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Review: Webbed

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Everyone
Genre: Platformer
License: Commercial
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2021
Review Published On: November 24th, 2023
Played on: Thaddeus

Available on:

Windows

Available from:

GOG.com
Humble Store
Steam

Soundtrack: Available as DLC
Areas of Concern:
  • Very mild violence


How to Save and Pause:

When you start a new game, you select which of four save slots to use. From there, your progress is automatically recorded as you play, and you can quit at anytime.

To pause the action, bring up the games menu by pressing ESC.

Time needed per session:

Since you can quit whenever you want, this game can usually fit into anybodys schedule. However, you should probably give yourself 15 to 30 minutes to confront the bird - youll know when this is about to happen.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
This is a completely family friendly game with no objectionable content.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
Fixing some pipes

[view screenshot]
Floating on the breeze

[view screenshot]
Building bridges



Game Overview

As youve probably guessed from the name, Webbed is a game about spiders. Or to be more specific, Webbed is an indie platformer based around a female jumping spiders ability to spin webs and, for some silly reason, shoot laser beams out of her eyeballs. Even though there are some serious points in the game, its an extremely cute and silly title.

The story began when two jumping spiders were dancing together, as spiders do. Their little party was interrupted by a (comparatively) huge bird, who swooped in and stole away the male. Fortunately, bowerbirds prefer to line their nest with colorful objects, so they werent about to eat your boyfriend - they just wanted them to be a live decoration.

But a tiny spider, no matter how brave, cant fight such a beast on their own. In order to battle the bird and save your boyfriend, youll need to enlist the aid of the different insect species living nearby. Once their unique strengths and resources have been brought together, the entire insect community will fight against the winged terror and finally rid themselves of their mutual enemy once and for all!

The trick is going to be getting everyone to sign up for this project - while every species is willing to assist you, they also need your help with several tasks. In order to accomplish these various chores, youll need to use your webs and eye lasers to grabble, wield, and push objects (or yourself) around. Its actually easier to do than explain, but the general idea is that you shoot strings of webbing by aiming with the mouse, and you can either use the web like a grappling hook (left click) or use it to connect any two objects (right click).

In general, its more fun to swing about like a crazy person, so you wont need to build many bridges or scaffolds to help you get around. That said, taking the time to make a safe (and reusable) walkway can be the safer option, and its the only way you can help other critters use your webs like a path. Connecting two objects will also pull them together, so its a good way to move objects that are too large for you to push.

On the other hand, if you ever want to dissolve some webbing youve placed, just shoot it with your laser eyes. Itll instantly snap and fade away.

Perhaps the best part of this game is that you dont need to collect everything in order to finish the story. As an example, the bees want you to collect 20 balls of pollen, but there are more than 40 pollen balls available. Searching for and collecting them all is entirely optional, and there is an in game reward for going through all that trouble.

Overall, this is a very cute game thats something the entire family can enjoy, and Id definitely suggest taking this title for a spin (pun not intended)!

Points of Interest

Accessibility Features

As a nice touch, there are several options that players can use to make this game more user friendly. This includes the option to outline important objects, hide the foreground decorations, or, for those players who struggle with spiders in general, the option to disguise the spiders as colorful blobs. None of these options changes the gameplay or prevents you from earning achievements.

Collectables ahoy

You only need to collect 20 balls of pollen to complete the story; collecting everything else, like the grubs, flies, and lost baby spiders, is optional. In addition to finding these trinkets, you can also collect stickers by completing various tasks or locating some hard to find secrets.

Once earned, you can use stickers to change your spiders appearance. For example, theres a sticker that lets you play as your boyfriend, and another sticker lets you wear a teeny tiny hardhat.

Helpful minimap

Included with your notebook is a nicely labeled map of the local area. This cant be used for fast travel, but the markers on it indicate whether or not youve found every item in that part of the world. This is a useful way to track your progress, but there are some secrets that dont appear on this map. Youll either need to explore the environment very carefully or look up a walkthrough in order to find everything.

Steam community features

There are 19 achievements available for players to earn as they explore the tree and neighboring areas. A few of them are earned by helping the locals with their tasks, but most will require some effort on your part. In particular, the hardest achievement to earn requires that you play through the entire story without eating a single fly - something that players have found to be just too irresistible to manage.

Theres also a set of Steam trading cards available if youre interested in those.

Concerns and Issues

Mild violence

Its possible for your spider to be injured in various ways - usually by falling off the screen. It can also be hurt by bumping into something thats much too hot or covered in prickly spikes. When this happens, youll hear a SNAP sound effect and then theyll be teleported to the last checkpoint they visited. Theres a plethora of those, so youll usually only need to redo the last few steps.

Players can also choose to eat fruit flies that get tangled in their web. This doesnt have an impact on the game (outside of that one achievement), so whether you do this is entirely your call. If you do choose to eat a fly, the animation is so quick that youll probably miss it if youre not watching very closely.

Blood?

Several of the environmental hazards youll need to avoid appear to be stained by a red liquid that does look a bit like blood. It may also be rust or just the color of certain vines, so Ill let you decide which it is and whether or not it matters.