Super Hexagon Maker’s Latest Breaks Brains In A Totally Different Way

Perspective is a funny thing. You can be so, so sure that you know something is laid out, then turn your head a few degrees and see it in a whole other way. That’s the basic conceit of Naya’s Quest, a new puzzle/platformer from Super Hexagon maker Terry Cavanagh.

The game starts out unassumingly enough — you control a woman named Naya who lives in what appears to be a deserted, pre-apocalyptic world. The whole thing kind of has a Dark Tower/Bastion/His Dark Materials vibe, what with the edge of the world closing in and the rest of our existence fading away.

Shortly, however, Naya gets a scanner that allows her to see the missing axis from each room and more accurately judge where each platform is located. Other games have done this kind of thing before, though it’s certainly a big shift from Hexagon‘s twitchier play. It’s difficult to describe and much easier to grok if you play… which, nicely, you can do for free in your browser right now.

I’ll end with this great quote from Ratatouille‘s terrifying food critic Anton Ego, because I just rewatched that (amazing) movie and the quote made me laugh. When asked what he would like to order, he responds:

After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I’m craving? A little perspective. That’s it. I’d like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that? … Since you’re all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I’ll make you a deal. You provide the food, I’ll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.

I wonder if Ego has the perspective required to beat Naya’s Quest?