The Swords of Ditto: A heroically charming adventure | PAX East 2018 preview
By Matt Becker
Our demo of The Swords of Ditto at PAX East 2018 proved to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of the entire convention.
Ever since I first laid my eyes upon the glorious, cartoon art style of The Swords of Ditto, I knew this game was going to be fun. After spending some time playing it both at home and with game director, designer, and studio founder Jonathan ‘Bidds’ Biddle at PAX East 2018, my gut feeling proved to be pleasantly correct. The Swords of Ditto is an amazing mix of charming, nostalgic fun and challenging rogue-like dungeon crawling.
The Swords of Ditto is being marketed by publisher Devolver Digital as a “compact action RPG.” Each playthrough you control a randomized child hero who takes up the mystical Sword of Ditto to fight against the relentless evil Mormo. The delightfully dangerous world is filled with monsters and dungeons and quests and loot. Once you die, however, that’s the end of your current character. The game then restarts,100 years later, with a new hero of legend. Your progression is passed on through the mystical sword itself, so your experience and player levels are persisted through death.
During my demo at PAX, Bidds and I started a new co-op game together from the very beginning. The Swords of Ditto walks players through a predetermined route during their very first playthrough to better explain the characters, storyline, and base mechanics. This tutorial was fairly quick, and no matter what you do, you die shortly after meeting the antagonist Mormo. I definitely appreciate the time spent on explaining the lore behind the gameplay loop as opposed to just throwing players right into the mix of things, especially in a rogue-like adventure such as this.
From here on out, the real gameplay loop begins. Players control a randomized hero of legend 100 years in the future, reborn to pick up the Sword of Ditto and fight evil. Players have five in-game days to gain as much strength as they can to defeat Mormo. However, it’s up to the player how long they want to spend exploring and gearing up their character.
You can jump right to the end of the game if you are up for an extreme challenge, or you can spend time slowly breaking down Mormo by conquering various dungeons and completing wacky side quests throughout the world. Players can eventually slow down and even stop time to allow for more exploration as well. The farther you progress through each playthrough, the brighter the world becomes and vice-versa. The environments, loot, and characters that inhabit the world change depending on how successful you are. Each adventure is its own unique story while also being interwoven with the legacy of the heroes that came prior.
Similar to the overworld, every dungeon is randomly generated with a different layout, monsters, puzzles, and secrets. They play very similar to dungeons from some of the older The Legend of Zelda games, requiring keys to open certain doors and featuring new weapons hidden in chests. The type of puzzle solving is also very similar, with a mix of moving blocks and hitting switches to open the path forward. Even the classic “cracks in the wall” are present, enabling you to find new passages by blowing it open with bombs.
Since the world of The Swords of Ditto is filled with children, it only makes sense that your abilities and equipment match the theme. Weapons are called Toys, and include everything from standard items such as bombs and a bow and arrow to silly, wacky items like a giant foot that comes down from the sky or a throwable vinyl record disc. You can augment your gear with stickers that add various stat boosts and perks, similar to how a kid might put stickers on their Frisbee. Even the fast travel system plays on this toy theme, allowing you to hop around the map though giant Kazoos.
Playing on local co-op adds unique challenges to the game as well, as the puzzles are designed for a single adventurer. That is not to say this is a design flaw, it just tests your ability to communicate with your buddy. I saw this in-action during my demo, as Bidds and I had to work together to activate switches in the correct order without stepping on each other’s toes. If one character dies, your partner can “hug” them to revive them back to life, giving you a second chance at avoiding permadeath.
More app trigger: The 50 Best RPGs Of All Time
What attracts me the most to The Swords of Ditto is how much personality has been injected into this game. Bidds talked to me about how he wanted to create a game he could play with his kids on his couch, and I would say that he absolutely succeeded. It’s like Rogue Legacy meets A Link to the Past meets Adventure Time, appealing both mechanically and aesthetically to players of all experience levels. Sometimes it’s hard to judge a game from a short demo at a convention, but The Swords of Ditto‘s charisma sold me almost immediately. The Swords of Ditto is set to release for PlayStation 4 and PC on April 24.