Dandara

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 38
  3. Negative: 6 out of 38

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. NightGeisha
    Apr 6, 2019
    6
    Dandara is a very interesting approach to Metroidvania style in its very unique way.

    I did not find the game mechanics easy to use and easy to master, both with keyboard and controller alike. And that is my main concern about the game because that difficulties get me bored after a while. The art style is awesome and the soundtrack is also very nice. And despite my complains about the    Dandara is a very interesting approach to Metroidvania style in its very unique way.

    I did not find the game mechanics easy to use and easy to master, both with keyboard and controller alike. And that is my main concern about the game because that difficulties get me bored after a while.

    The art style is awesome and the soundtrack is also very nice. And despite my complains about the game mechanics the game is very nice and deserves my support and my positive feedback. It is another nice addition to my game collection. I recommend it!

    I leave you guys a small video with some of the starting moments of the game, spoiler free:
    https://youtu.be/oMYlVmrtUdk    … Expand
  2. FlyingPiloswine
    Feb 5, 2021
    6
    i really, really wanted to like this game. The traversal mechanic is super fun and unique. The powerups also build up on the core mechanic in interesting ways. The problem is the extreme amount of irritation and frustration that you feel as you reach the mid-to-late game. The challenges approach bullet-hell levels of density, and there just isn't enough control over the jump mechanic toi really, really wanted to like this game. The traversal mechanic is super fun and unique. The powerups also build up on the core mechanic in interesting ways. The problem is the extreme amount of irritation and frustration that you feel as you reach the mid-to-late game. The challenges approach bullet-hell levels of density, and there just isn't enough control over the jump mechanic to make these encounters feel rewarding to accomplish, let alone survive.

    You have to keep track of 3 different markers to move around: (1) points where Dandara is considering jumping, (2) points where you are actually pointing the thumbstick (because if you point at the ground, it "reflects" and changes (1)'s angle ), and (3) Where Dandara will actually jump too, if (1) is pointing at a surface that is too far away.

    This information overload is simply too much to make smart snap decisions, and there isnt enough chance to master this demanding amount of info by the time you reach mid-to-late game just 4 hours later. When I die, it usually feels extremely unfair because the game requires super-precision jumps, while you track 5+ enemies jerky and sudden movements. This gets compounded by the unique requirements of each confrontation. You might need to shoot your gun (which requires standing perfectly still to charge each extremely short-range bullet), or take literally no damage in order to unlock a door, or beat a timer. The part where I gave up entirely was in The Masquerade, where you need to jump through a hallway riddled with opposite-direction moving energy waves, while being chased by a fast moving laser wall without taking a single point of damage. You need to achieve a perfect run. This is all about 10 rooms away from the most recent save point, and so if you die or run low on health, you are forced to back track. That is a chore to me.

    I was having a good time for a while, but the way the developers decided to increase the difficulty does not complement the game mechanic. The most enjoyable parts of the game are when I felt the "flow" of the warping mechanic. Making perfectly timed jumps, winning tight-but-fair combat encounters, and solving the super interesting multi-dimensional puzzles were all amazing in the first three dungeons. Unfortunately, that is all over with. I have reached a part where all you do is jump-scare bullet-hell encounters that do multiple punishments for a single mistake. Even with cheat codes, the type of gameplay absolutely does not allow for the "flow" I described. They should have emphasized the "free running" feel and given you power ups that reduce your bullet charge time. THAT would have been fun as hell.    … Expand
  3. topoidecmh
    Feb 10, 2021
    3
    I think the Idea is good but i felt the game boring or slow or jus frustrating the more you advance. I think when i compare it with rogue legacy, it seems to me the same idea but Dandara has a gameplay you don´t enjoy.
  4. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    Apr 2, 2021
    8
    I was ready to give this game an 9 out of ten. But the last area (the golden one) is so out of place in this otherwise consistently difficult game it kinda sours the experience for me. The last area feels like a huge enemy spam fiesta without smart puzzles. And the last boss is rng bull **** go in with enough energy reserves and use the shield and missiles. Beware i played with aI was ready to give this game an 9 out of ten. But the last area (the golden one) is so out of place in this otherwise consistently difficult game it kinda sours the experience for me. The last area feels like a huge enemy spam fiesta without smart puzzles. And the last boss is rng bull **** go in with enough energy reserves and use the shield and missiles. Beware i played with a controller on PC and it requires some very fine movement - i think its impossible with m&k.… Expand
  5. HSuke
    Jun 17, 2021
    10
    This is a very unique and solid Metroidvania. After playing dozens upon of dozens of MVs, it's nice to experience a refreshing new mechanism of moving around. This is now one of my favorite MVs after Vision Soft Reset and ESA. The difficulty is pretty fair until you get to the brutal final true boss.
  6. MindWanderer
    May 3, 2023
    4
    Dandara is a unique Metroidvania, in which you do not jump or even walk, but instead zip between surfaces; there is no difference between floor, walls, or ceiling. Unfortunately, while it's an interesting experience, this game has so many flaws that I have a hard time recommending it.

