EQQO

Inspired by Ethiopian mythology, Parallel Studio’s EQQO tells the story of a blind child and an egg he is given by a dying serpent god. A puzzle game at its core, EQQO makes full use of the gyroscopic functions of the Switch, as well as the touchscreen capabilities, in your quest to protect and deliver the egg. Puzzles can require a little bit of effort to work out at times, but for the most part are fairly straightforward. Some require you to be quick, whereas others just need you to do things in a certain order but nothing feels overly frustrating to figure out, which allows EQQO to retain a nice, serene atmosphere for the most part.

Often as you guide EQQO through the world, he will need to put the egg down temporarily in order to complete puzzles and trigger certain actions - but there are creatures out there who are anything but friendly, and will take these moments as their opportunity to strike. EQQO is alone in this world with you there only to guide him as an invisible force capable of interacting with the environment, unveiling frescoes that tell more of the game’s story, and throwing rocks towards him to defend from creepy little beings known as Shadows who want to claim the egg.

EQQO has a very minimalist art style which I love. The gorgeous colouring, along with the specific camera angles gives EQQO a very recognisable aesthetic and makes everything a joy to look at. Scenes are well laid out, and the puzzles work well using the beautifully designed architecture of the world. The audio design of EQQO is well suited, too - and really enhances the events happening on screen.

The controls did have a few finicky moments in the short five/six hour span in which I played. Trying to get a specific angle to do something to progress was usually fine, as you have a combination of traditional controls, gyroscopic control as well as the touch screen functions all available to you - but every once in a while there would be something that needed to be done, and I could tell what needed to be done, but I just couldn’t get the correct angle to do so until I’d done a few attempts. This wasn’t a major issue however, and may have been impacted to some extent by the good ol’ Joycon drift that plagues our Switch.

At under six hours to complete, EQQO is a great option for people who love puzzle games, and like to see a game come to fruition. There’s not a whole lot of replayability to keep you coming back, as everything is the same on further runs - however a second run may allow you to grab any of the 25 hidden scrolls you missed from a previous playthrough, letting you in on more of the backstory, as these are optional and the game can be completed without them.

EQQO costs just £5.40 on the Switch eShop - and also has a DLC pack available titled #EQQODonation for just £0.90, which gives you access to a beautiful tree (one of five different designs) under which EQQO can nap in-game, as well as the money being donated to WeForest, an NGO planting trees, acting for reforestation and “making earth cooler”.

“The #EqqoDonation DLC is our way to grow real ecological changes from the seeds disseminated by the game’s story and visibility – via your contribution.” - Parallel Studio & Nakana.io

In the end, we decided to give EQQO the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.

Have you played EQQO yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Nakana.io for the EQQO Nintendo Switch review code!