Robot rock

Musical loops power sparky rhythm game Impossible Bottles

Mechanical, musical loops power this radiant rhythm game from Honig Studios

The fate of the civilised world is at your fingertips in Impossible Bottles. It’s a rhythm game in which you must tap in time while a mad scientist shoots electricity through cables that power gigantic subterranean robots – and, in turn, the cities they move beneath. “I was always a fan of music games and illustrations that play with colours and bigger compositions,” art director and illustrator Rafael Varona says, citing the works of Tom Haugomat and Lotta Nieminen as inspiration, as well as animation studios such as Psyop and Moth Animation.

The loops you set in motion are mesmerising: the huge mechanical beings stamp and flail to electronic beats, while the lights in the nightclub on the surface pulse in response. “Every looping animation and visual effect follows the beat, creating a sort of playful metronome,” Varona says. But even the slightest hiccup in your robotmanipulating rhythm will have repercussions on the world above. “It’s the notion that the world we live in is just a small part of a greater universe,” Varona explains. “Enormous golems in eternal movement, mad scientists working in solitude, perfect loops and humorous animations and situations the player can discover if they look carefully.” Prepare to puppeteer the power grid when Impossible Bottles releases on mobile, PC and consoles at the end of the year.