Pid

Pid

A whimsical but difficult puzzle-platformer by Might & Delight, a studio formed by ex-employees of GRIN.

Overview

Pid emphasizes manipulation of the environment and rules of the world. In the game, the main character arrives on a planet of robot-like workers, who are called back to work once the main character arrives. The game will feature some sort of economy featuring special items purchasable from vending machines throughout the game. Gravity puzzles are the game's primary focus, though a sort of stealth sequence will appear in the level "Stages." Adventure-game style puzzles feature in a more story-based role, though their inclusion will be somewhat. The game also supports co-op play.

The gameplay was conceived first through use of paper cut-outs, followed by prototypical builds of the game.

The game was released on October 31st, 2012 on PSN, XBLM, and PC via Steam and Gog.

Plot

A young boy, Kurt is a part of a class of kids who go on an intergalactic school bus. Unfortunately, Kurt sleeps past his stop and ends up stranded on a remote planet. He has to make his way home but transportation has been shut down. He must traverse through various environments such as cities, castles, attics, and space stations. He must defeat nefarious robots with an assortment of gadgets and meeting up with the friendly inhabitants that help him along the way. A conspiracy needs to be discovered over what's happening on the planet and why the ruler of the planet won't allow anyone to leave it.

Gameplay

Beams create gravity wells to lift the player.
Beams create gravity wells to lift the player.

Pid is a puzzle-platformer with its core mechanic of throwing around a orb called a beam that creates gravity wells. Two beams can be created at any one time, and can be cancelled on command. These beams levitate the player, objects, and enemies off surfaces and can be used on various angles. Beams can't be used on blue floors or enemies. Beams can be thrown onto the funnel of funnel robots to destroy them.

Members of Might and Delight also worked on Bionic Commando Rearmed, so larger-than-life bosses can be expected at the end of each level.

The game also features a two-player co-op mode where the second player is Audrey. Both Kurt and Audrey must work together to get past obstacles and can compete against each other.

There are certain robots with CCTV-like cameras that need to be avoided by stealth.

Kurt, the protagonist, carries a backpack that collects items like bombs, vests, music boxes and more. The player can collect stars as currency to use at stations to refill these items in Kurt's backpack. With a full vest on, Kurt can only take two hits. The instant checkpoints set the player back right to that screen like Super Meat Boy.

There are hidden collectibles such as ticket souvenirs to collect.

There's a normal and hard difficulty. Hard difficulty is unlocked when the game is completed once.

Soundtrack

The game's jazz and rock soundtrack is composed by the Retro Family, a trio of Swedish musicians. The soundtrack can be ordered as part of the Deluxe Edition on PC from the game's website or from GoG.

System Requirements

PC

Minimum

    • OS: Windows XP SP2
    • Processor: 2.6 GHz single core
    • Memory: 1 Gb
    • Hard disk space: 2 Gb
    • Video Card: DirectX 9.0 compatibility
    • DirectX®: DirectX9

Recommended

  • OS: Windows 7
  • Processor: 3.0 GHz dual core
  • Memory: 2 Gb
  • Hard disk space: 2 Gb
  • Video Card: GeForce 8 series, ATI Radeon HD2xxx
  • DirectX®: DirectX10

Mac

  • OS: OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.
  • Processor: 2.6 GHz single core
  • Memory: 1 GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
  • Video Card: OpenGL 2.0 compatible video card with 256 MB shared or dedicated RAM (ATI or NVIDIA)

External Link

Official Pid website