EGX Rezzed 2019 Hands-on: Smith and Winston

Smith and Winston is an isometric, twin stick shooter that allows you to blast your way through metroidvania styled exploration.
The controls for Smith and Winston are simple but fun, with the help from a jet pack you’ll be boosting yourself up and along the blocky landscape. And with multiple firearms you’ll be showing those pesky aliens just how welcome they are here. You also have the ability to dig into the ground, but don’t dig too far or you’ll fall right through. This game is also completely 3D, so with the tap of a button you can spin the camera around and get a good look at the situation from any side

This charming little explosive game will have you running, jumping, digging, shooting and causing mass destruction as an alien invasion takes place on your voxel lands.

About Those Voxels

Now don’t let this scare you away. These aren’t the voxels you know. There are no giant, ugly, stretched texture blocks here. No no. These voxels are very small and there are thousands of them. Nice smooth edges with a rich colour palate that makes use of all the colours and not just grey, green and brown. I’m sure I’ve said this multiple times but it’s always so refreshing to see colour in a video game.

You may be rushing around killing aliens but you’ll be appreciating the blocky world at the same time.

Want to know the best thing about those voxels? You can blow up damn near all of them. And not only that, physics apply. See that tree over there? Blow away its trunk and watch it topple over. Say there’s a house and you’re not sure if there’ll be invaders inside or not, don’t worry about it. Get on the roof with your jet pack and dig a hole through the ceiling for a surprise attack. Failing that, just blow a hole in the wall and throw grenades inside until you feel safe again.

Metroidvania Exploration

Thankfully Smith And Winston doesn’t have an oversized open world for you to get bored in. You do have open areas, it’s certainly not corridors and alleyways. This will see you wandering around the floating lands solving puzzles and collecting keys for portals. Along the way you’ll find collectables and hidden items. It’s like they’re asking you to destroy everything.

Although currently in early access, Smith and Winston feels very polished to play. If it had any bugs I didn’t notice in my time with it. Or because I was having too much fun to realise. Throwing grenades in every direction and watching the ground blow apart never gets tiring. If all of this isn’t enough for you there is also splitscreen coop. However this isn’t in the current steam early access build but will be added in the coming weeks.

There’s not really a story in place currently but the developers are focusing on ironing out the gameplay first. Which is understandable.

There is no definite release date for the full game but it will come out near the end of May. If your curiosity has gotten the better of you then early access is always an option. It certainly is worth checking out.