Biped 2 is Shaping Up to Be An Awesome Puzzle Game

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Biped 2 has a playtest available for everyone to try out in preparation for its launch later this year, and I had a chance to check it out a bit early. While this is just a snippet of the full game, I have greatly enjoyed my time with it. And the playtest is already running quite well on the Steam Deck.

While I occasionally enjoy odd puzzle games, they are not my preferred genre. Sometimes, I struggle like a sloth does at the 200-meter sprint, but there are outliers I enjoy, like The Talos Principle 2 and Shapez 2.

I came into Biped 2 without playing the original game, but I was interested nonetheless. This chunky experience features a fully fledged tutorial and several expansive worlds to explore, although the level editor is unavailable during this version. You can also play solo or co-op with two or four players, but I primarily played alone.

Biped 2 introduces some fascinating movement mechanics that tread between unique and challenging. The game is easy to grasp, and its design as a puzzle game minimizes frustrations. If you've ever played Octodad and found yourself throwing the controller in frustration, this is a stark difference. It's a delightful and charming adventure game, and I had a blast.

Players step into the roles of two bipedal robots, Aku and Sila, on a mission to explore distant planets and assist anyone they encounter in the known Galaxy. At its core, the game is about friendship and puzzles, and its gameplay exudes a cheerful vibe. Despite the potential dangers, everything is presented in a happy, positive manner that's sure to bring a smile to your face. The vibrant and colorful visual design further enhances this uplifting experience. Combined with the movement mechanics, Biped 2 has an enjoyable gameplay loop.

The puzzles are simple: using your robotic legs and arms to pull on levers, guiding objects to locations to activate new areas, or simply navigating dangerous areas with falling platforms. While it can be challenging, there is no penalty for failing a jump, as you respawn almost instantly. So while I lost count of the times I plummeted off the platforms, I was back in the game so fast that it never got annoying. The cute robots and charming music made the whole thing rather relaxing!

You can also customize your little biped friends in many ways, which adds a nice personal touch. You can use that currency to buy many different clothing accessories by collecting treasures in the game world. Even with the limited content in the demo, I had no trouble collecting treasures and buying what I needed in its store.

I also tested Biped 2 on the Steam Deck, and there are promising signs! It comes out the gates swinging with full controller support, and while it took me some time to get used to it, I found it very comfortable to play. I had to tinker in the settings with the sensitivity to get things where I wanted them to be, but I was impressed with how much effort has been put into making it work on the Deck.

You can tweak a few graphical settings, but these options are thin on the ground, at least for the demo. While the game plays well in high settings, the battery drain was a little high for my liking. Turning the graphics down to low brought down my average power draw to 10 watts without sacrificing much visual quality, which I found a great compromise. The game is pretty to admire even on low graphic settings while waddling around the map.

I came away from my Biped 2 playtest surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. Puzzle games in an open world are still relatively rare in today’s market, and it's shaping up to be an impressive release. There is no release date yet, but from my experience, the developer NEXT Studios has something special in their hands.

You can try out the Biped 2 playtest for yourself right now on Steam and wishlist it ahead of its release.

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