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Cupiclaw wants to do for claw machines what Balatro did for pokerTHE CLAW
THE CLAW
Image credit:Typin
Image credit:Typin
Gamescomis exploding all around us, but there is still time to lower a pincer into the pile of Steam indie game announcements and reel up the occasional treasure. In this case, it’s the demo forCupiclaw, which is possibly the first ever “roguelike deckbuilding claw machine game”. You know howBalatromade you feel about Joker cards? Well, this game wants to make you feel the same about claw machines. It’s a terrible turn of events, frankly. I’m sorry for inflicting yet another potential bingeplay upon you. Here’s a trailer.
Cupiclaw - Gameplay TrailerWatch on YouTube
Cupiclaw - Gameplay Trailer
The setup is that your character, Morris, has dropped his wedding ring in a claw machine, the classic first act twist in any Shakespearean tragedy. Specifically, he’s dropped it in the arcade’s most expensive claw machine. To earn the means to operate said ultra-pricey claw machine and retrieve the ring, he’ll need to play all the other claw machines, converting his prizes into coins.
Why Morris doesn’t just ask the arcade manager to open up the first claw machine and fetch the ring directly is a question for the soon-to-be-thriving Cupiclaw subreddit. Perhaps the arcade manager is a calculating Lothario who wishes to seduce Morris’s spouse, while he’s off playing at claw machines. Perhaps Morris’s spouse is the manager. The moral of the story is: never let your spouse use a claw machine.
The actual operation of each machine is straightforward - use A and D to move the claw left and right, hit spacebar to lower it. There’s a timer to worry about, but if you rush you might accidentally bag objects such as crumpled soda cans that lower your final score. Like the soaring peregrine falcon, you must be discriminating yet swift.
All this is based on five minutes with Cupiclaw’s demo. I can’t say how complicated it’ll get later on, but I’m hoping for a complex prize economy with plenty of variables and modifiers. The only thing I dislike about it is the overtly repetitive music. In that regard, at least, it’s no Balatro. Find out more onSteam.
Guilty update: Did I write “first ever” claw machine roguelike? I was forgetting aboutDungeon Clawler, out now in early access, whichNic covered in June. I haven’t played that but as the name suggests, it’s more RPG-ish than Cupiclaw. Thanks to Blookerstein for noticing.
