In the vein of rage-inducing titles like Only Up! and Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy or the hilarious antics of more team-based climbing games like Chained Together and Peak, the team at Egobounds have made something super challenging, surprisingly accessible and far more mechanically interesting. Can a fragile egg break free and escape the hen house for good? You’ll feel every crack, wince at every broken shell and scream in frustration as you plummet to your end. This is the XboxEra Review for Egging On.
How Eggciting!
Let’s shell out the facts here. Egging On is a precision platformer with a unique twist. You’ll play as an extremely fragile egg, and your task will be to navigate your way to the roof of the henhouse and beyond, into increasingly complex and frankly, clucking ridiculous layouts that will test even the most battle hardened gamer.
Pleasingly, the developers have absolutely cracked the physics of just how it would feel should a lowly egg roll and tumble around of it’s own accord. You’re not a perfect sphere after all, so there’s a little bit of a learning period as you become familiar with the eggs somewhat unpredictable movement.
The controls themselves are deceptively simple – you’ll roll your fragile egg around via the left thumbstick, and can jump with either the right trigger or bumper. The complexity and challenge of Egging On comes in via the precision timing required to actually get to where you want to go. If you press jump when the base of the egg is touching the ground (that’s the wider, fatter part), you’ll do a small hop. Jump from the tip of the egg – (or head, however you want to refer to it) and you’ll perform a much higher leap. Nailing this, and the timing required is egg-sential in order to meaningfully progress.
A Hard-Boiled Whisk-Taker
Make no mistake, this game is difficult – or at least, it certainly was for me. The very nature of being an unpredictable egg makes for some hilarious platforming, and you can almost feel the inertia of the liquid yolk inside the egg fighting you as you move around. The game eases you in pretty gently, and your egg can survive a couple of falls from mostly reasonable heights, cracking but eventually healing as long as you sustain no further damage.
The whole thing is soothingly narrated by an unknown, unnamed character (wonderfully voiced by Maksymilian Kalucki) who will talk to you and offer words of encouragement as you progress. He’ll wince and calm you after a big fall, and always urge you to get back to it. There is a narrative here, of a sort, and the game does take some curious turns the higher you climb, with things becoming pretty weird.
Fall from too great a height, and you’ll certainly be on your way to making a rage-induced omelette. You can move around in your shelless state, and your egg will reform after a short period of time, but you can inadvertently slide between gaps and risk falling back to the very start if you’re not careful. Seeing the many shells of previous attempts littering the ground can be pretty funny.
This is the ‘standard’ game mode in Egging On, tasking you to complete your journey in one, unbroken and ever ascending, increasingly difficult climb. There are no checkpoints, but you can save and quit mid-run, so it’s not too mean-spirited. Make a mistake and plummet to the ground however, and you’ll have to start the climb again. There’s a certain cruelty and ‘streamer-bait’ element to this, but I also can’t wait to see some insanely skilled individuals speed run the game and do it all without screwing it up. Indeed – there’s even a “complete the game in 1 hour” achievement out there for those that truly are ‘at one’ with their egg.
Sunny-Side Up
Thankfully, while the team at Egobounds have provided an addictive and deviously challenging experience for those that want it, they also recognise that providing checkpoints for players that still want a good challenge but that don’t want to lose all their progress is a must.
Full disclosure here – the developers did enable me to have access to the entire game for the purposes of this review via some nifty developer shortcuts so I could assess everything on offer. The game is broken up into distinct zones. You’ll start in the Hen House, and will make your way through a more industrial Factory, a Shop, a Kitchen and more. In real terms, I’m still very much making my way slowly upwards, and am playing via the checkpoint system of the game, making my way towards the end of the Factory. I definitely don’t think I’d have had as much fun without the use of the games handy drone-based checkpoints.
In fairly reasonable spacing, these drone pads can be activated with a press of a button, and should you fall, will handily give you a lift back to the highest one you’ve unlocked. The drone itself is equipped with a nice, comfortable egg box for you to hop into for a lift, and it’s assuredly the way I would recommend most players start out as you get used to the game. It’s still difficult, but not soul-destroyingly so.
Easter Egg Hunt
Despite it’s egg-cruciatingly tricky platforming, Egging On is also a delightfully designed playground. The game is nice and performant, with great music and sound effects. The level designs are full of hidden tasks and secrets, in addition to plenty of sneaky shortcuts for the more adventurous eggs out there.
On the ground floor, there’s a number of other structures to investigate, and as an egg, you can have plenty of fun in a playground, play a round of 10 green bottles or perhaps even have a quick go on a musical instrument. There are a large number of fun achievements that encourage players to roll into every nook and cranny in the game, and pleasingly, that’s still the case as you begin your climb.
As you journey upwards, you’ll find different stamps with which you can imprint your egg. If you end up making a mistake and smashing your shell, you’ll lose the stamp, and will need to go and get restamped to complete whatever task is at hand. Delivering your stamped egg to the right place in the game will unlock not only an achievement, but typically an additional shell type so you can vary your look. There are a LOT to unlock in the game, from a Disco ball to a creepy Duck face that will follow you around. Beyond the cosmetic looks available, the developers have also had a lot of fun with ‘special’ egg skins that carry with them, special powers – and it’s here where the game is even more of a blast to play.
To start with, we have the pixelated ‘Retro’ egg, which allows for an awesome double jump and a time slowing mechanic. The Rocket Egg allows us to blast upwards with a limited fuel supply. There’s an egg that explodes if we stop moving, an egg-timer that has a charge jump, an egg that can manually adjust how fast it rolls and even a pure ‘Tungsten’ egg that is worse at jumping that usual, and seems to be made solely for the truly sadistic.
The Retro egg is unlocked from playing around in the playground (which is easy to do), and for players looking for an easier time, this is assuredly the way to go. It brings the precision platforming back to a much more standardised ‘videogame’ affair, and for many players, a lot more approachable. There’s plenty of other skins to unlock, and I don’t want to spoil them, so go egg-splore for yourself and see what you can find and unlock.
Egg-ceeds Egg-spectations
I haven’t finished my own journey with Egging On, but after plenty of hours with this egg-cellent game, I’m comfortable in saying that this is one Game Pass release Xbox gamers shouldn’t miss out on, and PC and PS5 gamers should consider taking a crack at. It’s unique, egg-ceedingly challenging, and yet, full of fun and good humour. Just like all my egg jokes, it’s cracking stuff.
Review Code provided by EgoBounds and Alibi Games
Egging On
Played on
PC & Xbox Series X
PROS
- Physics based momentum platforming is great
- Super challenging
- Provides neat accessibility to make that challenge fun
- Lots of secrets and hidden 'special egg' skins
- A soothing, whimsical narrator
CONS
- Can be brutally frustrating
- Not for the impatient
Without access to your special developer shortcuts, this game is absolutely unplayable. Even with “checkpoints” most players won’t ever reach the second checkpoint. The difficulty ramp is a sheer brick wall when you hit the first checkpoint. I’d encourage you to play the standard retail version that everyone else is playing, then adjust your review accordingly.
I hit the second checkpoint in like 20 minutes while streaming it for charity yesterday.