Teslagrad on PS3 and PS Vita: The Secrets of Magnetism

Hi! We’ve wanted to write this piece for a long time. It’s been great to announce Teslagrad for PS3 and PS Vita coming this year, and it’s also wonderful to have this opportunity to present our game in detail on PlayStation.Blog.

Let’s suppose that the question here is simply “Hey, what’s Teslagrad about?” We’ve had to answer that question many, many times, and we have our response down to a science:

Teslagrad is a puzzle platformer with action elements, where magnetism and other electromagnetic powers are the key to go throughout the game, and thereby discover the secrets kept in the long abandoned Tesla Tower.

That’s quite the statement. How did you like it? It’s like a mantra. We just can’t recall how many times we’ve said and/or written that. And that’s why we’re looking forward to this post. Now we can go into more detail.

So, Teslagrad is…

Magnetism: Magnets, we know how they work! Electromagnetic forces are the lifeblood of the game, either acting as a magnetic elevator or as part of teslamancer weaponry (just to pick a couple of the many examples). Magnetic interaction allows you to not only play around as much as you want, but it’s also the main ingredient of almost every puzzle in the game. Attractive.

Puzzles: Teslagrad contains a lot of different puzzles, with magnetism as leitmotif. Early in the game you’ll get a gauntlet that allows you to change the polarity of some elements of the environment.

Players will ascertain that opposite poles attract, whereas the same poles repel — a really simple premise, right? But things get tricky with an increasing number of magnets and awesome new items. Prepare for brainy puzzles!

Platforming: Puzzle solving is a key part of Teslagrad’s core design, but we’ve pursued an electrifying platformer experience, too. Teslagrad follows a Metroidvania-like, non linear exploration structure, drawing strong inspiration from classic platformers.

Of course, new items and abilities are important in unlocking new areas. That said, Teslamancer dexterity counts!

Action: Well, that giant steampunk-ish orb falling apart in pieces while trying to demagnetize you is self explanatory, isn’t it? A boss is one element often seen in classic video games. There’s many of theses bosses, and they’ll make you put your knowledge into action.

Secrets: You’re the last of the teslamancers, and there’s more than a hidden truth deep inside of Tesla Tower. The many layers of Teslagrad’s story are told through voiceless scenes, for a purely visual narrative experience.

There’s not a single word in the game (no text, nor dialogue). But there’s an epic story waiting to be discovered in everything that you see, and of course in what you don’t see.

Art: Some of the first elements of Teslagrad that jump out at players first are the hand-drawn, lovingly animated characters with an aesthetic reminiscent of classic cartoons.

Disney-like, many say, although Ole (one of our artists) prefers to highlight the influence of Winsor McKay or Franco-Belgian cartoons like Tintin and Spirou. As if this artistic design wasn’t enough, Teslagrad also features a haunting soundtrack by Jørn Lavoll and Linn Kathrin Taklo.

And of course, Teslagrad is much more than that! We’ve put our heart and soul into every corner of Tesla Tower, and we’re really looking forward to all of you exploring Teslagrad for the very first time, either on PS3 or PS Vita.

Hope to tell you more about Teslagrad soon! Thanks for reading, and of course we’ll be delighted to hear from you. Anything else you’d like to know, just drop us a line in the comments or on Twitter.