On March 30th next week, Atelier Lyrebird’s mobile memorization match game, Catch The Shapeshifter, will launch on Google’s smart devices via the Google Play store.
At first glance the game made absolutely no sense to me at all and I had no clue at all what I was looking at while watching the trailer. I figured it must be one of those artsy-fartsy games where the cultural concept is above my intellectual pay grade. Nevertheless, I decided to read the press release for Catch The Shapeshift and it turns out that it makes some sense and actually has some grounding in how it’s played and how players progress.
If you watch the trailer below you’ll likely end up confused and have no clue at all what you just watched.
However, on the press site they explain that players assume the role of a janitor named Alex at a museum, where he accidentally rocks an ancient statue that unleashes a bunch of fireflies. As described on the press site…
“[…] thousands of fireflies escaped from [the statue] and started to float down the halls of the museum. In disbelief, Alex followed as many as he could and saw them morph shape and hide in various masterpieces hanging on the walls! “
You’re probably thinking “What the heck does that have to do with the trailer above I just watched?” Well that’s a good question, ace. The description basically is accompanied by a more thorough gameplay info packet that explains that Alex must chase down the fireflies and discover the shapeshifters by playing a game of memory; matching up the objects and scoring points along the way.
A light bulb probably just popped on in your head as you now have an idea of how the game is actually played. An extended trailer further details the gameplay and gives you an idea of how to uncover the shapeshifters and how to utilize the game’s memory matching to progress.
To help players along the way and to conquer the 50 different levels, there’s a smorgasbord of power-ups that will allow you to do things like pause the camera so you can collect the shapeshifters easier, or one that shows you all of the objects you need to avoid, or the highlight the ones you need to pick up.
It’s not really my kind of game but the trailer was so trippy that I had to better understand what the gameplay was actually like and gain some kind of clarity on the concepts behind it. Well, now we know.
You can look for Catch The Shapeshifter to launch for Android devices on March 30th and it’s scheduled to release on iOS devices this upcoming June. For more info you can learn more about Catch The Shapeshifter by visiting the official website.
