Bless indie developers and their mix of odd ideas, ambition, and the power of smaller budgets that allow them to try out left field ideas. While certainly breaking all the rules has no guarantees of success, the consistent surprises we’ve seen over the last generation have demonstrated there are still new modes of play out there yet to be discovered. Ynglet, aside from its unusual name, has its own unique take on gameplay as well, not quite feeling like anything I’ve played before.

When I saw that the game was being billed as an “anti-platformer”, I’ll admit I wasn’t sure what to make of that claim, but now having spent time with it I suppose it seems fitting. Similarly to how you’d play a traditional title in the action space, making various jumps with the intent to land on specific platforms, you will be leaping between things, but in this case you’ll be landing in, rather than on them. These areas you’ll move in, which vary in shape and size, allow you to move between them quite easily, or if you pause they’ll even become a checkpoint if you “die”, which is quite convenient. 

Once you get introduced to that basic concept, and get a feel for how to be effective, new rules will continue to be added consistently. You have a directed dash that will not only help you change direction in mid-air, but will also be useful for bouncing off of certain doubled lines, resetting your dash in the process and allowing you to cover longer distances if you execute everything properly. Some areas will toggle between being usable and unusable when you trigger your dash is another example. The part some people may find fun, or perhaps aggravating, is that beyond the early stages there isn’t direct instruction on how to play, but there will instead tend to be visual cues that try to help you understand what you should do. If you’re being a bit dim this can hold you up while you work things out, but it does reinforce the puzzle-solving aspect of the game to a degree as well.

In the end, Ynglet is a game that doesn’t look, play, or even sound quite like anything I’ve checked out on the Switch. Its colorful and doodly art style is whimsical and fun, backing up play that’s generally all business. While there were times where I’d get a bit stuck, unsure of where I was supposed to go next, with a little patience and experimentation I was always able to figure out how to proceed. If you enjoy surprises and innovative play, but don’t mind a fair amount of quirkiness that comes along for the ride, this is an easy title to recommend.