SHREDDER review: Will it Shred? Satisfying ASMR Shredding Game

By Denis Marasan ☆ 12/Mar/2020

The game “Will it Shred?” is an interactive experience of swiping objects into a shredder and watching them come apart. That’s basically the whole core gameplay. Is this game really “a game” is subject to definition you feel comfortable with when thinking about games. If you expect something with sophisticated gameplay, immersive narrative or breakthrough technology, “Will it Shred?” is definitely not a game at all. But if you’re a more open-minded person, capable of thinking outside the box, this is your chance to know something new about games in general and yourself in particular.

“Will it Shred?” by BoomBit Games is basically what its subtitle speaks of. A satisfying ASMR Shredding experience. I intentionally changed the end word from “game” to “experience” coz its a game in a more comprehensive sense. And the first word in the subtitle, that is “satisfying”, means that the process of experiencing the game should be satisfactory at the very least.

Another word is an acronym ASMR. What’s this anyway?

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation that typically begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. A pleasant form of paresthesia, it has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia and may overlap with frisson. ASMR signifies the subjective experience of “low-grade euphoria” characterized by “a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin”. It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control. (an abstract from Wikipedia)

In a few words this means that the experience you have playing “Will it Shred?” should be… well… more than “satisfactory”. A “low-grade euphoria” whatever it is.

And all these stuff you should experience in shredding things.

 

Back to shredding

Enough talks, let’s get back to shredding. “Will it Shred?” is about getting the satisfaction from swiping items into a shredder and watching those items come apart. That’s basically most of the game. Some players like the experience, some don’t. This part is very subjective. Just read the comments on the game page in Google Play Market.

Unlike most other shredders available on the market, “Will it Shred?” is a 3D game, and it looks great. Though the design of items is uneven, some items look great and are fun to watch as they get shredded, e.g. a toy buggy (watching it coming apart is satisfactory), some are not so good, e.g. an old can (c’mon, there’s no such thing as an octagonal can!) Vibration during the shredding process is also great, though there are issues with optimization, so I had to switch it off in game settings.

Is shredding perfect? Games are never perfect! From what I feel, the game lacks surprise mechanics. Nothing unusual happens during shredding, and that’s a missed opportunity to surprise a player. And players love pleasant surprises. Though these mechanics will surely affect the development cost.

Another complaint is that after you swiped an item into a shredder, the interactive part of gameplay is over. What a shame! The more so, some items tend to get stuck in a shredder for a while before coming apart.

The other part of the game is really a retention mechanic in a form of a game store. By playing the game, you earn coins from shredding things and getting bonuses. Coins are used for buying game items that can be shredded. There’s a whole bunch of those items in the game store. You will surely find the items you want to shred badly and will collect coins for buying those items.

Do you want more gold? Try continuously tapping on the coin icon in the top right corner of the screen to generate more. Though the number of coins added is minuscule, the process itself feels great to me, a minor but nice feature. It even makes sense economically when you first start playing “Will it Shred?”

Collecting coins for new stuff by shredding things you already have is not the best strategy in “Will it Shred?” Coz the best strategy is watching ads since the game is free and watching ads brings a good return by way of coins. And that’s how this game should be played. Because, if you choose not to watch an ad, a bonus will be much less and the game will show you a forced ad. Of course, you may choose skip it, but you’ll waste 10 seconds of your life for virtually nothing in return.

 

Ad dump

And that’s obviously the worst part of the game, i.e. being deprived of choice. To choose between a small bonus right away and a fabulous bonus for watching a 30 seconds ad is a good choice to me. But being forced to watch an ad after refusing to watch an ad fails my expectations of a free game with ads.

Again, showing forced ads when switching between screens, like from game screen to game store screen, is not as bad. But forced ads in “Will it Shred?” interrupt the game flow, ruining the experience. And satisfying ASMR experience through shredding is the game’s theme.

Another facet of the same problem is that the game never communicates this to a player. You may play the game without a single forced ad just because you are selecting those fabulous bonuses all the time and therefore have a satisfactory experience. Or you may select a small bonus from time to time and experience the game as an ad dump.

I wonder why the developer of Will it Shred? Satisfying ASMR Shredding Game opted for making an ad dump out of a classy game and farm negative rating and comments. If this strategy is profitable, that’s a shame for the whole mobile game industry.

 

Conclusion

Games and interactive experiences are art. And as with any form of art, a game may hit right or miss out completely. If the fantasy of swiping items into a shredder and watching them shred wakes your curiosity, “Will it Shred? Satisfying ASMR Shredding Game” is worth trying.

Just remember that for some reason the developer tried turning the game into an ad dump. Play little by little, return for bonuses and always (always!) choose those fabulous bonuses for watching ads, coz otherwise you’ll be watching forced ads for nothing. Or just buy the game coz it’s cheap.

 

Download and play Will it Shred? Satisfying ASMR Shredding Game

Tap or scan the QR-code below to download and play SHREDDER (for Android or iOS respectively):