Best Of 2024: How Lemmings, ChuChu Rocket & Nintendo Inspired Unpacking Devs' Next Game

Image: Cult Games

Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as part of our Best of 2024 series. This article was originally published in June. Enjoy!

Developer Witch Beam isn't ready to rest on its laurels. After creating two wildly different games — the twin-stick shooter Assault Android Cactus and the BAFTA award-winning, heartfelt puzzler Unpacking — it's ready to move back to the outside and go with something even more relaxing.

We were tapping our foot the whole way through the trailer for the Brisbane-based studio's third title, Tempopo. Combining music with the outside world, the game sees Hana — a young magical girl living in the clouds — restoring her musical garden of flowers. All of her Tempopo creatures have magical abilities and are bursting with personality, but only Hana can tell them where to go and guide them along the right path.

The game looks beautiful, with an eclectic mix of music and an addictive gameplay loop. But with the puzzle genre so often focused on brain teasers that can sometimes get players a little stressed, Tempopo is looking to bring calm, harmony, and beauty to the genre.

We sat down with the game's director, Sanatana Mishra, to talk about those lovely little diorama stages, the importance of music and accessibility, and how to make a stress-free puzzle game about guiding little creatures.