A fun and quirky platformer that leans into our weirdest computer interactions in the 90s, Mainframes is a solid and innovative little platformer.
MainFrames has some really cool, goofy computer shit going on. It feels something like a British PC, like we’re playing on a ZX Spectrum as opposed Windows 3.1, but manages to have its own unique aesthetic that is somehow reminiscent of something we’re all familiar with. And I appreciate all of that because it’s tied into the gameplay really, really well.
MainFrames is a very Meat Boy-like, angry platformer. It’s the kind of platformer that is designed to kill us ad infinitum until we figure it out, which is fine as long as the gameplay loop is fast. And this game does have that fast gameplay loop. If we mess up we’rea back at the beginning of that single screen, and that’s the most important part with this kind of thing for me. I like little single screen experiences because they’re puzzles disguised as platforming. We get to take it all in, we look at it, we know what the mechanics are, and we just kind of have to put the pieces together and figure it out.
Conceptually this game is designed like a corrupted computer, and we’re just a little guy who’s job is break-in containment. Even at the beginning we’re like, “Hey man, what are you doing? This isn’t where you’re supposed to be.” And then from there we just sort of platform around the world and manipulate things; the right stick is our mouse and we can move certain windows around and start placing platforms in certain areas. Some of them have different interactive elements that will send us in different directions, and some require a second character to guide. There are a lot of puzzle types and rooms to go through, and a lot of secrets just kind of hidden everywhere, but I never feel like if I missed anything I have to go back. The game isn’t necessarily built for that because it’s short enough that we might as well just start a new run to catch it the second time.
It’s not complicated in the traditional sense; the platforming is difficult, but not frustratingly so, and it’s fast and moves really well. We’re just barreling forward, man. I don’t like the feeling of the platforming as much as I would like. It’s really floaty and doesn’t feel like we have a lot of weight which, I mean, makes sense. We’re a digital diskette. We’re the save icon essentially in this world, so we wouldn’t have any weight to us. The floatiness does help in areas where we need to manage a double jump to get between some of the windows or the directional arrows. We may not think we can clear a gap, but because our guy is so light we can really get some momentum going.
The further we go, the more sort of disjointed things get. But the core mechanics stay the same and it doesn’t spend a lot of time holding our hand. It really does use visual storytelling to let us know that we’re going to figure things out.
I especially like just entering a new area because the developers never just throw us into danger. We sit there and can see all the stuff in front of us, and can just methodically start to lay things out before we start our run. And if we mess up something or something didn’t work, we can just get started at the front of the screen again.
MainFrames tickles that part of the brain that doesn’t really get used very much in platformers. It’s not reinventing the genre. It’s not really doing anything crazy. It’s just solid. It’s functionally solid and I think it’s well worth your time if angry platformers are your thing. I really liked it. I’m glad I reviewed this. I think it was well worth my time.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. Images and video courtesy publisher. This video first appeared on The SideQuest Live for March 10, 2025.
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