by Michael FertittaOne of the defining traits of a puzzle game is the depth of thought required of players to discover solutions with their own wit. Just like every convention of thought, there is always an example of one who dares to ask, “what if?” Indeed, what if there were a puzzle game whose solutions involved mindlessly slapping everything and everyone around them?
The developers at Turbo Button aim to answer just that with Slap Out Of It!, and I got to slap my way through the first level at SGF.
From the moment I started the demo, I was immediately hit with the whimsy this game had to offer. Slap Out Of It! is a game that absolutely does not take itself seriously in the best way possible. The writing is brilliant, with bad puns galore, and it had me chuckling through most of my playthrough.
The gameplay lends itself to this humor as well, as you are quite literally slapping everything around you to find solutions to puzzles. It’s every bit as entertaining as you might expect, and it’s a valid use case for when you’re unsure of where to go next. Not sure how something is supposed to work? Slap it! Something is in your way? Slap it and see what happens! If slapping isn’t quite getting you where you need to go, there is a button in the elevator you can slap to ask for help. The first time will give a very vague hint, while the second one is more specific. That said, I tried my best to not use this system as I wanted to explore and discover the solution myself, which ended up feeling more rewarding as I progressed.
I was delighted to see that this exploration is rewarded, as solving some puzzles give you a red herring. Yes, to solve certain puzzles that aren’t necessarily the solution to the larger situation at hand, players can find a literal red herring and deposit it with the overlords at PuzzPals. In addition to being a funny play on words, I enjoy this feature because it doesn’t feel like I wasted my time on an unrelated puzzle; instead, I’m now progressing towards a fun, optional collectible.
Slap Out Of It! is shaping up to be a wonderfully wacky puzzle game. At an estimated 6-10 hours of playtime, it’ll be a relatively short romp that will have you laughing along the way. Slap Out Of It! is set for a 2027 release, with specific details to be announced at a later date. The game is available to wishlist on Steam, with the potential to come to consoles in the future.
Slap Out Of It!
