be explored first.

Graphics and Sound

While it’s clear that a significant amount of effort was put into Multidude’s gameplay design, other aspects of it feel incomplete. For instance, I can’t help but view the game as a bit barren. Much of the screen real estate is black, and this is the case for almost all the levels. Unlike the previously mentioned Super Painter, there aren’t any changes in backgrounds as you progress. Nor are there any real graphical effects.

Yet, I still liked the look of the game to some extent. The designs for the little dudes were kind of cute, as were the animations for when they moved around. They also bounce up and down in a pleasant manner while they wait to do your bidding. Of course, since this is a puzzle game, the graphics are not the focus. I expect that they’re primarily there for the developers to build the gameplay around them.

The area where the concept of being incomplete is most prevalent is in the sound design. The game has very little music or sound effects. When you move your dudes around there is a repeating sound effect for it. Likewise, Multidude has only one or two pieces of music during normal gameplay. I think the music may be irritating to some people due to the extent of how often it repeats, as well. I think I turned down the sound while playing a couple of times when I was particularly irritated at the game.

Neither the graphics, sound effects, or music give me any reason to play this title. The gameplay is the core of the game, and not much else. If you don’t like Multidude’s puzzles, you probably won’t like it as a whole.

More About the Gameplay, and Final Thoughts

Thankfully, I did enjoy Multidude for quite some time. I expect that to like it, you have to be in the right frame of mind. As I went through the first half-dozen levels, I was enjoying it and took pleasure in figuring out how the game worked. But after reaching the second half of the game’s 20 or so levels, it became a chore to play.

In fact, I abandoned it for a month and played Namco’s Xevious instead (Review). Then I played a good deal of Mappy as well.

After those two, I decided to take another shot at it. I allowed myself to be stumped on a level for a day or two instead of just going to YouTube and watching a longplay if I couldn’t beat a stage in 15 minutes. It was at this point that my opinion of the title began to improve again. Some of the later levels were rather clever, and I gained some satisfaction at mulling over a stage’s puzzle and figuring it out after reflecting on it for a day or two.

When I did that a few times, I knew I wasn’t going to give the game a negative rating. Despite it really ticking me off at times in the past!

Still, I can’t help but feel that there isn’t much here outside of the gameplay. Yet, for the group of people that enjoy this type of game, it may be worth considering. I will say that I was burned out on the game by the end, and decided to watch a part of final stage’s solution to just get done with it.

If you want to explore single-screen puzzle games, I can’t recommend you start with this one. And although I almost game this game a positive rating, I don’t think it deserves it. Consequently, it’s getting a Mixed rating.

For those on the fence about it, I’m glad to say that it is available for free along with Super Painter at RetroSouls’ website. The page that has links to the files is located here. 

Title: Multidude (Publisher Website)
Genre: Single-screen Puzzle
Year Released: 2014
Developer: RetroSouls (Link to the Developer’s webpage)
Available On: NES and Evercade through the Mega Cat Studios Collection 1
Price Paid: $2.51 or $25.18 for the collection. Note: It is available as a free download here.

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid. Please see my Review Rating Scale to know more of how I rate games.