One of titles officially announced at PAX South 2015 is Magnetic: Cage Closed from Guru Games. Straight out of Sweden, Magnetic is a first-person game in a similar vein to Portal. In Magnetic, though, instead of a portal gun or gravity gun, you use a magnetic weapon that uses magnetic fields to push or pull objects – including yourself.
Magnetic is not just throwing cubes and solving puzzles, though there is plenty of that, too. No, there is also a story and decision-making opportunities that will affect the world and story going forward. During my playthrough, I hit one of these major forks in the road. It was very interesting as I pondered what to do and after I decided, I found out I pretty much decided the same way as almost everyone else that had sat down that day. My hope is that the community’s reaction to choices will somehow be shown to everyone after a time.
At first the whole “oooo, it’s magnets” thing doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I really dig how the systems are used. First, the gun itself has multiple levels of push/pull, so that has a direct effect on the amount of force used. This makes a huge difference when pulling smaller cubes and throwing them across the room. Lesser force means it is less likely, you will accidentally push yourself off a ledge as you launch the block from your position. I was quickly reminded of the whole “equal and opposite reaction.” Physics!
Magnetic: Cage Closed is looking for a release date in the first half of this year and will be released on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I’m definitely looking forward to finding out more as we get closer to launch.