Nightmares often come to life when we are dreaming, presenting us with what we fear most. In Rest in Pieces, you must take these nightmares head on, swinging yourself away from anything that can harm you.
Rest in Pieces sees you playing as a series of characters trapped as porcelain dolls — reducing you to something that shatters easily whenever it touches anything else in the environment. This doll is suspended on a chain in the first few levels, allowing you to precariously swing from left to right. At the top of the screen, you’ll see your fear: a clown, an octopus monster, Count Dracula and more.
Each doll has its own different ways of movement. This movement is primarily swinging back and forth, but — as an example — the surfer seems to surf more than swing, the circus performers movements are less forgiving as he pirouettes a bit too much while the little girl moves slowly, allowing you to understand movement before taking on the others.
As you swing through the levels, you’ll be trying to hit eye checkpoints which represent you blinking awake. You see, being in a dream means you can open your eyes. After three blink checkpoints, you’ll find your fear falling apart around you and your character waking up. In the level you do have a set number of lives at first, but once you have beat the level it becomes permadeath.
Characters each have a special ability which can be used if you are in a pinch in the game. The surfer, for example, allows you to glitch through the rocks in the world as if they were just water. Each character also has a bunch of different skins that can be unlocked, to change the color and outfit. As you unlock these characters, you’ll end up with more challenging levels and see yourself taking on very different worlds.
I had previously played the mobile version of Rest in Pieces, however at Gamescom, in the Sweden Arena booth, I was able to take on the Nintendo Switch build. The entire game has been rebuilt for Nintendo Switch, so it doesn’t feel like a mobile port at all. I quite enjoyed playing it on the Switch and felt that going to that console is quite fitting for Rest in Pieces.
Rest in Pieces is currently out on Android and iOS but is also to Nintendo Switch in September.
