Toasterball is kind of like pong but with toast instead of paddles
"Where toasters are athletes and the laws of physics are merely a suggestion."
Have you ever asked yourself "What if The Brave Little Toaster was a sports movie?" No? Me neither, but here's Toasterball anyway, a hysterical-looking little party game about toasters competing in a professional tennis or pong-like sport by shooting toast in the air to deflect balls. It's a physics-based sportslike that's definitely laser-focused on the delight of local multiplayer—either in person or via Steam's Remote Play Together.
"Play against your friends in this unconventional tournament, where toasters are athletes and the laws of physics are merely a suggestion," reads the store description. An apt one, I think.
It's a good setup for a party game, a two-button control scheme that holds down one of the two pieces of toast in your toaster. The longer you hold it down, the higher it goes when you pop. When your toast comes out the toaster jumps, letting you move around.
When someone scores a random gameplay variant goes into effect. This is stuff like "New ball physics, lava pits, portals, moving platforms or explosions" that really spice up a match. There are something like 18 of them, and those get pretty different depending on "modifiers like the size of toasters or the number of toasts, which can add even more possibilities."
Toasterball has been in Early Access for a few years, and will release on May 3rd. As part of the launch it'll get new maps, an AI to play against, and a custom game mode. The developers have also reworked the physics to be, presumably, even more suggestive and conducive to toaster-based sporting events.
Toasterball was made by four-person indie team Les Crafteurs. It's their first game, and is self-published. You can find Toasterball on Steam.
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.