In Tetragon: Mysterious Planes, a mobile match unveiled in 2019 that partners the traditional 2D puzzle design with a heartfelt storyline, you perform as Lucios, a guy who works by using the ability of the Tetragem to shift platforms and create a route to his son. You are going to bend gravity and alter your environments whilst experiencing a enjoyable soundtrack and calming visuals. Now Tetragon has returned on extra platforms with the only genuine adjust currently being its shortened name. The puzzle game’s expansion onto Computer and console platforms seemed like an easy to understand response given the game’s good results. However it’s additional proof that not every game operates on each and every platform, specifically when it will come to porting a cell game to consoles.
As a exceptional get on your typical puzzle match, Tetragon: Unidentified Planes stood out on mobile platforms. It was nominated for Most effective Cell Activity at the 2019 Global Cellular Sport Awards, among other awards and nominations. When I commenced enjoying Tetragon on my PlayStation 5 previously this month, I was mindful of the accolades it obtained as a cellular recreation. That’s why I was upset in my playthrough.

Tetragon is a fantastic case in point of a activity that need to have remained on the platform it was developed for. Although the story and visuals stay the identical and are entitled to to be praised, the controls themselves don’t properly translate to a console. The gravity shifting is challenging to regulate, creating Lucios to accidentally slide to his loss of life if you did not properly maintain the triggers, and there are situations wherever the controls just are unsuccessful to operate completely. Though these are issues that can inevitably be fastened, they’re what broke my playthrough expertise.
On the PlayStation, the playthrough constantly shifts from widescreen to 4:3. It’s in widescreen for cutscenes and then switches to 4:3 for gameplay, with the controls mentioned on the sides of the monitor. These controls mix properly onscreen for the cell edition of Tetragon, but really don’t make sense to include things like in the console variation. This is just one matter that need to have been a bit tweaked for the console version, and its existence makes it come to feel as if the sport was not really optimized for its new system.
What designed Tetragon: Unidentified Planes standout on cell units was the point that it designed these types of a niche style for alone. It was uncomplicated, comforting and presented an entertaining story, all in the palm of your hand. Selecting which platform fits each individual recreation looks like an exceptionally challenging undertaking for builders, as you have to take into account aspects this sort of as style, high-quality and revenue. Even though cellular games can be much easier to acquire, and there are far much more cellular telephone end users than console proprietors, the scaled-down monitor doesn’t adequately guidance all genres, and the cellular gaming market is exceptionally oversaturated. Console online games have their professionals and downsides much too, with more highly developed know-how than cellular and a massive, passionate audience. Technology can be a double-edged sword, although significant-close console or Personal computer video games require substantial teams and big quantities of revenue to create. It can also be hard for scaled-down titles to come across an audience on consoles, which have a hefty rotation of AAA titles that get the broad the greater part of focus and revenue. The Tetragon console version is not only overshadowed by AAA titles, but also by other more compact titles that ended up developed exclusively for the platform.
Offered the drawbacks that arrive with creating a mobile sport, I locate it really amazing when a title succeeds in a distinctive and entertaining way on the platform. With consoles dominating discourse inside of the gaming community, and the cell marketplace remaining dominated by generic retreads and deceptive adverts, it is encouraging to know that there’s nevertheless area in mobile video games for unique, creative games. Not every single title released on mobile will get the job done on consoles, while, Tetragon would’ve been improved suited to remaining on cell. When a recreation correctly suits the platform it is launched on it advantages each the gamers and builders, enabling the neighborhood to appreciate it for what it was intended to be.


Katherine Long is an intern at Paste and a climbing senior at American University. She enjoys hyperpop, roller skating and videogames and can end a sudoku puzzle in 43 seconds.