Grow is the first game from Melbourne-based developers Studio Grow. It’s an online multiplayer game for the PC which has you assume control of a cute little worm-like creature known as a “Nom”. You must guide your Nom to food in order to help it grow, and then defeat the opposing team.
There are three different types of food. Meat makes your Nom become stronger, eating fruit will make it smarter and eating candy will make it faster. When a Nom has eaten enough food, it will be able to grow into a new creature, each of which has its own special ability. Each Nom is able to grow twice, and you don’t have to make it grow in the same way; I liked the meat-fruit combination for a stronger, faster critter.
There wasn’t much team play at PAX as there simply wasn’t enough space, so it was just one-on-one. I had Nom eat all kinds of different foods to see all the different combinations, which can also be viewed on their website. One of the developers mentioned that he considered Grow a cross between Team Fortress 2 and Pokemon, which is what it felt like to me.
I had a pretty fun time at their booth, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this game will develop into the future. At the moment it’s in its alpha stage, and we’ll be keeping an eye on it.
