On paper, hiring roaches to help me restore and run an abandoned post office sounds like a recipe for disaster – aside from the obvious ick factor of the six-legged critters, the fact that an inspector is eventually going to come calling to test my operation, and I can't imagine having insect employees is up to code. Thankfully, in new indie roguelite Roach Post from developer Karp Games, the various cockroach workers I can hire are not only cartoonishly cute (which deals with the unfortunate reputation they have), but they also prove to be very useful as I set about readying packages for delivery.
Every customer who comes by my humble post office has a different kind of parcel-shaped challenge for me to overcome. In order to successfully send out a package, I have to set down as many stamps as possible on a parcel's surface to earn a set score that will then allow me to send out a package. Should I run out of space to place down my stamps before I reach my desired score, I'll not only let down my customer by failing to send it out – it'll also hurt my business's reputation. But fortunately, I don't have to do it all alone, because my cockroach workers are always nearby to help me out with useful buffs.
Stamp it down
I'll be the first to admit I'm not very good at puzzle games, but something about Roach Post taps into the meditative side of my brain. Every piece of post is a puzzle of its own, and there's a multilayered level of strategy to successfully sending out mail. Firstly, I get stamps three at a time, a bit like being dealt cards randomly from a deck, and they come in different colors and shapes. Every stamp set down means more score points, and to try and make the most of a parcel's surface area by setting down as many stamps as possible to attain the score I need to send out a package.
But the placement of colors can really make all the difference when it comes to boosting my score. The easiest way to multiply it is to set down the same colored stamps next to each other, but certain colors go together well, while others clash. Anytime you go to set down a colored stamp, you'll see a plus or minus sign next to adjacent colors which will tell you if colors go together or not. Red stamps go well together with green, for example, which means placing them nearby will boost the points I earn for the stamp I set down.
Some packages will have certain areas blocked off where stamps can't be placed to add to the puzzling challenge of getting the different shapes to fit on the front of the parcel. A certain section can sometimes have negative or positive multipliers on the paper, which also means I have to be even more strategic when it comes to placing my stamps, lest I deduct from my score by setting a stamp over a negative space. Should I fail to earn the score I need to send out a package, I'll fail, and my post office's reputation will take a hit. If it drops to zero before the inspector comes around to give me one last puzzle challenge, it's effectively game over.
After each package has been delivered (or unsuccessfully sent out), I get the opportunity to use coins to hire cockroach workers to aid me in my shift. Every little roach has a unique bonuses which aren't too dissimilar from the dog tags in Dogpile, or the card modifiers in Balatro, that can help me as I ready a package with stamps, from one dressed as a wizard-like Astrologer that will add to my score anytime the same colored stamps are set by each other, to an insect clerk who will give extra core to hire more staff if there are an equal number of colored stamps at the end of a round.
It takes me a spell to learn how it all works, but thankfully there are different difficulty levels to choose from. I decided to take it slow to begin with and sink into the easiest option for my first shift. Each customer during my shift has their own difficulty level, too, with the ones who visit my post office presenting me with easy to normal challenges that have different rewards and failure rates that effect my reputation score. Once I get into the swing of things, it's a pretty laidback experience overall.
I've always been inexplicably drawn to games that center around delivering mail (see Lake), so I naturally gravitated towards the idea of Roach Post. While I can't say I ever expected to be putting stamps on parcels with the help of cockroaches, it somehow just works in this roguelite, and if you're after a cute puzzling challenge, then take this as an invitation to check it out.
Roach Post is out now on PC. Explore other indies we've been enjoying this year by heading on over to our Indie Spotlight series.
