Tanglewood (2018 video game)

Tanglewood
The box art used for physical copies of Tanglewood
Developer(s)	Big Evil Corporation
Publisher(s)	Big Evil Corporation
Designer(s)	Matt Phillips
Programmer(s)	Matt Phillips
Artist(s)	Armen Mardirossian, Matthew Weekes, Simon Butler, Drew Lake, Krzysztof Matys, Javier Degirolmo (font design)
Composer(s)	Nathan 'freezedream' Stanley
Platform(s)	Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Windows, macOS, Linux, Dreamcast, Evercade, Nintendo Switch
Release	Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Windows, macOS, Linux: August 14th, 2018 Evercade: November 6th, 2020 Dreamcast: TBA Nintendo Switch: TBA
Genre(s)	Platformer, Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

Tanglewood is a puzzle platformer developed and published by Big Evil Corporation for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The game was crowdfunded through Kickstarter and was released on 14 August 2018, with emulated versions available for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Steam and a dual-game cartridge for the Evercade along with Xeno Crisis.^[1][2][3]

There is a Sega Dreamcast port planned that is currently on hiatus.^[4] There will also be an updated version of the game called "Tanglewood: Definitive Edition" and will be a Director's Cut of the original Genesis release.^[5][6][7] It is on-track for a Q2 2022 release on the Nintendo Switch and will be free DLC on Steam for anyone who bought the game on Steam.^[8]

The game was released on physical carts that can be played on Mega Drive systems.^[9]

Gameplay[]

Gameplay screenshot; Nymn is running across a bridge powered by a contraption

Tanglewood puts the player in control of a fox-like creature called Nymn, and later in the game a different fox-like creature called Echo, in a world where an ancient, advanced and extinct species used to live. Nymn has been separated from his pack. He can't get back to his family's underground home for safety, so he has to complete puzzles and avoid enemies to survive the night. Nymn is able to run, jump with C (default controls), push things with A and B to use a temporary power granted by Fuzzls.^[10] Unlike all currently released versions of Tanglewood, which had a 4:3 aspect ratio, Tanglewood: Definitive Edition will have a 16:9 aspect ratio.^[8]

Chapters[]

Each Chapter, except Chapter 8, has a number acts. Chapter 1 has 4 acts, Chapters 2-6 has 3 acts, and Chapter 7 has 2 acts. Chapter 8 is just the final boss. Tanglewood: Definitive Edition will include scrapped levels and the ability to backtrack to previous levels.^[8]

Interactive Objects^[10][]

As part of most puzzles, there are creatures called Fuzzls. They are mysterious fuzzy balls. Nobody knows much about Fuzzls, like where they came from. If Nymn pushes them back to their nest, they will let him use a temporary power by pressing/holding B. Yellow fuzzls grant Nymn the power to glide in the air, green ones let him slow down time, and blue ones let him tame Djakks. If Nymn's power runs out, he can go back to the Fuzzl's location to get the power back. Later in the game, there are red fuzzls that are used to charge machines and near the end of the game there is bigger white fuzzl that lets Nymn kill or damage any enemy on the screen, which is only used for the final boss. After using the white fuzzl he'll have to wait a few seconds before using it again.

Other things Nymn can push to get through levels are boulders, crates and logs. Boulders and crates can only be pushed but logs can be rolled on.

There are objects that launch Nymn into the air, flues and mushrooms. Flues are holes that will launch him into the air if jumped into. Mushrooms will give him a boost up into the air, and launch him higher up if he jumps on top of them.

There are contraptions from long ago that, a now extinct species, used to trap Djakks and keep them as hunting pets. Some of these contraptions still exist and can be used to Nymn's advantage. Most of the contraptions have buttons that need to be held down for Nymn to advance. To hold down the buttons he has to push something onto the button to make sure it doesn't close. These contraptions are powered by red Fuzzls.

