Divide By Sheep
Overview -
'Divide By Sheep' is a mobile/Steam puzzler developed by the Russian/Ukrainian studio Bread Team and published by tinyBuild (the same people behind 'Boid'). 'Divide By Sheep' began life as a prototype called 'Let Islands Jump,' but after tinyBuild partnered with Bread Team, the game took its now familiar form of a game grounded around sheep, wolves, and the Grim Reaper.
Ostensibly a puzzle game, 'Divide By Sheep' has a dark little backstory involving the Grim Reaper and his need for friends. The Reaper can only befriend the dead, and with the help of his pet kraken, the Reaper has flooded the world, and it's down to the player to try to rescue as many sheep as can be safely floated away. As the game opens up, however, wolves, ghosts and so on become a part of the mix.
Video Review
The game's visual style is best described as adorable/grisly. The little sheep and other animals have a chibi style, with rotund little bodies and cutesy faces. In sharp contrast, some of the hazard platforms do terrible things to them, like the laser beams that slice them in two (which make the game’s title a bit of a double entendre) and leave bloody entrails all over everything. The environments and models are typically made up of a single stylized shape or string of shapes that have a glossy sheen. Colors are bright and distinctive.
This is an Adobe Air powered title, but on the old iPad Retina display, the cute art design is delivered crisply. Small details like the sheep swear bubbles when they get bounced in the water can be spied here and there.
There is an option to make the game's visuals more kid friendly. What that means is removing the blood from the halved sheep, but there are sheep still being cut in half by lasers and swallowed by wolves. The Reaper also eventually joins the fray, and in those levels, the player's sheep (and wolf) killing objectives are a little more apparent.
Here's the game with blood:
Here's the game without blood:
Audio Review
'Divide By Sheep' has no voice acting, but does have a chipper, cheery soundtrack. It tends to get repetitive, but never irritating. Sound effects are simple and standard. Both the volume of music and the sound effects can be adjusted in the game options.
Final Thoughts
'Divide By Sheep' is a colorful and fun way to scratch a certain itch. It's very easy to pick up (and to put down when needed), and is mercifully devoid of most of the typical mobile game pitfalls. There is a setting in the options that curbs the gore, and with the easy touchscreen controls, it's a good game for a certain age and up. It has been a fun a game to share with my Sudoku-loving significant other, and I'm hoping for lots of future updates.