Claybook

You might not remember this, but there were a few years in the 1990s when video game developers were trying to make Claymation a thing. From ClayFighters to The Neverhood to the unfortunately titled Claymates, the idea of copying the look of stop-motion animation was appealing in the 16-bit era. Claybook may not be the new Trog reboot I've been yearning for, but I'm excited to see that game developers haven't stopped working with virtual clay. What Second Order has crafted is an inventive puzzle/platformer that feels a bit like Katamari Damacy with art supplies.

After bouncing from PC to Xbox One to PlayStation 4, Claybook has finally made its debut on Nintendo's Switch. What we have here is an odd little game where we reshape a world made up entirely of clay in an effort to complete a number of challenging missions. And when I talk about reshaping the world, that's exactly what you do. Just rolling around the soft surface will deform the object, and holding the trigger button will let you carve through any bridge, building or structure standing in your way. This is a game about breaking and rebuilding these levels in hopes of solving quests and earning stars.

A typical Claybook mission will have you trying to funnel colored liquid into different containers. This seems like a simple enough problem, but you'll need to cut a hole through each side, create a viable path towards the container and then plug up the overflow before you lose too much liquid. This is a fairly straight-forward mission, but they advance in difficulty from there. It won't take long before you're juggling multiple tasks at once and jumping between the different shapes and objects sitting on the playfield.

That brings up a good point -- you can change into four different shapes at the push of a button, as well as inhabit some of the larger objects found in the level. You'll find that some types of objects are better for climbing stairs, while others are good at balancing on those tiny rails in the sky. The big square is especially great at gobbling up the gingerbread house and other treats, which is something you'll do a lot in this game. And what's really cool is that you can complete most of these tasks in wildly different ways, giving the player quite a bit of control over the action.

Speaking of which, let's talk a little bit about how we get around this world. Like I said, you can change shapes at a push of a button, but you can also rewind time whenever you want. This doesn't just get you out of sticky situations, it also leaves a clay stamp in its place. This means that even if you destroy the path to your next objective, you can still build a new one with the rewind mechanic. This is especially helpful because you can't jump or pull off any fancy moves, so leaving your clay corpse behind is often imperative if you want to get around.

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Claybook features twenty different stages in all, including a few levels where the focus is on racing from one checkpoint to the next as quickly as possible. There's even a stage where you pilot a hard-to-control rocket ship around the room trying to hit targets. While I'm not a big fan of this particular level, it is impressive how varied the missions can be. The all-too-brief campaign makes a strong argument that you can mold this world in a number of creative ways, and that's a theme that extends beyond the missions and into the creative modes.

Much like Little Big Planet and similar games, the emphasis here is on user-created content. The first twenty stages ease you into the world, but the hope is that you'll like it so much that you'll either want to make your own levels or download a bunch from the community. The good news is that this Switch version can download levels made on all platforms, which means that it already has a database filled with creative and exciting user-created stages. That's the key to the longevity of this game, because it's not going to take you more than two or three hours to complete the main campaign.

When it comes to creating the levels, I found the process to be a bit frustrating. I've never been real good at designing my own stages in this kind of environment, so I'll fully admit that this issue may be with me, but some of the movement felt a bit unruly and it takes a lot of work to make anything worthwhile. Thankfully, other people have gone through the trouble of mastering this mode, so I'll celebrate their hard work and download their levels instead. That said, none of the user-created stages I sampled were anywhere near as cool as what the developer came up with, which does concern me a little bit.

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Even with the user-created content, I can't help but feel like Claybook is a bit lacking. Part of the reason is because of the short campaign, which feels like it's over just as it's starting to get good. I wish there were more missions in each stage, especially since some of the levels feel like they were undercooked. I also hoped to see more from the gameplay beyond rolling around and rewinding time. It would be fun to have more options for molding, giving us even more ways to complete the challenges. In a lot of ways, this feels like the first step to what could be a really cool franchise. I can envision a sequel down the road filled with better mechanics, an easier level creator, more content and a wider variety of shapes, skins and themes. As it is now, Claybook comes across like an elaborate tech demo.

That's a shame, because I genuinely love the way this game looks. I'm a big fan of how everything in the level dents and reshapes as your clump of clay touches it. I love that you can see a little kid in the distance controlling all this. The presentation warms my heart and immediately sets the game apart from everything else on the market. Despite its many problems, I truly hope this is a series that continues to grow with more ambitious ideas and a greater sense of variety. I'm not sure developer Second Order has nailed it with this first attempt, but this is definitely a franchise I would like to see more of in the future.