Gamescom is exploding all around us, but there's still time to dip a pair of pliers into the pile of Steam indie game announcements and unearth the occasional treasure. In this case, it's the demo for Cupiclaw, which may be the first-ever “claw machine roguelike deck-building game.” You know how Balatro made you feel about Joker cards? Well, this game wants to make you feel the same way about claw machines. It's a terrible turn of events, frankly. I'm sorry to inflict yet another potential gaming frenzy on you. Here's a trailer.
Watch on YouTube
The plot goes like this: Your character, Morris, has dropped his wedding ring into a claw machine, the classic first-act plot twist of any Shakespearean tragedy. More specifically, he has dropped it into the most expensive claw machine in the arcade. To earn the means to operate this ultra-expensive claw machine and retrieve the ring, he will have to play all the other claw machines, converting his prizes into coins.
Why doesn't Morris just have the arcade manager open the first claw machine and go get the ring right away? This is a question for the soon-to-be-thriving Cupiclaw subreddit. Maybe the arcade manager is a calculating lothario who wants to seduce Morris's wife while he's playing the claw machines. Maybe Morris's wife is the manager. The moral of the story is: never let your spouse use a claw machine.
Regardless, in order to gather enough money to move up the claw machine hierarchy, you'll also need to “upgrade” each individual machine by spending a portion of your winnings to restock it with new prizes, which is the deck-building aspect of the game. Prizes range from bigger, fluffier stuffed animals to puzzle pieces that net you a bigger payout per piece the more you collect.
The actual operation of each machine is simple: use A and D to move the claw left and right, press the space bar to lower it. There's a timer to watch, but if you rush, you risk accidentally pocketing objects like crumpled soda cans that will lower your final score. Like the peregrine falcon in flight, you have to be both selective and quick.
This is all based on five minutes of Cupiclaw's demo. I can't say how complicated it will get later, but I'm hoping for a complex price economy with lots of variables and modifiers. The only thing I don't like about this game is the overly repetitive music. In that respect, at least, it's not Balatro. Check it out on Steam.
Guilt Update: Did I write the “first ever” clawed roguelike? I forgot about Dungeon Clawler, which was released in Early Access and which Nic talked about in June. I haven't played it, but as the name suggests, it's more RPG than Cupiclaw. Thanks to Blookerstein for pointing that out.