Welcome to Box Critters… a new virtual world created by Lance Priebe (the co-founder of Club Penguin). At 8:30 am AEST, on February 9 2019 – the virtual world was open for ever to test it out. At the moment, there is only one room and one “critter” you can choose – the hamster (so… not much you can do).
I’ve played the game for a few minutes since you can’t do a lot at the moment but here are my current thoughts on certain aspects of the game.
NOTE – this is not yet the beta version but rather the “first experiment” or pre-beta.
History of Box Critters
I only heard about Box Critters since 2018 – when I joined the Club Penguin community and followed the staff, new and old, on social media. I saw some concept art and I’ve decided to join. At the time, their only site was on Tumblr.
The game is built on HTML5 so it’s going to stay alive when flash ends in 2020.
There are many plans and ideas for the game that changed overtime. Best place I could recommend reading some of them is through Questy’s blog.
Similarities to Club Penguin
A lot of the game has some similarities towards Club Penguin. From art style to chat system… it’s pretty much identical. According to Lance, a lot of the game pretty much follows the same format on how he built Club Penguin.
So basically… it’s Club Penguin meets Runescape meets Hamsters.
Art
Pretty much… the environment is similar to Club Penguin (since it was designed by old CP artists), but it feels like the hamsters look out of place. Maybe it’s because I’m used to seeing penguins in that type of art style, but it just feels like they don’t quite fit.
But everything looks really flipping cute!
Controls
Currently, you can only click to move around. It’s very responsive and you get to see your hamster bounce to its place. However, when it comes to positioning, you can’t use keyboard/arrow keys to change where you face. It’s where/how your hamster goes is where you’re placed.
I also like how the hamsters just bounce their way to the area.
Chat
The chat feature is alright.
At the moment, it’s just a simple chatbox bellow the game. It was told, a filter feature was placed (similar to what was used in Club Penguin).
We can type in numerics (thank god)… but also emojis. So expect some text to go beyond the chat box.
Does it have potential???
Using what we have here, does this game have potential to be the next Club Penguin???
Maybe???
I don’t think Box Critters will receive the same level of mainstream popularity as similar to Club Penguin. But I do believe that it’s going to gain attraction towards players who wants to experience a world similar to its predecessor.
Also… I don’t think Lance wants to undergo the same pressure and stress from last time.
What do I want to see?
I’ve played Club Penguin since 2007 and Runescape in 2011. What I like about both games is the open world adventure + the social factor towards the two games.
I’d love to be able to cosplay as a mage or use swords when doing quest (or even in the safe zones). I’d also love to see some Club Penguin easter eggs like dialogue from NPC’s referencing Club Penguin in some way. Lastly, as well as an “add friend” feature, I’d also like to see like “create guild/party” feature when going on adventures, or the option to go solo.
This game has so much in store in the future that I’m so excited to see what happens next! Maybe when it’s fully out, I might not be able to play it but I’d love to see my future children have fun in a virtual world that has evolved from what a lot of us grew up with.
Final Thoughts
But overall, I find it quite cute and enjoyable. It could be the next chapter in the Club Penguin timeline. A new era if you must.
I won’t rank the game atm due to the lack of content and features but I do hope to experience the full first beta release. Right now, all they wanna test is how many people can cram into one room and feedback in regards to bugs.
If you want to play Box Critters – you can go here: https://rocketsnail.com/boxcritters/hamster
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