Over the years, I’ve played a lot of weirdly entertaining multiplayer takes on various sports, including soccer. But never with, well, toast. The premise of Toasterball is so simple, albeit deceptively so, too: two toasters, two goals, one ball, and lots of shenanigans. A recipe for chaotic fun.
That said, even after watching the trailer multiple times, I still can’t quite wrap my head around how, in Toasterball, toasters are… athletes. Athletes with movements that are bound to be somewhat restricted, controls limited to just two buttons and all. Or is it? Not according to the game’s description, which makes mention of everything from “double-jumping to the deadly “TURBOFLIP””. Toasters everywhere must be so proud of these two.
Actually, make that four, because up to four players, be they AI-controlled or human toasters (wait, what?), can partake in what is almost guaranteed to be fun-filled chaos and mayhem. Not just from the fact that everyone’s playing as a toaster either, because every time a goal is scored, a random gameplay variant is triggered: ball physics might change, lava pits, portals, or moving platforms could end up added to the arena, or just straight-up explosions! Kaboom!
Because you are playing as toasters, you can naturally expect some chaotic physics, random situations, electrical hazard, and more burnt toasts than you can ever imagine.
In other words, emerging victorious is going to require more than just plain old skill and practice, as only with some fast thinking will players be able to adapt to the ever-changing landscape across which bread is constantly flying, the size of toasters potentially even changing randomly. Absolute chaos… of the kind that sounds like a proper groovy time, with or without friends along for the ride in local multiplayer.
Oh, and if you feel like certain rules or mechanics need tweaking, well, there’s always custom mode. Ah, so much variety, so much burnt bread. Delicious. Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to start toasting!
Toasterball is available on Steam and itch.io, for $9.99.
