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Scrabdackle is one of those games where we get a front row seat to its development. Jakefriend started things with a (successful) Kickstarter that ran between March-April 2021. There were pretty regular updates on its progress since. Now the game is in early access, with basically an act released every year. Though only the first of three parts is live now, it already seems promising.
The concept behind Scrabdackle is short and sweet. Blue is a student at Wizard Academy. One day, a red mage attacks, petrifying people there like Blue’s roommate Viridian. Blue gets ejected. After a brief lucid dream called a waydream, in which Headmaster White explains basic gameplay concepts in a tutorial, our hero wakes up in the Junk Heap. It’s up to you to get your wand back, explore Scrabdackle as you attempt to get home, and find a way to defeat the academy’s enemy.
Scrabdackle can feel a bit like going through a The Legend of Zelda game, though Blue’s wand attacks can make it feel more like going through a twin-stick shooter like The Binding of Isaac. While you start with Strata Blast, which lets you survive encounters and blast through things like junk, you’ll need to get additional abilities to reach new locations. However, it’s very open-ended and you can take whatever path you’d like once you’re in the world to explore. So while some spells are necessary to make progress through certain parts, how you approach things is up to you.
That freedom is handled really well in the first act of Scrabdackle. The backtracking doesn’t feel too overwhelming, at least in these early hours. Reaching save spots does mean you’ll be able to heal, refill your vials, and have enemies respawn so you can earn more currency. It does feel like certain spots will be naturally visited first, like Peanut Village since it is early on the taskroll (mission list). So while it is freeform, there’s enough structure to ensure someone doesn’t feel lost. I will note some of the enemies and bosses could use a bit of rebalancing, but that’s something I’m sure will come following feedback and patches.
But what struck me most as I went through some of the early hours of Scrabdackle is the personality. It’s a really charming and funny game! There’s fourth-wall breaking that doesn’t feel egregious. It’s both subtly and overtly hilarious. Even explanatory segments and descriptions are silly in a fun way. It matches the sketchy and doodle-y appearance of the world, so both the artistic direction and script maintain the same sorts of sentiments.
I appreciate how open Jakefriend has been with Scrabdackle development on Kickstarter, and I’m hoping we’ll see the same sense of positive progression now that it’s in early access. It’s really a pleasant game with a fantastic atmosphere to it. I think as long as it keeps this level of charm, it could turn out quite well even if the rest of the adventure doesn’t get any deeper.
Act 1 of Scrabdackle is in early access on PCs via Steam, with two more acts in development.
