Skully

Any frustrations aside, from the boss fights to the platforming mechanics in the levels themselves, there is plenty of fun to be had here. While it may be difficult to wade through the countless games within the platforming genre, Skully is definitely a title that will roll its way right into your heart.

Skully is a case of lovely concept but fails a little in terms of execution. A wayward camera and overly idiosyncratic movement for Skully himself mar an otherwise fun journey.

Don’t be fooled by the nice-looking world, fun characters, or interesting story. Skully is a clever game with fun puzzles, and some of the most blisteringly difficult 3D platforming I’ve encountered in years. Be ready to challenge yourself as difficulty spikes put you in a blender and spit you back out. Skully is fun, satisfying and well-made, but not for the faint of heart.

If you are really, really into the platformer genre and have enough patience, Skully may be a good choice for you. But even then, the 30$ asking price seems too much for the amount of content Skully is offering.

It’s hard to hold the positives in one’s mind without reminiscing on the kind of game Skully could’ve been. Yet take out the personal ambition of this being some grand, 3D adventure to explore in another scenario and Skully is still too much a case of good intentions marred by bad or downright odd decision-making in parts. While die-hard followers of the genre are sure to scrape together some joy in the spots of twitch-heavy platforming and hunt for collectibles the game affords, the lingering of one too many time-heavy design choices and back-end issues means the best Skully can hope for is the perception of a flawed “charming-enough” effort. Whether you can look past the inconsistent physics work, rough technical performance or the narrative’s hackneyed attempt at something resembling personality, will depend on how invested you are in the gameplay. It’s a rough, uneven, disappointingly-middle of the road trek. But for all its faults, Skully‘s acknowledging and understanding of 3D platforming’s appeal does count for something. A game whose heart is most certainly in the right place.

Fortunately, there was a lot of promise here with Skully. A nice and endearing story with platforming mechanics that make for interesting utility makes the game seem exciting, but it just doesn't execute its plan well. In a way I feel like the game has a bit of an identity crisis; while it could focus on being an excellent marble physics platformer, it has all of these other great ideas that ultimately end up hurting the whole product. With a bigger focus on one thing and improvement to level design, I could see a game like this working pretty well, but unfortunately, Skully is not that game.

Skully is a masterclass in bad platformer design. Characters that are a chore to handle, sloppy level design, lousy camera controls, irritating puzzles, and a general lack of personality combine to create a profoundly tedious experience. If challenge is literally all you care about (even if it’s wildly unfair), Skully might be worth a shot at a steep discount. Everyone else should spare themselves the headache.