Checkpoint Totems will glow Nymn's color when Nymn passes them. Just like checkpoints in most platformers, dying sends Nymn back to the last checkpoint he activated.^[10]

Secrets and Collectibles[]

In each act, except in Chapter 8, there are 8 fireflies scattered around. Some are easy to find in the main path but others are well hidden and require exploration to find. If Nymn collects all of the fireflies in each act until Chapter 8, where there are no fireflies, an alternate ending will be unlocked. There are a total of 168 fireflies in the game. In the pause menu, there are two counters for the number of fireflies Nymn has collected in the current act and the whole game.^[10] Tanglewood: Definitive Edition will include more secrets and collectibles, including unlockable artwork.^[8]

Enemies and Bosses[]

There are several enemies in Tanglewood. As the day progresses, it becomes more dangerous, especially at night-time.

A Scirus will run away from Nymn but will threaten and attack him if he corners them to a wall. Hoggs will chase and try to impale Nymn with its horn. If he tricks them into running into a wall, their horn will get stuck to it temporarily. Fish-like creatures will swim towards Nymn if he is to the left or to the right of them. They cannot swim vertically. The most common enemies in the game are Djakks. Djakks are giant beasts that were used as hunting pets thousands of years ago. Their masters are gone now so they hunt for themselves. Djakks chase Nymn when he encounters them in an attempt to eat Nymn. They can only run towards him. The only way Nymn can kill Djakks is to push a boulder onto their head or to make them run into spikes. If a Djakk gets close enough, they'll try to bite Nymn. If Nymn is still running full speed, they can outrun the bite. Nymn can tame Djakks and ride them temporarily when using the powers granted by the blue fuzzls. After taming a Djakk, Nymn can make it do a long jump across large gaps. Nymn can't get through these gaps with a normal jump so this is required to progress. There are also Elders, which are nearly 1000 year old Djakks. When their masters passed away, they were left in their cages. If Nymn releases them from their cages, they will run faster than normal Djakks since they've been in their cages for centuries without food. However, Elders only appear in Chapter 3.^[10]

There is a midpoint boss in Chapter 4 where Nymn has to fight against a Djermisch. Based on the name of the track used during the boss, The Last Djermisch, this Djermisch seems to be the last of his kind. To beat the Djermisch, Nymn must push a boulder onto a contraption, move it up to the platforms above, push it off to make it fall on the Djermisch, and repeat the process. The main villain in the game is sort of a demon that doesn't have a name. The developer himself, Matt Phillips, never named it and just likes to call it demon. The final boss takes place during Chapter 8. After getting the power of a white fuzzl, Echo goes to fight the demon. To beat the demon, Echo must use the white fuzzl's power to damage the demon once it appears then avoid the demon after it turns into an orb then repeat the process.

Tanglewood: Definitive Edition will include more bosses than the two already in the game.^[6]

Password System[]

This game uses a password system to save games. A password shows up when the game is paused. On the Genesis/MD version, The player has to manually put in the password and the game puts Nymn at the beginning of the act he was on. On the Steam version, the game automatically saves the password and puts Nymn in the last checkpoint he passed.

Level Select[]

After the credits roll, the player will be sent back to the title screen but there will be a level select option. This allows them to start at whatever chapter they want. There is also a way to access this level select without beating the game. When the game is boot up, when the on the screen with the Djakk and the Fuzzl on the screen, hold Start and hold left. Holding Start allows the player to control the Fuzzl and roll it. If they roll the Fuzzl towards the Djakk, the Djakk will eat it. This activates cheat mode, which is indicated by the select cursor being a red Fuzzl instead of a normal one. Then go to the Sound Test and select the following sound effects in order: 19, 65, 9, 17. Then go back to the title screen and the level select should be unlocked.^[11]

Plot[]

Screenshot of the first cutscene. It shows the demon smiling at Nymn while he's sleeping.

Tanglewood opens with a cutscene of a red fox-like creature called Nymn, sleeping in a nest in a forest tree. A mysterious orb floats into the scene, transforms into a demon, smiles evilly at Nymn, then changes back to an orb and floats away. Nymn wakes up but sees nothing untoward, so goes back to sleep.

