Perchang World launches as Apple Arcade exclusive, marking comedian James Acaster’s first games role

• Perchang Games' Perchang World sees players traverse physics-based stages across eight zones.
• In-game narration is performed by British comedian James Acaster.

Physics-based puzzler Perchang World has launched today as an Apple Arcade exclusive, featuring comedian James Acaster in his first video games role.

Developed by British studio Perchang Games, the new title leans into quirky British humour with Acaster serving as the narrator - speaking over events as players traverse the world in search of scattered core fragments.

There are hundreds of stages across eight unique zones, including jungles, space and cyber worlds. Players can traverse these locales in the form of a small ball, finding the best path forward as quickly as possible for a chance to top the leaderboards.

Advantages of Apple Arcade

Perchang Games has long wanted to release a sequel to its original iOS game, Perchang, a premium puzzle title launched in 2016. After years of on-and-off ideation, Perchang Games co-founder and creative director Ben Murch came up with a piece of concept art: a low-poly desert city containing a Perchang-style level.

Thus, the indie studio landed on the concept of Perchang World. The game went on to spend almost two years in active development, always with a vision to release on Apple Arcade.

"Apple Arcade is such an amazing place, because you can just focus on pure gameplay," Murch told PocketGamer.biz.

"It’s subscription-based, so you don’t have to worry about IAPs or monetisation. You only have to make the best game you possibly can - pretty much the dream for any developer. So, in the end the platform choice was pretty much a no-brainer.

"On our previous mobile titles, the ‘what do we charge for?’ question has always been present. Freeing us from that allowed us to concentrate on the game experience."

Murch added that, outside of monetisation, development challenges remained largely the same: "You still worry about poly budgets and frame rates. Will this all fit in memory? Will the designers be finished before the artists can move in and work on levels in time?"

Perchang World follows a single camera moving through each zone, from puzzle to puzzle in one "shot". This design decision led to the idea of a narrator.

During a company meetup in London, the team compiled a list of potential actors with names like Bill Nighy and Eminem included. They ultimately decided on Acaster.

"I often listen to Would I Lie to You when I’m doing artwork in the evenings," Murch explained.

"Whenever James popped up, there was something about his energy that screamed ‘narrator’. Luckily, he agreed to the role and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Along with the fun nature of the character, he brought this emotional weight of companionship to the game.

"When the story begins, he’s quite rigid and straight laced, thinks that everything has its proper place and that he’s there to instruct the player on keeping things running. However, as we progress through the game he slowly comes to realise that letting loose and introducing a little chaos is not only helpful: it’s necessary.

"We’ve linked that into the gameplay too, with how the player slowly realises that they can get faster times on levels by looking to bend the rules in places."

On mobile, celebrities more often feature in ad spots than in-game, such as Kit Harrington promoting Game of Thrones Legends or Shakira advertising Royal Kingdom.

Murch suggested there must be a very good reason for a mobile developer to include a big name in their budget.

For Perchang World, he believes the narrator is as intrinsic to the experience as the puzzles.