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A two-dimensional world that plays with your head

Just a few weeks ago, I played “Inside,” one of the best, most original 2-D sidescrolling games I’d ever experienced. And now, having spent some time with “Headlander,” I can report some further evidence that this broad genre is in very, very good shape.

Released last month by the respected indie studio Double Fine Productions and published by Adult Swim Games for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Mac computers, “Headlander” takes the player inside “a world of automation, a utopia gone wrong in which all of humanity have transferred their minds into robotic imposter bodies and are ruled by a computer.”

You play, well, a head in a jar. The jar is basically a jet pack, and you can mount the robot bodies littering the game’s various settings, as well as all sorts of devices that let you open doors, collect, energy, and so on. The head/body split mechanic works exceptionally well — it’s a fun way to keep the action moving. There’s something really satisfying about launching your head off a body right as it’s blown to bits.

The voice of a mysterious cowboy-sounding character is with you when you first wake up, having no sense where you are or why you’re there. The expressions and animations of the heads (you can choose from several at the beginning of the game) are wonderful. While much of the game has an element of goofiness and lightheartedness to it — at times I was reminded of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” — there’s real terror and confusion in the faces’ expressions, which you can only see during short, zoomed-in scenes.

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“Headlander” has a particularly ’70s-themed aesthetic, in the color, the language the various robots use, and so on. Doors that only open if you have certain keys are a mainstay of this sort of platformer, and I love the fact that Double Fine gave the doors sassy voices and attitudes. “Buzz off — I’m in lockdown” one of them said when I tried to get through, as a space station’s security bots homed in on me.

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This game has excellent production values. Very quickly I got a strong sense of the universe’s feel, of the strangeness and goofiness and underlying menace of the failed utopia. Film-wise, the game reminded me most of “Star Wars” (especially some of the exterior space-station architecture) and “Blade Runner.” As for gameplay, it touches on “Metroid,” “Castlevania,” and a ton of the other classics — except in those games, you couldn’t fly toward an evil robot firing lasers at you, yank off his head, and join your own head to his body. (Did I mention I enjoyed the bodysnatching mechanic?)

It’s reassuring that even in 2016, more than 25 years after games about running around in a two-dimensional environment and shooting stuff went mainstream (“Contra”), developers have found ways to keep things fresh and original. “Headlander” is an excellent example of a game’s look and gameplay coming together in a memorable way.


Jesse Singal can be reached at jesse.r.singal@gmail.com.