Swirl W@tch is Sleeper Games’ second addition to its Hyperspace universe. I pay a lot of attention to this developer because it provides creative gameplay in cool sci-fi worlds.
Combining stealth mechanics with the roguelike formula is something I don’t see often, which makes Swirl W@tch immediately stand out as something fresh.
Taking place on a worn down gas planet, your goal is to complete two-three randomly generated phases containing multiple objectives that can vary between encryption key downloads, refinery sabotages, hostage rescues, or eliminating targets.
Vision as a Mechanic
Unlike any other stealth game I’ve played, Swirl W@tch evens the playing field by having your vision limited just like the enemy’s. You and the enemy are both relying on sound to determine each other’s location.
It creates an interesting suspense where you don’t know if something approaching you is an enemy ship or just a lone alien creature minding its own business. You have to take your time to get the necessary information in an area by carefully pinging guard posts, watching for sound movements, and checking sight lines.
Excellence in AI Behavior
One of Swirl W@tch’s strongest points is the enemy design. There are a ton of different enemy types you can encounter that vary in their behaviors and stats. Once disabled ships come back online, the first thing they do is go on comms to report being attacked. This will slowly escalate the difficulty level with increased vision across the board, more reinforcements being deployed, key ships being more tightly guarded, etc.
If enemy units hear even a single bullet in their vicinity, they’ll call in more ships to patrol the area. Because the game actively responds to the actions you take, you have to be very careful with how you go about your objectives.
To counter the impressively designed AI, you have a fairly large arsenal of weapons, tools, and upgrades to choose from. You have access to rocket launchers, flare guns, hacking devices, and smoke grenades. There are also dozens of passive upgrades to make your ship faster, stealthier, or smarter with the likes of better interrogation techniques, wider sonar range, and more ammo storage. The only limit is that each upgrade costs credits to use, of which you have a very limited supply.
Style and Substance
Swirl W@tch’s presentation is unique, but takes some time to get used to. The colors are bright, the sprites are complicated, and a lot of information is thrown at you at once. This is something that I’ve seen push a few people away from the game. It may come across as visually incoherent at first, but in my opinion it doesn’t take too long to adjust to.
I do wish the menus were easier to navigate; it prioritizes style over useability, and the UI could be a bit cleaner. The sound design gives off very tense feelings using heavy ambient synths, droning music during down time, and super loud, intense music when the action picks up.
Sleeper Games continues making some of the most interesting games in the roguelite genre, and Swirl W@tch has easily taken my Game Of The Year for 2023. It has so many cool mechanics and subtle design choices that I can easily get past the minor presentation issues and I’d recommend everyone try what is a deeply hidden gem.
Swirl W@tch is currently only available on PC (Linux/Windows).
