A Webbing Journey is an adorable physics-based sandbox adventure. You take on the form of a little spider in a big world. You’ll have access to several rooms that have their own list of tasks for you to complete. In addition to those tasks, you may even find some extra things to do!
You start with getting to build your little friend and I have to say that the customization options exceed expectations. Not only can you choose how fluffy your spider is, but you can also choose a color for different parts of it. The eyes have different pupils that you can change colors independently, the hats have two colors, and so do the accessories, and the shoes. Hell, you can even change the color of the webbing!
There are so many ways to turn your spider into your own little friend. I’ve got mine done up in coral colors with heart pupils and proudly sporting a cheese wedge hat and shoes made out of bread loaves. It’s majestic and I love it.
As you play, you’ll notice that there are several multi-colored sewing buttons just floating around. By picking them up, you can spend them in the shop to unlock several different cosmetics for your spider.
Once you’ve got your little friend sorted, you’re ready to explore. At first, the controls can be a little fiddly just because there are several ways to utilize your webbing, but you do get used to it. I’ve played through the first room, and I still flub the controls sometimes, but this game is low-stakes. So, if I drop something from hitting the wrong button, it’s not really a hassle to pick it back up.
There is no bigger story to A Webbing Journey, it’s literally just a sandbox to play in. Just roam around and complete tasks on your to-do list. Fortunately, you don’t have to complete everything to open up a new room, so if there is a puzzle that’s frustrating you, then you can move on!
Watch the trailer for A Webbing Journey!
Your little spider will defy gravity by walking on walls or ceilings and, when simply walking isn’t good enough, there’s webbing! I don’t know if anyone has played the games with the bridge construction where you have to try and build a structure that can withstand weight, but A Webbing Journey feels like that.
There are times when you can just grab something and go. However, most times, you have to build a solid foundation before you start to wiggle things into place.
I can see where some of the puzzles may not be for everyone. I’ve spotted a slider puzzle in the office that I won’t be touching with a ten-foot pole. However, there are little house-building puzzles that I absolutely adore! The trick to most of the puzzles is simply finesse.
No worries if spiders give you the heebie jeebies because there is an arachnophobia mode that you can employ that turns your spider into a lovable, non-threatening ball. The only thing I’d caution is that the ball rolls in such a way that I felt motion sick from it, so if you’re sensitive to such things and hate spiders, this may be a game you’ll need to skip.
This is a very puzzle-heavy game, so expect gameplay to be a bit slower paced and for things not to be clear-cut. You’ll have puzzles that seem straightforward, but then you realize the landscape to achieve the objective is thwarted by something as small as a curved edge of a counter. You have to figure out interesting ways to string things up in order to complete your tasks.
A Webbing Journey is in Early Access, so there are only 3 rooms to explore right now, but if I’m honest, this is still 15-20 hours of content if you want to do everything. And, you get the added bonus of looking forward to more in the future.
You can find this game in Web-ster’s Dictionary under fun.
They have a roadmap of things you can expect, but it’s tentative since you never can predict game development follies.
Right now, A Webbing Journey has 3 story levels, 6 sandbox levels, a cheat console, saving progress in Story Mode, localization, and cosmetic shop items.
In June, they’re shooting for the ability to save webs and object positions. As such, until this update comes, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve finished a particular puzzle and not stop in the middle, because if you come back, progress will be reset.
In July, the hope is to bring achievements and additional cheat console commands.
For August, they’d like to bring us a living room level, even more achievements, and more cosmetic items!
The last content update that has details is for September. We can look forward to a photo mode and dialogue translations for the Living Room level.
These are just the first four content updates, but there will be even more added in the future; we just don’t know the details yet.
Honestly, I had a really good time playing A Webbing Journey. I’m a little surprised by just how much fun I had; it’s not really a genre that I considered being able to cozy down with, but I had 10 out of 10 good vibes the entire time.
If I had to detail one complaint, it’s how the camera moves sometimes. Depending on the angle of your camera, the controls may invert. It’s definitely a learning curve because if you’re walking one way and your camera moves just enough, you’re suddenly walking the opposite way.
Oh, damn, this is the part where I tell you about where to find the game and how much it’ll be and my flabber is gasted. I was fortunate enough to be offered a code for review, so I hadn’t looked at the price yet, but it’s only $7.99. For the amount of things you can do, this is a fantastic price.
Seriously, try out the demo, see if this is your bag. If it is, snatch this game up. It’s delightful and I’ve had such a great time running around. If you’d like to play A Webbing Journey, you can get it on Steam. If this isn’t your vibe, you can check out on of our other reviews, Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3. It’s a match-3 that subverts expectations through branching lorepaths and meta story details.
