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Content Warnings: jump scares, mild depictions of self-harm
Following the dissolution of From Soy Sauce, one of the members, Sayuri Artsy, went on to form Eager Passion, a studio name that succinctly describes the vibes of her work.
Her first project would be Wings of Glass, a reimagining of Glass Wing, an earlier From Soy Sauce game. For brevity’s sake just know that Glass Wing is a relatively straightforward 3D platformer, with a focus on movement and open spaces. Wings of Glass shares a lot of elements with the original, but tonally and aesthetically marks a radical departure from the From Soy Sauce design sensibilities.
Wings of Glass begins with a diegetic menu interface. Crossing one of three bridges will select a file, with jumping into a well continuing the game, or walking into a field of flowers starting a new one. Enter the field and you’ll be greeted by a giant skeletal dragon crashing down and kidnapping you.
Ferace, the skeletal dragon, subsequently explains that the demons of this world have all begun to lose themselves in despair and become monsters--all except Mayfly, our character, whose glass wings seem to prevent that. In order to prevent the demon world’s despair Ferace plucks Mayfly’s wings one by one, until she slips out of his hand, falling through a pit into the caverns below.
It’s an intense opening, one full of loaded phrases. Ferace’s speech ultimately concludes with “You can save everyone from sadness. The world needs you not to be the thing you are, in order to be a less sad place.” It’s inelegant, obvious even, but as a queer person it’s impossible for me not to draw some parallels. It reminds me of games like Imperishable Memories, or The Void Rains Upon Her Heart. Games that are at times kind of embarrassing because of how naked and earnest they are.
In an interview with Switch Indie Fix, Sayuri describes Wings of Glass as a game that explores “what happens when there’s no one to save the damsel in distress.” To that effect, Glass Wing’s more open level designs have been reconfigured into more tense, claustrophobic spaces that project a sense of helplessness. Mayfly has few, if any, ways to defend herself. At times you’ll even take unavoidable damage as part of surprise enemy attacks, or have to charge your body with electricity in order to trigger a switch.
Despite that, Mayfly is plenty capable. She has an acrobatic moveset, able to balance on beams and pillars, extend her jump distance with a leap, and chain those leaps into long jumps. The more technical parts of this kit are generally not required, with most situations designed around basic movement or tools found in the area, leaving the extended moveset mostly as options to progress faster. Eventually, there are a few permanent upgrades, but most weapons, tools and even movement abilities are temporary.
Most of the challenge comes from interpreting the environment, recognizing the available path forward, and carefully lining up jumps. It evokes a sense of exploration not unlike the pre-reboot Tomb Raiders, with otherwise small spaces growing larger through a density of interactions.
Those moments of revelation make up for what can sometimes be an inconsistent, or outright confusing, design language. I generally found myself able to work out the path forward, but sometimes having to make leaps of logic. The aforementioned electrocution switch I only figured out thanks to a walkthrough, and it took me a while to understand exactly what was going on even after I saw it. I missed a crucial ability entirely at one point, due to it being granted through a small spider powerup, and requiring you to unintuitively walk straight off a platform without jumping to activate it. Moments like these eventually make sense within Wings of Glass’ internal logic, but they require leaps that often go against the established language of the genre.
Aesthetically, Wings of Glass brings that same unorthodox approach, with intense, oversaturated and even garish combinations of colors and character designs. Story is delivered in letters scattered across the stages, accompanied by sketches of monster girls emoting, and blocking the entire screen when they appear. Again, it’s inelegant but that doesn’t stop it from being effective.
One of the earliest vignettes involves logs of a monster girl upset from her isolation from a friend, growing more desperate as she begins to blame herself for what she believes is her inadequacy in the relationship. It’s hard not to see her fate coming, but somehow it’s still shocking when you find her in a monstrous form, feral and twisted by her despair. The revelation is followed by the discovery that her friend still treasures her, but was unable to get a reply back in time due to the nightmarish conditions of the factory she works at.
Delivered with any less earnestness, Wings of Glass would immediately crumble. A roughness permeates every part of the game, down to even its basic technical details*. Stylistically it never feels comfortable, and a melodramatic, almost adolescent, emotional core carries through the writing. But because Wings of Glass so openly wears its heart on its sleeve it’s easy to look past that and find the moments of joy that carry it. I was genuinely invested in its world, and impressed whenever I found a new ability and worked my way through how they changed my interactions with the space.**
The game seems to have found an audience that feels the same way. The Steam community for the game isn’t large, but the few people there seem to enjoy it, and it’s even attracted a few speedrunners. Wings of Glass is a happy step forward, and I’m happy to approach future games with the same eager passion.
Wings of Glass is available on Steam and itch.io.
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Footnotes
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*For some reason no matter what controller I used the game felt awful, which was immediately remedied by switching to the mouse and keyboard.
**I am, after all, a Sonic fan, I am a sucker for these things.
Greta oto (glass wing) butterfly watercolor sketch. Quick fact, these species of butterfly are a great indication of a flourishing habitat. You see these and you're likely in good hands.
I don’t know if you’ve caught on yet but I’m legit just posting all my work I’ve already completed because it hasn’t been put on here like ever.
This piece is actually pretty darn old, but it’s one of my personal favourites. I even put it in my portfolio.
This is Zircon the GlassWing. GlassWings are a Wings of Fire fan tribe created by-- was it Triplanet?? On Deviantart?? I won this guy’s design in a contest, i still love him to bits <3
This looks like a pretty DIY project but would actually be good in a ghost film. Seriously when they flit around you can see something but not work out what it is. Excellent ghost butterfly. Though this one is, in fact, alive. :)
