SGF Hands-on: My Arms Are Longer Now and Slap Out Of It!
This ain’t a scene it’s an indie game “arms” race.
Just a stone’s throw from each other, across the main event hall at Summer Game Fest Play Days this year, stood two titans of triceps, two beacons of biceps, two rapscallions of wrists, if you will. This was my first time in person at Summer Game Fest Play Days, but I think it’s safe to assume that it’s rare for two indie games in the lineup to be so in sync in their concept, gameplay, and sense of humor. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to write about both of these long-lost indie game siblings together. My Arms Are Longer Now and Slap Out Of It! are both irreverent and clever puzzle games where your main mechanism to engage with the world is via your flailing, slapping, pinching, and wiggling arm.
While both demos revealed that they both share many of their excellent qualities (they are silly, absurd and set up puzzles that require that players use both logic and imagination), they also each possess their own special qualities that make them unique.
My Arms Are Longer Now
In My Arms Are Longer Now, you take control of a long, wiggly arm that has two things: dexterity and an agenda. This very long arm is connected to a thief trying to pull a heist at every turn. This is Australian development studio Toot Games’ debut title, as well as the debut title from Jackbox Games’ new indie game publishing… well, arm.
The game actually caught my eye before Summer Game Fest, as I had run across the trailers on social media. Something about the illustrated cartoon style that we’ve seen in 2025’s Dogpile (incidentally, a title that Toot Games collaborated on) and 2024’s Thank Goodness You’re Here! has the ability to snag my attention like an 18-foot arm pickpockets a sleeping grandma on the train. After some post-show reflection I realized that the sharp and sketchy lines, paired with the bemused expressions of the characters, also feel reminiscent of classic newspaper comic strips like The Far Side. My Arms Are Longer Now also shares The Far Side’s agility in setting up visual jokes at the snap of a (long and wiggly) finger.
Now, the question on everyone’s mind: how are the physics on this lengthy limb? And the answer is that, in my experience, the arm possesses a very satisfying wiggle and jiggle. Its ability to wrap or drape itself around just about anything in the world (including itself) adds much whimsy to the whole experience. There is an almost Octodad-like awkwardness to how the arm moves through space, as it can move up, down, sideways, and every which way. Although, (and I say this with a special place in my heart for Octodad) My Arms Are Longer Now felt much less clumsy and frustrating.
My Arms Are Longer Now in Action
While the look and feel of the game will certainly attract players, from what I saw at Play Days, the absurd humor and puzzle solving will keep them locked in. In Untitled Goose Game fashion, objectives are presented in relatively vague terms and finding the solutions is dependent on how much players explore and experiment within the world. The means to a successful heist are almost never available at first glance, so players must poke, prod, pinch, and sometimes pickpocket around to find the keys to nabbing the goods. Levels are built out more like sandboxes than like puzzle systems, and I think the greatest reward will be seeing what kinds of silly shenanigans players can instigate, over finding the most elegant solution to the goal.
My Arms Are Longer Now and Slap Out Of It! are both irreverent, clever puzzle games where your main mechanism to engage with the world is via your flailing, slapping, pinching, and wiggling arm.
Slap Out Of It!
Now, I’m generally a pretty nonviolent person. But if you told me I could solve most of my in life and at work by slapping things? I’d be a pretty happy camper. Luckily, Slap Out Of It! looks to offer just that experience in the form of a first-person escape room-style puzzle game. This is the latest title from indie developer Turbo Button, the creators of the Floor Plan series of VR games. In fact, Slap Out Of It! seems to be drawing directly from Floor Plan 2 VR in its concept, visual design, and perhaps even some of the specific puzzles, but the developers have refactored the experience for a more traditional gaming setup.
As the game opens, players are introduced to their new role at Puzzl, a “Solutions-as-a-Service” (this really got me) puzzle-solving enterprise. During your first workday, customers get wheeled in on a track and present their absurd quandaries. One comes in with their hair literally on fire, another is struggling with a filling-less donut. Each conundrum has a more outrageous and silly solution than the last, all requiring that the player put on their goofiest thinking cap. The process itself, however, is… shall we say, manual.
Players can interact with the world in whatever way they choose, as long as that way is slapping. Which is fantastic for a puzzle game that asks players for a good bit of exploration and experimentation. Because, frankly, it just feels great to slap everything! The physics and sound design come together for an extremely satisfying time, regardless of how quickly you pick up on where the puzzles are trying to logically lead you.
Slap Out Of It! in Action
The delightful thing about the puzzle design in Slap Out Of It! is that, although players have to bust out some wild lateral thinking, the world still has its own internal logic. Everything operates on Looney Tunes-style rules. No matter how absurd the correct answer, each one made me slap my forehead (slapping being force of habit at that point) and say “of course that’s it!!” The developers lovingly refer to the game as a “beautiful celebration of stupid.” While it is these things, it also takes its humor very seriously and delivers clever visual gags, wordplay and absurd scenarios that tickle the mind.
The Long and Short of It
I look forward to following the development process of both these games, and wouldn’t dare keep them at arm’s length from my wishlist (I’m so sorry, I just can’t help it). Discovering such silly and delightful synergy between indies in attendance at Summer Game Fest itself felt like such a serendipitous testament to the magic of indie games. There really is a game for every player, every idea and every sense of humor.
For players who just can’t wait to get your hands on these games, neither has a fixed release date just yet. However, My Arms Are Longer Now is slated for release sometime in 2026.
About No Small Games
No Small Games is an indie game recap and review podcast brought to you by hosts Kate and Emily! They became friends while streaming on Twitch and bonded over their love of indie video games. In each episode of No Small Games, the two will discuss an indie game they both played independently. They’ll compare their experiences: the good, the bad, their most memorable moments of their playthroughs.
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