Biped is the next co-op game that will test your relationship – PAX West 2019

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I got a chance to check out publisher NEXT Studio’s booth at PAX West and played several of their titles, among them the upcoming cooperative puzzle game, Biped, an adorable game about cute robots solving puzzles.

In Biped, you control a tiny robot with a round body and two legs. The control scheme is the star of the show here, with each analog stick controlling a leg. That means in order to walk, you wiggle the sticks up and down and kind of just waddle from place to place. You can get the hang of it and really run or you can hold both sticks in the same direction to quickly slide from place to place.

Check out the trailer for Biped here

The puzzles in Biped are simple but deceptively challenging. In one, both players just have to walk lengthwise across a big cylinder, not unlike the log challenges in game shows. If either player is too far to one side, the big cylinder starts to roll and both players get dumped off the side to start over. In a later challenge, the big metal log has some holes in it.

In another challenge, there’s a bridge that changes between red and blue: blue means the blue robot can step on it once, then it turns red and the red robot can step on it. If the red robot steps on the blue bridge (or vice versa), however, it vanishes completely and both robots fall into the abyss, so you have to sync up your steps to make your way across.

Another challenge still combines these mechanics into a rolling log with holes in it that color swaps, forcing frantic cooperation to make your way across. It’s wild.

You get the idea.

If you like both laughing and getting frustrated with a co-op partner, Biped releases later this year on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. There’s single-player, too, but why would you want to play this one alone?

What do you think? Interested in this co-op title? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Jake Vander Ende

Jake is a writer and game designer in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He loves action, exploration, building, filling bars, and turning numbers into bigger numbers. Someday he'll release a video game.