Dandara

That’s a minor flaw, however, in a game that is a sparkling and unique addition to the Metroidvania stable. While Dandara’s world has ostensibly little to do with Dandara the historical warrior apart from inspiration, I hope that players finish the game and feel as interested to explore her story as I was to explore Long Hat House’s gorgeous and intricate world.

Dandara is a well=executed game. It's a game that's designed for the most dedicated players, with high levels of challenge in an undeniably tortuous learning curve. With totally innovative mechanics, a character with strong identity in visual terms, the Long Hat House game is an ode to Brazilian culture and Belo Horizonte. It's really exciting to see a Brazilian team with a game as consistent as Dandara.

There’s not much to dislike about Dandara. It certainly could be more accessible for newbies but any gamer that’s played a Metroidvania before should have an idea of what to expect. What’s unexpected is the totally cool and trippy traversal system. It might take some time to get used to, but it’s very intuitive. Dandara’s sharp level design and enemy encounters are memorable in a genre that is starting to get overcrowded. The story isn’t anything to write home about, but Dandara makes up for it with fun and challenging gameplay. Regardless of your platform of choice, Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition needs to be your next game.

Dandara is a game all fans of Metroidvanias will want to try. It’s on the PS4, Switch, PC, and even iOS for a mere $12. Its adventure isn’t a super lengthy one, but for a game this unique, the handful of hours you’ll spend with the Brazilian-made game will be more than worth the price of admission. Recommended.

Dandara’s unconventional movement system makes strategic thinking equally important as nimble fingers. Long Hat House’s take on the metroidvania genre might get frustrating sometimes due to lack of precision necessary to navigate some of the environments, but beautiful, creative visuals do a great job at soothing nerves. [04/2018, p.49]

The world in this game must be experienced. [Issue #33 – May/June 2018, p. 20]

Dandara is a small pearl that gives new life to the metroidvanias. It offers interesting mechanics, a fascinating game world and the right level of difficulty.

Dandara takes the metroidvania formula and gives it its unique elements. It has some aspects that would have been improved, but overall it's a wonderful adventure.

While a few consistent problems weigh it down, Dandara is still an engrossing adventure. As many times as the in-game map bugged me or the difficulty got me down, I kept at it, working my way through the peculiar world, seeking out new items and upgrades and figuring out how to move around delicately to attack or avoid foes. It might not be for the faint of heart, but Dandara is a wonderfully idiosyncratic game.

Dandara is an inspired metroidvania with no gravity gameplay that maybe can confuse someone, but it's definitively a brilliant one.

Dandara is an artistic pixel art metroidvania with ideas of his own, like an original control scheme and a little Dark Souls touch. The problem is that, as a game designed to be played on smartphones without physic controls, the gameplay mechanics and power ups tend to be a little simple. But if you love the metroidvania genre, you'll enjoy it.

Dandara is more than the average Metroidvania and is a game worth your time.

Dandara's unique gameplay and trippy atmosphere make it a worthwhile gravity-defying Metroidvania but don't expect to enjoy it for very long because it'll be over much sooner than you'd hope.

Dandara has a firm foundation, but suffers from inherent design flaws and a lack of direction. Despite its imperfections, I mostly enjoyed my time with it. It treads a lot of familiar ground with its gameplay mechanics, but those were the portions of the game I found myself having the most fun with.

Dandara’s unique movement abilities ensure it’s at least significantly different from its peers. But the same reason that Dandara is so unique is also its biggest setback. The sense of mastery never quite comes, resulting in a game that flashes its potential in one scene only to undermine that thrill soon afterward. Even with its occasional stumbles, though, Dandara offers enough excitement and beauty to push you onward.

Dandara is a 2D Metroidvania platformer that's admirably intent on doing things differently, from its Brazilian folklore-infused narrative to its unorthodox and touchscreen-friendly controls. It can be a little awkward to play as a result, and it's got its fair share of structural niggles, but Dandara provides a genuinely fascinating world to spend some time in.

Dandara is amazing, but halfway through it starts to focus on all the wrong things. It really has its own unique style, but the fights are a drag because there is not enough room to move.

Although it boasts a gorgeous world, a surreal story, and some unique character designs, Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition ultimately fails to capture the freedom, urgency, and sense of exploration offered by other Metroidvania titles.

Dandara is a beautiful game with a fresh movement mechanic, but it doesn’t come together as well as I had hoped. Leaping across platforms is satisfying when it works, but aggravating when it doesn’t, and even when the leaping does what you want it to do, you’ll find annoying backtracking or bizarre navigation puzzles to overcome. There are some great moments in Dandara, but the headaches you have to deal with to get to them aren’t always worth it.

Miyazaki, Sakamoto and Igarashi, you suspect, would be resolutely unimpressed. [Apr 2018, p.122]