Joshua’s Legs

Joshua’s Legs is a unique 2D action game where players control a two-legged arachnid named Joshua on a quest to recover his lost prosthetic legs. Set in a mysterious world, the game features devious controls and challenging platforming mechanics, rewarding players with speed, finesse, and precision. Players must navigate treacherous environments, utilizing Joshua’s abilities to jump, grip, and shoot webs to uncover hidden secrets and collect his missing prostheses.

Joshua’s Legs: Rewiring the Platformer Genre, One Leg at a Time

Introduction

In the crowded pantheon of indie platformers, few titles dare to dismantle foundational controls as radically as Joshua’s Legs. Developed by solo creator Francis Côté-Tremblay under the PetitLegume Studios banner, this 2022 release is not merely a game but a neuromuscular reeducation. It tasks players with controlling a two-legged arachnid via dual-joystick manipulation—a concept so deceptively simple it borders on madness. Yet, beneath its minimalist facade lies a profound meditation on skill acquisition, spatial reasoning, and the very nature of digital movement. This review argues that Joshua’s Legs stands as a landmark in hardcore platforming design, redefining challenge through biomechanical authenticity while carving out a singular niche in the post-Celeste era of precision-platforming reverence.

Development History & Context

Emerging from the solo workshop of Francis Côté-Tremblay, Joshua’s Legs defies the norms of contemporary indie development. Côté-Tremblay candidly admits to having “literally zero online presence” before this project, funneling two years of obsessive labor into a title that eschews marketing tropes for raw gameplay experimentation. The 18-month development cycle—documented via sparse Reddit updates and Steam announcements—reveals a creator driven by technical passion over spectacle.

Technologically, the game leverages Unity with remarkable economy. Early Access builds (launched May 2022) focused on refining the core control scheme, with later patches integrating procedural generation and Linux/macOS support. The absence of publisher backing necessitated scrappy solutions: Halloween-themed surprises, TAS (Tool-Assisted Speedrun) modes, and iterative map updates were all community-driven. This mirrors the 2010s resurgence of solo-developed platformers like VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy, but with a singular focus: to create a control system so alien it forces players to unlearn a decade of muscle memory.

The release landscape was primed for such an experiment. The early 2020s saw a resurgence of “brutal” platformers (e.g., Dead Cells, Hollow Knight), but Joshua’s Legs carved a different path—positioning itself not as a reflex test, but as a cognitive puzzle where the controller itself becomes the antagonist. Its Steam Early Access phase (2022–2023) attracted niche speedrunning communities, culminating in a full launch on January 18, 2023, with cross-platform ambitions (iOS, Android, PS5, Switch) hinted at but unrealized.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Joshua’s Legs operates on a plane of surreal minimalism. Its protagonist—a two-legged spider named Joshua—embodies the game’s central paradox: the fusion of alien biology with human-like ingenuity. The narrative, delivered through environmental storytelling and cryptic item descriptions, follows Joshua’s quest to retrieve prosthetic limbs lost to a “mysterious lair.” This premise is less a plot than a philosophical lens through which the game explores themes of:

• Adaptation as Identity: Joshua’s journey mirrors the player’s own struggle. His prostheses (jump, climb, web-shoot) are not merely power-ups but extensions of self. Collecting them becomes a metaphor for overcoming physical or mental limitations.
• Exploration vs. Conquest: The lair’s “hidden secrets” reward curiosity over aggression. Cloning centers trading dragonflies for temporary abilities suggest themes of commodification and bioethics, while the procedurally generated final level frames mastery as an endless pursuit.
• Absurdism and Zen: The developer’s note about “staying zen” amid chaos permeates the narrative. Joshua’s world is devoid of dialogue or conflict, reducing the experience to a pure dialogue between player and physics—a digital haiku of movement.

Themes of loss and recovery are subtly reinforced: Joshua’s missing legs symbolize incomplete potential, while the game’s punishing difficulty forces players to “rebuild” their skills from the ground up. The result is a narrative distilled to its essence: the struggle to reclaim agency in an unforgiving world.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Core Control Innovation

The game’s defining feature—dual-joystick leg control—is both its brilliance and its barrier. Each joystick independently manipulates one of Joshua’s legs, turning basic locomotion into a ballet of simultaneous inputs. Moving forward requires coordinated pushes; jumping demands split-second leg repositioning; wall-clinging involves asymmetric tension. This system:

• Rewires Reflexes: 15–20 hours of playtime are needed to achieve basic competence, as players must suppress ingrained platformer instincts (e.g., unified jumps, directional inputs).
• Enables Complex Movement: Web-swinging, wall-running, and precision landings emerge from mastering bilateral coordination.
• Demands Hardware: A controller is non-negotiable, as keyboard controls are described as “double the rage quits” in developer logs.

