Picture the scene… Four approximately human-shaped figures are dropped unceremoniously onto a deserted paradise island, suddenly weapons and vehicles start appearing from nowhere … Who are these strange people? What is the purpose of all this hardware? Has some reality TV show finally gone too far in a relentless pursuit of ratings?
Sadly, no — but happily — also, no. This is Havocado. The rules are simple: four players, 50 weapons, last floppy person standing wins.
Havocado is, essentially a crazy-silly, hyper-speed multiplayer physics fighting game. You get to shoot, punch, drive, and use magic to eliminate your fellow players. You’re not limited to the confines of an idyllic island setting either, you can be confined to a multitude of other locations; so you can slug it out in a boxing arena or show off some slick skills on an oil rig. Although — *please note* — nothing about the way these guys move is slick. Frankly, they are thoroughly ill-equipped to drive, wield weapons or operate heavy machinery. In fact, walking in a straight line can often be a problem.
No one ever said it was going to be easy though and, as Dizzee Rascal once said: “If you believe it, you can achieve it — innit.” Dizzee was right. He may also have said: “If you wanna have Havocado, you’re going to need some bravado.” But he didn’t say that.
These curious goings on represent a games industry debut for Webble Games, founded by Havocado aficionado Jordi Maxim van den Bussche — otherwise known as YouTuber, Kwebbelkop. He has this to say about Webble’s first foray into games production: “I’ve been playing games since I was a little kid; obviously, more recently as a YouTuber. I know what YouTubers want, I know what they are looking for, so why not give it to them? This together with my passion for entertainment and a life-long dream of creating my own games inspired me to start Webble Games.
“With Havocado, I looked pretty exhaustively, at games that worked for YouTube but never really took off for gamers. I played all these games and found, I think, what didn’t work so well for gamers. So, really — by process of elimination — we arrived at Havocado. I pitched this to our new Webble team and together we made a game which isn’t only good fun to play but also really fun to watch.
Havocado will indeed arrive, clumsily, via Steam Early Access on April 25.