    Played with an analog stick, the game will attempt to zip you to the surface closest to the one you    Dandara is a unique Metroidvania, in which you do not jump or even walk, but instead zip between surfaces; there is no difference between floor, walls, or ceiling. Unfortunately, while it's an interesting experience, this game has so many flaws that I have a hard time recommending it.

    Played with an analog stick, the game will attempt to zip you to the surface closest to the one you point to, but with some oddities. If you point at the floor you're standing on, your angle will "reflect" and point away from it. This can mean going in unintended directions when moving quickly. Frequently I found this meant diving into enemies headfirst.

    Your weapon takes a moment to charge. This encourages thoughtful play, which I approve of, but the level design often trends towards enemies that appear quickly and in great numbers, and move erratically. If the only trajectory you can move in is blocked, this can leave you with no way out but to block. Unfortunately, blocking (once you unlock the ability) drains your Energy quickly, so you can't do it often.

    Speaking of difficulty, most of the game is pretty reasonably balanced. There are a few challenging areas and bosses, but I beat most of them in 3-4 tries. The problem is that failure is often pretty punishing. One area features a macguffin that makes you backtrack and restart if you get hit even once. Several puzzles require your sub-weapons to solve, which expend Energy, which can only be refilled at save spots, which are far between. And the last boss is a colossal difficulty spike over anything before it: I died over a dozen times, barely depleting its HP by half, before I decided to turn on the infinite Energy cheat... and even after turning that on and abusing it like mad, it took me more tries than any other boss or section in the game.

    How about exploration? The world has some very attractive pixel art, and decent music, but navigating can be frustrating, as I mentioned above. The map tries to show you the different obstacles blocking your path, but most of them are simple lines in various shades of red or brown, and it's hard to tell what's what. It takes a long time to unlock fast travel, and you fast travel only by location name, so you have to memorize or guess the names of the locations you want to travel to. Also, I beat the game with 100% map completion but only 62% chest completion, so clearly many of them are very, very well hidden.

    Regarding the story: there's clearly some very deep lore here. The Salt is a unique environment, and before being ruined, seems to have had a long history and interesting characters in it. Unfortunately, none of this is ever explained in-game. Even after beating it, it remains unclear what the place was like, what happened to it, who was involved, and really almost anything that's going on.

    While there was a lot I did enjoy about the game, so much of it is sullied by poor design decisions at every point that I came out of it feeling very bitter and disappointed. I tried very hard to have a positive attitude about it, and did not succeed. The final boss sequence — which took me 2 hours out of a total play time of less than 11 hours — followed by a very dissatisfying ending, was the nail in the coffin.    … Expand
  7. ArcanaThe4th
    Aug 24, 2019
    9
    Dandara is a beautiful and unique game, which respects and values the culture it was created in in a form I have seen done very few times. While it's gameplay will take time to learn and get used to, being surprisingly difficult to properly use sometimes, it's still very interesting regardless.
  8. Iceflare
    Feb 1, 2021
    10
    If you like pixel-art Metroidvania games, grab this ASAP. As of this post it's free on Epic Games Store.

    Dandara is an amazing Metroidvania game that leads more to the Metroid side, rather than Castlevania which has more RPG elements. Unlike your typical Metroidvania however you do not walk from left to right, but instead you move around by jumping from wall to wall to ground to    If you like pixel-art Metroidvania games, grab this ASAP. As of this post it's free on Epic Games Store.

    Dandara is an amazing Metroidvania game that leads more to the Metroid side, rather than Castlevania which has more RPG elements.
    Unlike your typical Metroidvania however you do not walk from left to right, but instead you move around by jumping from wall to wall to ground to ceiling on white tiles that are almost everywhere. It sounds and feels kinda off at first, but once you got used to it (which you'll do extremely fast), you'll get an unique gameplay experience that can be extremely fast paced, if you want it to be.

    I can also imagine that Dandara is just as great, if not even greater than Super Metroid to speedrun, based on how the gameplay works.