For the first few levels, Nymn makes his way through the forest, surviving its many hazards.

At the end of Chapter 3, Nymn finds another fox-like creature, named Echo, hiding from a Djakk. After killing the Djakk, Nymn approaches Echo, who jumps toward Nymn and howls with relief. Echo begins following Nymn.

At the end of Chapter 5, the orb returns. It floats in front of Nymn and Echo. Echo is scared and curls up into a ball. The orb transforms into the demon and kills Nymn. The player now controls Echo, who must continue alone.

The ending depends on whether the player collects every firefly in the game. If they don't, then the game ends with Echo defeating the demon and arriving at the nest Nymn was sleeping in at the start of the game. Echo goes to sleep alone.^[12] If the player does collect every firefly, then Nymn returns to save Echo from certain death, halfway through the fight with the demon. Once the demon is defeated, both Echo and Nymn return to Nymn's nest and go to sleep.^[13]

Tanglewood: Definitive Edition will include additional lore to the game's plot.^[8]

Development[]

Matt Phillips programmed the entire game in 68000 assembly language using original Sega development tools and processes from the 1990s using his own engine.^{[14][15][16][17][18]} The game was initially given the code name "Project Watershed" according to 7 development video logs of the project posted on YouTube between December 2014 to January 2015.^[19] Video Log 3 shows a ledge grabbing mechanic that Matt was planning to use for climbing but none of that is present in Tanglewood. It took around 5-6 years to finish the game.^[9]

Music[]

Tanglewood's music was composed by Nathan Stanley, who goes by the name "freezedream" online. He also made most of the sound effects. freezedream has made Genesis/MD music before and even released an album on cartridge called Today back in 2010. The first track in the album, Winter in July, sounds similar compared to the song "Deadwood" used in Tanglewood at the beginning of Chapter 6.^[20] A short version of the song "Rain" from the freezedream album Sonic Traces was used at the end of Chapter 1.^[21]

There is a Tanglewood OST cartridge that includes every track in the game and a new track called TANGLEWOOD (Reprise). It also plays the full version of Rain instead of the short version used in the game.^[22]

There are a total of 26 Some tracks from the official soundtrack. Some of the tracks are actually just jingles.^[22]

The game uses the Echo Sound Driver, which is a Genesis/MD sound engine. The soundtrack was most likely created in the DefleMask chiptune tracker because freezedream uploaded a preview video of the Tanglewood (Reprise) track playing on the DefleMask tracker and Matt Phillips created a conversion tool to convert DefleMask DMF files to be usable with the Echo Sound Driver.^[23][24]

List of tracks from the official soundtrack^[22][]

1. Tanglewood (Title Screen)
2. Demon
3. Wake Up (Jingle)
4. Dawn (Jingle)
5. Harlequin Forest (Chapter 1)
6. Dusk (Jingle)
7. Calm
8. Night (Jingle)
9. Djakk
10. Lost
11. Sleep (Jingle)
12. Storm Warning (Chapter 2)
13. Rain
14. Heritage (Chapter 3)
15. Union
16. Tethered (Chapter 4)
17. The Last Djermisch
18. Bygone (Chapter 5)
19. Scrap!
20. So Long
21. Deadwood (Chapter 6)
22. Paramonia?
23. Oasis (Chapter 7)
24. Turntail (Chapter 8)
25. Credits
26. Tanglewood Reprise (Not in game)

Reception[]

Tanglewood received generally great reviews.

People liked the level design, puzzles and most of the animation but some people panned stuff like the lack of background music.

Awards[]

Tanglewood won the Development World Championship Fan Favorite Award 2018, the Revival Retro Best Indie Game of Show Award 2018, the Revival Retro Best Indie Game of Show Award 2018, and the Retrotalents 2018 at Euskal Encounter award. Tanglewood was also a finalist for the Develop Conference Indie Showcase 2018 award.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Tanglewood at MobyGames