Progression and Systems

Joshua’s Legs blends Metroidvania exploration with roguelike elements:
– Prosthetic Collection: Each limb unlocks new abilities (e.g., jump height, web capacity), gating progression and encouraging backtracking.
– Resource Management: Spider webs fuel a grappling mechanic, while dragonflies act as currency at cloning centers for temporary buffs.
– Procedural Endgame: The final “climb” is procedurally generated, emphasizing speedrun-friendly precision over memorization.

Combat is notably absent, replaced by environmental hazards (spikes, chasms) that heighten tension. The UI mirrors this minimalism: a clean, pixelated interface with no HUD clutter, forcing players to internalize Joshua’s physical limits.

Flaws and Accessibility

The control scheme, while innovative, polarizes players. Negative Steam reviews cite “controller-wrecking frustration,” and the lack of difficulty options alienates novices. However, this aligns with the game’s design ethos: as Côté-Tremblay states, the lair “will only reveal its secrets to the true hardened climbers.”

World-Building, Art & Sound

Visual Design

The lair is a masterclass in atmospheric minimalism. Rendered in 2D scrolling pixel art, it evokes a hybrid of organic decay and industrial ruin—think Limbo meets Axiom Verge. Key visual motifs include:
– Biomechanical Aesthetics: Rusty prosthetics, cloning vats, and pulsating web clusters hint at a world where flesh and machine merge.
– Dynamic Lighting: Shadows obscure paths, while glowing webs guide explorers, creating a sense of fathomable mystery.
– Environmental Storytelling: Abandoned cloning centers and scattered legs imply Joshua’s tragic backstory without exposition.

Sound Design

Danielle Tremblay’s soundtrack is the game’s emotional anchor. Ambient drones, melancholic piano, and dissonant strings mirror Joshua’s solitude, while rhythmic clicks during movement reinforce the control scheme. Sound cues are functional—web shots echo spatially, while landings offer tactile feedback—yet they also foster immersion. The absence of traditional combat audio heightens tension, turning falls and near-misses into visceral experiences.

Together, art and sound create a world that feels both alien and intimately familiar—a “strange lair” that rewards patience with haunting beauty.

Reception & Legacy

Launch Reception

Joshua’s Legs debuted to muted but passionate fanfare. On Steam, it holds a 91% positive rating (35/38 reviews) based on 38 user evaluations. Praise centered on its “innovative controls” and “satisfying challenge,” while criticism targeted its “brutal learning curve.” Metacritic lists no critic reviews, reflecting its niche status. Commercially, it remains a cult hit, with $1.39–$13.99 price points aimed at accessibility.

Evolving Reputation

Post-launch, the game’s reputation has crystallized as a “badge of honor” among hardcore speedrunners. Its inclusion in curated lists (e.g., “Best Platformers on Steam Deck”) and community-led TAS showcases highlights its technical depth. Discussion forums dissect control nuances, with debates over optimal joystick sensitivity underscoring the system’s depth.

Industry Influence

Joshua’s Legs occupies a unique space between Spelunky’s procedural chaos and Hollow Knight’s deliberate design. It has inspired clones like Fix My Legs Doc (2022), but its true legacy lies in proving that control innovation, not just narrative or art, can define a generation of platformers. It challenges the notion that accessibility equals simplification, instead suggesting that mastery is its own reward.

Conclusion

Joshua’s Legs is not a game for the faint of heart. It is a demanding, uncompromising exploration of what it means to learn—and relearn—how to move in digital spaces. Côté-Tremblay’s solo vision, birthed from two years of quiet obsession, resulted in a title that feels less like entertainment and more like a philosophical experiment. Its dual-joystick control scheme is a triumph of biomechanical simulation, pushing players to forge new neural pathways in the pursuit of virtual grace.

While its difficulty may alienate some, Joshua’s Legs earns its place in gaming history as a landmark of hardcore design. It is a testament to the power of constraint: in stripping away combat, narrative, and visual excess, it reveals the profound beauty of movement itself. For those willing to endure its initial frustration, the reward is not just completion but a redefinition of what is possible in a platformer. In an industry chasing ever-bigger worlds, Joshua’s Legs dares us to look inward—and find the legs we never knew we had.

Verdict: A masterful, maddening, and essential experience for the platforming acolyte. 9/10.