    The powerups are fun, the riddles are really nice, the dungeon crawling feels just as good as Metroid and I'm just 3 hours in. The art style is also very good, only the story writing sounds a bit absurd (with the driving force in the world not being aether, mana, energy or whatever, but instead "salt"), and the character dialogues are also kinda confusing, but it's still really good and gives off some Undertale vibes in the dialogues.

    Definitely check it out, if you like Metroidvania games. I've played a lot of them before (Carrion, Iconoclasts, Owlboy, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, all Castlevania & Metroid games, etc.), and I'd say Dandara is among the best.    … Expand
  9. Dutch9373728
    Feb 4, 2021
    1
    simplesmente horrivel, a gameplay é pessima, para quem joga com teclado e rato é ainda pior so nao dou 0 porque foi dado de graça na epic games
  10. wokenoodle
    Feb 5, 2022
    9
    One of the strongest assets of the indie scene is the bravery to reinvent what we consider fundamental, and Dandara is a perfect example. No, 2D platformers do not have to include a jump button, they don’t even have to clearly define what direction is “up”. The game’s weird, original, and nearly impeccably polished gravity system, fitted well into the world, level, and enemy design, is aOne of the strongest assets of the indie scene is the bravery to reinvent what we consider fundamental, and Dandara is a perfect example. No, 2D platformers do not have to include a jump button, they don’t even have to clearly define what direction is “up”. The game’s weird, original, and nearly impeccably polished gravity system, fitted well into the world, level, and enemy design, is a testament to that. Its moody synth soundtrack, simple but engaging story, consistent visual design, and awesome difficulty pacing help to elevate Dandara to one of the most notable Metroidvania titles.… Expand
  11. TaintedGlass
    Feb 14, 2021
    9
    Amazing metroidvania. Really unique movement and gameplay that makes it stand out from the crowd. The upgrade system was simple but worked well, and making you go back to where you died to recover lost currency made for stressful moments. Each different area had a distinguishable look to it that fit well into the plot and portrayed different messages, which I was a big fan of. My favoriteAmazing metroidvania. Really unique movement and gameplay that makes it stand out from the crowd. The upgrade system was simple but worked well, and making you go back to where you died to recover lost currency made for stressful moments. Each different area had a distinguishable look to it that fit well into the plot and portrayed different messages, which I was a big fan of. My favorite part of the game by far was the bosses. Even thought they were quite scarce, their shocking encounters and unique designs sure made up for it, and the fights felt quite intense as well. I always felt like I was making progress through the game, and the difficulty was just right most of the time, except for a few specific moments. The soundtrack is also spectacular if you're into that. Overall, a must-play for metroidvania fans.… Expand
  12. TheMaverickMc
    Jul 30, 2021
    10
    Soy fan del género Metroidvania, y debo decir que este título indie es por lejos mi favorito de dicho género
    Tiene buenas mecánicas y controles únicos (lo cual es su principal atractivo), además de unos gráficos retro pero visualmente atractivos y una muy buena banda sonora
    Veo que muchos lo critican por tener controles "imposibles de dominar" y dicen que no sienten progreso de    Soy fan del género Metroidvania, y debo decir que este título indie es por lejos mi favorito de dicho género
    Tiene buenas mecánicas y controles únicos (lo cual es su principal atractivo), además de unos gráficos retro pero visualmente atractivos y una muy buena banda sonora
    Veo que muchos lo critican por tener controles "imposibles de dominar" y dicen que no sienten progreso de habilidad para manejar a Dandara, pero eso en realidad refleja la poca habilidad que tienen como gamers, pues con un poco de práctica uno se puede mover con total soltura por los niveles
    Sí, el juego puede ser difícil (sobre todo el final real), pero yo veo eso como un punto a favor: para jugar juegos fáciles hay muchos del montón, pero a veces uno quiere verdaderos retos    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. GameCrate
    Feb 23, 2018
    75
    Dandara proves that there's still originality in a decades-old genre. It changes the way you control the player character, breaking from Metroidvania traditions, and creates new types of puzzles and methods of progression along the way.
    Read full review
  2. Shacknews
    Feb 12, 2018
    60
    On one hand, Dandara is a perfectly serviceable romp through a series of well-designed and attractive environments; on the other, it's a deliberate yet confusing sidestep of well-established gameplay conventions.
    Read full review
  3. Meristation
    Feb 12, 2018
    70
    Although excellent for a debut title, Dandara fails to reach its potential, instead lingering ever close. A fairly good game.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »