Image: Cruise Elroy

Clearly, classic platforming success is a viable inroads to higher education. First, Mario got his medical degree, and now the star of classic arcade-style platformer Annalynn is treating cartoon diseases in puzzle laboratory conditions. I just got done playing a couple rounds of Annalynn MD's demo, and can confirm that this one is legit. Some interesting new puzzle mechanics, great sprite art, and a bopping soundtrack to boot.

Obviously, the game is riffing off Doctor Mario. Your main objective - whether in solo puzzle mode or versus battles - is to clear color-coded germs by dropping pills on them. Each pill keeps falling down through all it touches, clearing germs until it can't continue any further, giving a lot of potential for big combos.

The fiddly part here is that you've also got Cell blocks which can only be cleared by creating a full row of them. And this is made more complex still as your play-field is a test tube that rotates, meaning you need to continually memorize what you've got on the far side of the tube and keep in mind that everything is circular here.

Naturally, things only get messier in versus battles, playable only against AI in the demo. Each character drops their own uniquely annoying assortment of junk blocks in the other player's tube once they score a combo, making for a messier, more aggressive game. All standard for the genre, but made fresh by the tubular play-space.

But what's really interesting in the game's story mode is that every couple rounds you're asked to pick a new remedy to add to the game, each one coming with advantages and side-effects, like spawning Honey Cell blocks that can be cleared with pills as well, but at the cost of fewer pills spawning. Even with just a couple modifiers in play, things got significantly more complicated, forcing me to think a lot harder about each move and what was in play.

My only real gripe is that visualizing the entire play-field (given that much of it is barely visible due to the tubular nature) can be pretty difficult, and I'd like to see an alternate view mode where perhaps the play-area wraps at the sides. But even that feels like something that can be adjusted to with a bit of time.

The demo also lacks any kind of multiplayer, and there are no plans for online play, so far as I can see. As it's just a 1v1 game, you can easily get away with Steam Remote Play, but this feels like something that could potentially build up an active competitive scene, given a chance. Hopefully that's something that'll come in the full version or beyond, but I'd not bet money on it.

Anyhow, we've got a ways to wait until the full version of Annalynn MD is out. Developer Cruise Elroy reckons that the full game won't be ready until mid-2027, so the demo is your only option for a quick dose of the game right now. It certainly perked me right up; no side effects observed.