Thrasher Review
Destroy cosmic gods as a space eel in this mesmerizing arcade acid trip.
Thrasher. Credit: Puddle / Creature
Puddle, a two-man team made up of Brian Gibson and Mike Mandel, developed Thrasher, a hypnotic arcade game originally designed for VR and now available on 2D platforms. Gibson, bassist for the band Lightning Bolt, designed Thumper, the similarly trippy and excellent 2016 rhythm game. While Thrasher isn’t a rhythm game, the sound and music are an impactful part of the addictive arcade experience. It’s a slick modernization of classic arcade gameplay with a strong Rez vibe, both accessible and challenging.
Players control a majestic space eel, relentlessly fighting through strange cosmic dimensions to “infect the cosmic star child with the primal chaos that precedes all meaning.” I quoted that directly from the game’s story trailer. I couldn’t help myself; it’s great, and I love it. On the way, you’ll “engage in dialectic combat with beings whose existence is an affront to dimensional law.”
Thrasher. Credit: Puddle / Creature
As the eel, you fly around on a 2D plane in 3D space, shattering all of the white or clear shapes within a time limit to finish each wave. As you progress, you’ll face hostile shapes, barriers that will hurt you by chipping away at your timer with each hit. However, destroying these enemies by encircling them or using one of the various power-ups creates combos that can add precious bonus seconds to your clock. Movement feels smooth, but it’s easy to get careless and ram things.
The game constantly adds wrinkles to mix things up. Each world introduces new gimmicks and power-ups. Lines you have to destroy quickly at once lest they reappear. A diamond you can collect to do a super dash that pierces enemy shapes. A giant silver geometric ball you can hit to destroy anything in its path. The experience is never dull; just when you feel comfortable with the new stuff, the game moves on. The final chaotic levels mix up elements from the previous ones for an ultimate test.
Thrasher. Credit: Puddle / Creature
Each of the nine worlds consists of three increasingly difficult levels made up of nine waves and a boss fight. Waves vary in length and may consist of multiple mini-waves. Each boss fight consists of three waves that work identically to normal ones, but are punctuated by a sequence where you have to reach a spiked ball in seconds to do actual damage to the boss in the background. Miss it, and you’ll be forced to repeat the wave. You’ll face each boss three times in each world.
Thrasher offers two difficulty modes and a time trial. I finished the game in around 4 hours in the standard mode, thanks to it generously letting you replay waves you fail instead of kicking you back to the start like most arcade games would. The challenge would be to earn a high rank in each level, which requires taking little or no damage and finishing waves quickly. I averaged with rank B, rarely achieving the coveted S or S+. The game is addictive enough to make me want to go back and chase better results.
Thrasher. Credit: Puddle / Creature
The game’s surreal landscapes are built from crude geometry, often with a metallic sheen. It often reminded me of early 3D animation, like you’d see in something like The Gate to the Mind’s Eye. Constant movement and shiny particles add to the immersion and playfeel, as does the fluid, undulating animation of the space eel as you fly around. I played the game on a screen, but now I’d love to experience it in VR. Sometimes the visual design got in the way of gameplay, when levels with light backgrounds, such as a snowscape, made it difficult to read the shapes I had to destroy. It’s only occasionally an issue. The music and soundscape were hypnotic as they built over the course of each level. The sound helps create a flow state as you play and is a crucial part of the game's trippy, hallucinatory nature.
Thrasher. Credit: Puddle / Creature
Gibson and Mandel have crafted a new arcade classic with a slick psychedelic presentation and accessible yet deep gameplay. You’ll grasp the basics of flying around and smashing shapes immediately, and the game holds your hand with its friendly checkpoint system, but chasing those S+ ranks reveals greater complexity and true challenge. I’d recommend Thrasher to anyone who loves arcade games or hallucinatory audio-visual experiences. Put on your headphones, fly through the cosmos, and kill space gods.
Thrasher is available now on Steam, Meta Quest, Apple Vision Pro, and Android XR.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: Steam Deck
