Forget mindless button mashing; in the twisted world of “Mr. Freezy,” decapitation requires strategy. This new puzzle game, now available on PC and launching September 8th for PS5, elevates the classic video game pastime of head removal to an art form. Prepare to exercise your brain as you guide a serial killer through a macabre quest to collect heads.
A Killer Puzzle
The game’s premise is delightfully dark. You inhabit the role of Mr. Freezy, a killer honing her skills in the basement of an abandoned house in New Detroit. The goal? To strategically chop off heads arranged across two rows. Align at least three of the five heads in a single row to unleash a satisfying axe swipe and earn points. The more heads you liberate simultaneously, the higher your score. However, these aren’t just any heads; they’re stubborn and slippery. Moving a head costs a move and causes adjacent heads to shift to the opposite row. Adding to the challenge are special heads with unique properties: the Knight Head requires a specific axe, the Old Head moves independently, and the Greedy Head demands two moves for each attempt to reposition it.
Inspired by “Dots,” but Think “Catherine”
While “Mr. Freezy” might seem straightforward, its gameplay is surprisingly intricate. In an interview with Neil Jones, the developer behind Aerial Knight (the studio’s name), he revealed the game’s origins.
“[Mr. Freezy] was something simple that I wanted my grandmother to be able to play,” Jones explained. He drew inspiration from the mobile game “Dots,” appreciating its simplicity and rewarding gameplay. However, while “Dots” focuses on connecting dots of the same color, “Mr. Freezy” evokes a different gaming experience altogether: it feels remarkably similar to Atlus Studios’ 3D sokoban-like puzzle adventure, “Catherine.” Both games share a dark narrative thread. In “Catherine,” you’re trying to avoid being killed in your sleep by a female killer of men, while in “Mr. Freezy,” you embody the killer herself, trading Catherine’s existential dread manifested as monsters for a much simpler axe. Like “Catherine,” which involves arranging boxes into specific patterns to build a tower, “Mr. Freezy” relies on strategic head movement to achieve efficient decapitation.
Pattern Recognition and Indie Dev Hustle
Both games tap into your pattern recognition abilities. Understanding how certain configurations of heads move is key to success, just as pushing boxes into specific patterns is crucial in “Catherine.” Recognizing that two heads on either end of a line can be easily moved together for a combo is essential. Mastering the use of special heads and incorporating them into your strategy adds another layer of complexity.
“Mr. Freezy” isn’t an expansive game; there are 45 levels, and I’m currently around level 20, frequently revisiting earlier levels to chase higher scores with fewer moves. Jones adopted a “small but mighty” approach due to the realities of indie development. Keeping games small allows for quicker releases, which is vital for generating revenue to sustain his team. He shared that his studio is already working on their next project.
“We just make the stuff, then move onto the next thing, and a lot of times we’re juggling two things at the same time,” he said. This precarious nature of indie development is further complicated by the discoverability crisis facing indie games, a challenge Jones has actively addressed in a unique way. In the lead-up to “Mr. Freezy”‘s launch, he began posting daily videos of himself doing pushups for every Steam wishlist the game received.
“Games aren’t about games anymore,” Jones explained, highlighting the importance of hype and influencers in today’s gaming landscape. “The game being good is only like 40 percent of what matters now.”
“Mr. Freezy” is good. It’s a unique puzzle game that fully engages your brain, making it satisfyingly challenging. So, prepare to use your head – literally – and enjoy the darkly humorous world of “Mr. Freezy.”
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