Cute Squishy Puppers Solve Puzzles In PHOGS! [PAX Online 2020 Preview]

I’m all about this plethora of dog-related games we’ve been getting lately. However, PHOGS is something a bit different.

In PHOGS you play as a double-ended dog [phrasing]. It’s a giant sausage with two cute faces. One’s called Red and the other Blue — represented by their collars. They can stretch themselves out like a piece of Play-Doh and both faces can bite onto things. It’s cute, squishy and I want one.

Early puzzles in the demo I played introduced the simpler side of things. Like being able to grab onto one lever, stretch out and grab the other. Then, you’re shown that if you put your mouth over a water stream as one end of the Phog you’ll be able to aim its other mouth like a hose. Simple mechanic to water some plants.

Side note: I have no idea if we’re calling the dogs, a Phog. I’m guessing that’s the deal? It’s a Phog, right?

The demo gave a wide idea of the type of levels you’ll be playing in PHOGS full release, which includes a beach location, some sort of arcade, and a dream-like starry-eyed library section. That’s where the demo ended and was the most unique. It contained a simple but exciting mechanic where you carried a light source in the mouth of one end of the Phog and the other end would shine like a torchlight.

What I didn’t get to try, that sounds like the best way to PHOGS, was the co-op. Although you can play the game using two analogue sticks to control the different ends of the sausage on legs, you can also play the entire game in co-op. It’ll require a lot more communication with your partner to pull off some of the timelier mechanics and physics-based solutions. Even one part in the demo where I grabbed onto a saw and moved back-and-forth to cut down a tree would be harder in co-op, but maybe all the more rewarding.

Each level will also have secret golden bones to collect and they’ll reward you with hats. Hats on Phogs! I love it.

It took me almost 40 minutes to finish the demo, but I believe it’s a mash-up variety of the game’s different levels and not representative of how long levels will take in the full release which will contain 24 levels.

PHOGS is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If you want to give it a try now, there’s a demo available via Steam as part of PAX Online.