Dubbed as a “simple puzzle game” by creator Stephen Lavelle, Stephen’s Sausage Roll was quite possibly named through a simple Twitter response from the creator of QWOP.
Although the indie community has always been considered close, the creator of QWOP following someone like Stephen Lavelle closely really isn’t that far fetched. Lavelle’s website boasts over 100 games he has made, with English Country Time being the the first commercial release he made.
Stephen’s Sausage Roll is a puzzle game based around frying the perfect sausage. The player, who controls Stephen, is surrounded by vast bodies of water. One must navigate the platforms(grill), flipping and prodding the sausage along to get to the end of the map. Flip the sausage too many times, and you will have burnt it and must start again.
More simply put, the game just looks plain frustrating.
In an interview with Polygon, both the creators of The Witness (Jonathon Blows) and the creator of QWOP (Bennett Foddy) praise the game to no end.
Despite the games difficult nature, Foddy believes that the game will find its community similarly to Dark Souls. “I believe that Dark Souls and Flappy Bird (and Minecraft!) have shown that there is an enthusiastic audience for the most demanding of games, once the word gets out.”
Blow called Stephen’s Sausage Roll one of the best games of E3 in 2014, and he went on later to say that the game is very inventive. It feels like an everlasting puzzle, with surprises along the way. “They spring naturally from the game as it has already been set up.”
Stephen’s Sausage Roll gets my Best of E3 award and I am not even halfway through the game yet…
— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) June 13, 2014