Chariot

I have a soft spot for games built around one genuinely strange idea executed with total conviction, and Chariot is exactly that. Frima Studio looked at the couch co-op platformer and asked: what if the cargo itself was the puzzle? The result is 25 levels across five underground environments where every slope, ledge, and dark shaft is a negotiation between you, your rope, and a very heavy coffin on wheels. The physics model is the game's real handcraft. Pushing the chariot uphill demands careful body positioning; letting it roll downhill at speed turns into a breathless ride sequence. The tether mechanic adds a grapple-like dimension, letting you swing the chariot across chasms or hoist it onto platforms that look completely unreachable the first time you see them. There are also "life paths" that your character can walk but the chariot falls straight through, and "death rails" where the opposite applies, which forces you to split up and think spatially rather than just brute-force everything together. Loot lines the cave walls and the chariot itself is the only thing that can collect it, which means detours are never optional if you care about upgrades. Solo play is honest about what it costs you. The game is completable alone, and the methodical puzzle-solving has its own quiet rhythm, but some of the co-op-gated treasure sections simply go unreachable, and the physical coordination required to manage the chariot single-handedly is genuinely demanding. With a second player on the couch, something shifts: the physics become collaborative instead of combative, arguments about who is pulling too hard start feeling like part of the game rather than friction against it. The ghost king materialising periodically to harangue you about the quality of your gem haul is a small but consistent comic beat that keeps the mood light across a run-time that lands somewhere in the six-to-eight hour range depending on completionism. Critic scores cluster around the Metacritic 76 mark for good reason: the looter enemy sections that interrupt the cave traversal feel out of step with the zen groove the rest of the game earns, and a particularly dark second stage frustrated more than a few reviewers. These are real complaints, not nitpicks. Still, for players who chase couch co-op with the same energy others spend chasing soulslike challenge runs, Chariot offers something rare: a physical, tactile platformer where the laughs come from the mechanics rather than from scripted jokes. The visual style is warm and colourful without being busy, and the underground environments carry genuine atmosphere. Play it with someone you trust to not let the coffin roll off a cliff on purpose. Or do. The king would probably complain either way.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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