Faraway has been in the works for some time, but for many, the upcoming indie game first appeared on the scene a couple months back with the release of the alluring teaser trailer included below, which shows essentially nothing of the gameplay experience, yet still hooks viewers with powerful text, audio, and imagery. Luckily, after playing numerous rounds of Steph Thirion's game at the Fantastic Arcade portion of Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas this past weekend, I can safely say that the hype built by that slick trailer is well-deserved, as the engaging constellation-creating game is a true standout on the upcoming iOS horizon.
While the Fantastic Arcade version was set up in a full-sized arcade cabinet using one physical button, it was easy to see how the experience would play out on the touch screen of an iPhone or iPad. In Faraway, you take control of a shooting star, touching and holding the screen (or the button, in my demo) to anchor around a nearby fixed star, prompting you to spin around it until you release the button and vault forward in a new direction. Doing so skillfully is essential, as you'll need to save precious seconds by maintaining high speeds in search of the next cluster, which shifts the game into the real meat of the Faraway experience.
Against the dark backdrop of space, large, bright star clusters hold the key to building constellations, and once inside the cluster, you can begin the process by anchoring on to any star. From there, you must weave your way around as many of the stars as possible without crossing your own path or leaving the cluster, with your progress creating the constellation in front of you. Score multipliers are added for the quality of your constellation design, and once you're done, it's off to the races again to find the next cluster to work a little magic within.
Each play session features an ominous countdown in the corner of the screen that ticks away to the end, but kicking out amazing constellations will earn you precious seconds to keep on zipping through space, making this a surefire high-score leaderboard favorite in the offing. And with the quick play sessions, Faraway is also certain to be a great pick for quick-hit sessions.
I kept coming back to Faraway during my three days at Fantastic Arcade, jumping back in for a few rounds whenever the arcade cabinet was free -- which was surprisingly rare, considering how many anticipated indie games were playable at the event. But Faraway's brightest moment came at the end of the weekend, when it was named Best in Show amongst the set of eight spotlight titles at the fest. Its minimalist design delivers small bursts of wonder, and iOS players shouldn't have much longer to wait for the game, which is set to be released sometime this fall.
Faraway teaser from steph thirion on Vimeo.
