Basestart

Basestart is a 2020 indie puzzle‑platformer developed by the small studio PixelForge Labs, a collective of former employees from a well known retro‑gaming company. The game was announced at the Indie Expo in Berlin and released on Steam, GOG, and the PlayStation Store on 14 April 2020. The photography and level design were handled by lead designer Elena Karpova, while programming was managed by senior engineer Miguel Torres. The game was built using a custom engine derived from the Unity framework, allowing for a cross‑platform build on Windows, macOS, Linux, and consoles.

The core gameplay of Basestart centers around a tiny protagonist named Dot who navigates a series of intricately designed puzzle worlds. Each level is organized into a sequence of “bases” that the player must construct—simple blocks that serve as platforms, elevators, or traps. The player’s objective is to position these bases in a way that creates a viable path to the level’s exit while also solving secondary objectives such as collecting scattered artifacts or optimizing the travel path for speedrunning. The puzzle mechanics rely heavily on grid-based movement, physics‑based interactions, and a simple but effective color‑matching system that unlocks new abilities.

Upon release, Basestart received generally favorable reviews from critics, with a Metacritic score of 82 for the PC version and a user rating of 4.2 out of 5. Reviewers praised the game’s clean visual style, intuitive level design, and the clever use of optional challenges for advanced players. Some criticism was directed at the brief narrative and limited replayability after the completion of the main storyline. The game has since developed a modest following of speedrunners and puzzle enthusiasts, in part due to its supportive modding community and the regular release of user‑generated level packs.