Completely Stretchy

Completely Stretchy is one of those really rare video games that arrive and are so wacky and weird that you don't really know how to process them. That's not a bad thing at all, it's just peculiar and unusual, and often leads to very memorable experiences, as was the case a few years ago when Bugsnax was doing the rounds.

The premise of Completely Stretchy is basically indescribable because of its random nature. You play as an odd character that after a laboratory mishap finds themselves turned into a stretchy and sticky blue creature, and it's up to you, utilising these new physical abilities to explore three open levels in the effort of finding Elektros, which are effectively fuzzy, black creatures that serve as a stable power source for the home islands known as the Grombli Isles. Yep, you're probably ridiculously confused at this point, and that's pretty much how Completely Stretchy makes you feel all the way through the experience, as this game is all about embracing the weird and accepting the unnatural. And somehow, thanks to the entertaining and simplistic gameplay, it mostly works.

Completely Stretchy was concocted by a developer called Dan Ferguson, who then handed development responsibilities over to the folk at Warp Digital, who saw it over the line. It's an adventure, but there isn't a core story per se to follow, instead you simply wander around the three islands, speaking with the locals, completing tasks and quests for them, hunting for daft references and secrets, and snagging all of the Elektros that you can find, all to eventually fix the Grombi Isles main power reactor and figure out a way to return yourself to a non-stretchy and non-blue normality. There is no voiced dialogue or serious quests to follow, you just explore and interact with everything and generally exist in an unserious playground best described as a dream-state or a mad hallucination.

This is all why the best part about Completely Stretchy is simply the gameplay and movement. You use your powerful arms to swing and sling around the world, climbing and flinging yourself off anything you can reach. You may decide to summit the island's largest building, or instead fall into deep caverns to discover their secrets, but whatever you do, the movement enhances the experience by giving you all the tools and abilities necessary to traverse anywhere without an issue. The physics engine and the flow that comes from the movement does ensure that Completely Stretchy remains entertaining, but this doesn't mean that the game doesn't have its drawbacks.

For one, the lack of a centralised story means that the game doesn't really have a direction. Completely Stretchy is the game that you make it, and what I mean by that is the quests and the adventuring is mostly what you come up with, because the majority of the side quests are fleeting and minor at best. The islands, while eccentric, are also quite empty and lacking in things to draw your attention, something I found quite surprising when considering their small scale. Despite various buildings to enter, draws and cupboards to open, mountains to climb, waterfalls to peer behind, shipping containers to enter... there's rarely anything of note to find, as for the most part you'll either run into an Elektro or find some silly gag or reference to pop culture or, as happens most of the time, nothing at all... The references might be enough to elicit a quick giggle, but the joke wears off and when that happens you begin to see Completely Stretchy as quite a hollow and limited experience.

While I will say that the performance is high-quality and that I didn't encounter any technical issues while moving around the Grombi Isles, the map didn't seem to function as intended. It ended up being clunky and stiff and hard to manoeuvre, which is a massive shame because Warp Digital has clearly placed a large emphasis on this element by presenting it as a rich and detailed live 3D model of the game world. It's truly beautiful but it just doesn't work.

Then we also have the art direction that stands out and fits perfectly for this game. You could make the argument that it's a little boring, especially in the colour palette, but I think it works well to actually root and make this highly eccentric world feel more palatable. The soundtrack also manages its job with class, which is especially important considering the fact that there is no dialogue or audio of note beyond basic sound effects and the background music.

All in all, Completely Stretchy leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, the short and tight nature of the experience, the eccentricity, and the fun movement keeps you entertained and consistently surprised. But at the same time, it comes across as a bit of a one-trick pony, a game that feigns depth and content variation and in reality struggles to be more than what's on the surface. I'll remember Completely Stretchy, without a doubt, because the overall whole is so daft and unique, but it doesn't strike me as something remarkable that will go down in indie history.