My Arms Are Longer Now is a super weird game to write about for a lot of reasons. The biggest one is that the game is being published by Jackbox Games, a company traditionally known for its party games. This puzzle game is their first foray into publishing something a bit outside their wheelhouse.
I got the chance to sit down with some members of the Jackbox team, and they walked me through the upcoming demo and provided some information about what to expect from the game.
It was an interesting conversation that revolved around the game and the sort of future of Jackbox. As for the game, I loved what I saw and am eager to get my hands on it as soon as possible.
What is My Arms Are Longer Now?
This is going to be a very weird one to describe. My Arms Are Longer Now is basically a sort of puzzle game taking notes from things like Untitled Goose Game and adding some very weird but inriguing game play structure.
You play as a thief, well, to be more specific, you play as the arm of a thief, an incredibly long arm. You’ll move around the level, figuring out how to steal whatever it is you’re there to steal. Your arm will get hooked on things and pushed around, making for some very comedic events.
You’ll grab things and tug them to the end of the screen to get them counted for money, much to the dismay of those you’re robbing, but what really grabbed me is that the whole game is sort of a meta-narrative told from the perspective of the detective hunting you.
So while you steal things, you’ll listen to his conversation with various people as they sort of describe what happened. They can be fairly responsive, it seemed, so that added an extra layer of humor.
It is first and foremost a puzzle game where you are attempting to complete the level requirements, which may require you to get a bit creative. There’s a lot of freedom in the way you handle those requirements.
For instance, on the mission I saw during the demo, you could steal someone’s train pass to use as your own, or you could simply avoid the guard by going out the window and entering through another window. This was great to see as it means there isn’t simply one definitive way to solve things, and gives players a way to engage more with the tools at their disposal.
Is It a Bit of a Reach?
From what I saw, this indie game seemed to be the real deal, and clearly, the people over at Jackbox Games agree. It had a great art style thanks to Toot Games, and it really makes you want to know more about what exactly is going on.
For a lot of puzzle games, especially indie ones, the story and world are typically ancillary to the gameplay, but with My Arms Are Longer Now, the story and world seem to be front and center. It’s also wildly funny a lot of the time.
The ridiculous nature of the game and the meta-narrative lend themselves well to this puzzle-solving game with freaky mechanics and some discomforting sounds. It all blends really well to make something unique and interesting.
While there’s no release date just yet, this will be one indie game to keep an eye on. There’s still a lot up in the air, but when this one finishes, I have no doubt it’ll be something that strikes a chord with a lot of people. Not only is the game design interesting, but the whole time I watched it get played, I just couldn’t stop chuckling about some of the absurd noises and events happening on screen.
