I was looking forward to this game more than any game ever. I even bought a switch because I knew it would be released there. Gothic horror, beautifully pixelated sidescroller, puzzle platformer. And on an aesthetic level this game delivers very well.
I should say too that I did not pay anything to play it because right now it is only on apple arcade and I signed up for a free trialI was looking forward to this game more than any game ever. I even bought a switch because I knew it would be released there. Gothic horror, beautifully pixelated sidescroller, puzzle platformer. And on an aesthetic level this game delivers very well.
I should say too that I did not pay anything to play it because right now it is only on apple arcade and I signed up for a free trial because I didn't want to wait.
It is a short game, maybe 5 hours playthrough. This is not a problem in and of itself. It is very cinematic like "another world", so it's more like playing a story.
There are three characters. A man with a beard who explores an old castle, a girl who explores a creepy house with her toy rabbit, and a knight who is part of a separate fictional story. Pretty cool so far. The Rabbit is genuinely hilarious I Iove their banter. The Knight can' jump but can grapple, and has a sword. The Man can push and jump. The girl can climb and push. Switching between these controls can feel limiting. The knight I found to be particularly frustrating, and boring honestly, to control. I have a particular dislike of being forced to walk slowly rather than just watching a cutscene, like the beginning of Arkham asylum.
As the game goes on, the story becomes more clear, but honestly the end is just a convoluted weird mess. And the whole thing turns into a weird public service announcement for depression. In fact, it includes an actual public service announcement for depression. It can be overlooked, but it has a bit of an "after school special" feel to it. A bit preachy, and overt.
I suffer severe depression by the way, and am not trying to say people shouldn't get help. But if the end of Majora's Mask said "And that's why you don't steal" I might not like it as much.
The puzzles are more of, try it until you get it right, but some of them are genuinely fun. I had fun playing it, and my girlfriend had fun watching, but it is VERY easy.
What really gets me about this game though is that it really did not live up to how it looked. Sure the art is just as beautiful, maybe a goat as far as pixel design goes, but when you see the ads, it seems like there will be more action. There are a couple things from the trailer that weren't in the game.
If you saw the trailer and gifs like I did, and expect to fight any but one of the large monster type creatures pictured, you are going to be sorely disappointed. They are basically all cutscene. But don't worry, you get to hack and slash through a bunch of boring black blobs. Look, I wish these people well, I really do. I hope they get a big pile of money to expand the game and fix some of these factors, because they really did a lot with comparatively little. As a first big game, this is really an excellent effort, with no reliance on random generation like many indie games these days. All I'm saying is, when I get to the end of a Mario world, I expect to fight Bowser or one of his kids, not have a cutscene of them fighting me.… Expand
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