MoondogJapan

I struggled getting A+ on Dark World 1 - Level 15 for over an hour (a 19 second level) and when I finally beat it, it gave me no sense of elation, no sense of accomplishment. Not even the feeling of relief that comes with a major challenge being overcome. Just one more level checked off and move on to the next. That pretty much sums it up. If I were to delve into some of the other problems... The difficulty for A+ rankings is all over the place. While some time requirements are fairly trivial to beat, others require a level of frame-perfect movement that feels out of place. Directional input errors are a serious issue on Switch 2, at least. Although certainly a skill issue to a certain extent, the fact that other 3D platforming games (the 3D Mario games, including levels like Perfect Run and Champion Road, for example) don't produce the same kind of inconsistencies leads me to believe there is also a problem with the game itself.

Amazing graphics. Amazing animations. Great sound. Uninspired gameplay. Inconsistent AI. Garbage story rife with eye-rolling contrivances that destroys characters we cared about. Shock and misery in service of a banal theme executed terribly.

10/10?? You people are out of your minds. tldr: if you usually don't like extremely difficult 2d platformers, but you're thinking that with all these rave reviews maybe you should buy it and see what all the fuss is about... Stop Right There. Do NOT buy this game. It will be a painful waste of money. If you're looking for a challenge and hate yourself, buy this game and waste your life on it, please. The story? Meh. Common tropes about overcoming personal weakness. That makes it a standout game? Are you serious? Tight controls? Absolutely not! The more difficult levels (one screen is one level, typically) rely too much on luck to complete. You can find yourself rehashing the same jump attempt for 20 minutes. And when you succeed? You have no idea what you did different that time. That's luck. Not skill. Which means that the game is a Failure at developing skill in players via play. It also means the switch analog stick is a Horrible input method for performing such fine movements. The art? If you usually don't like pixelated art in games, this game is in no way going to change your mind. I hate pixelated graphics. I don't care if it takes more effort to make. It looks awful. And if you're going to be making players replay the exact same move over and over for over 10 minutes on the same exact screen until they get lucky, the screens should be beautiful to look at. The music? Actually very good. I bumped up my score a full point for music. The other 3 points are pity points. Some people worked very hard to make this title, and even though it galls me that a game this bad is one of the highest rated games on Switch, the fact that they made a game that some people seem to really enjoy is worth something. Mario games have charm and soul. This game is an ugly, repetitious bore that tricks players into thinking they've achieved something when success is too often dependent on luck. I can't help but wonder how many of these high scores were bought.

I am officially out of touch with what passes for a great adventure game these days. Picked this up based on the rave review score here at Metacritic. Was immediately disappointed by the graphics and gameplay/controls. Where Sword and Sworcery pulled off heavily pixelated artwork beautifully, this game just looks bad, old bad. Navigating was horrible and the animation half-assed (the box moving animation made me cringe). It definitely IS a blow back to the roots of adventure gaming the likes of the original King's Quest, which is to say it fails to take advantage of any of the advances, improvements and innovations (Ghost Trick anyone?) in adventure games over the past 30 years that make them actually fun and not just tedious. The script and voice acting were so bad/exaggerated that I assumed it was a poorly translated Japanese game from 20+ years ago that got a bare bones port without any updating in an attempt to cash in on the nostalgic factor. Interacting with the environment is both frustratingly boring and annoying. You have to tap an object and then decide whether to look at it, touch/use it, talk to it, or "foot" it. Partly due to the fact that 80% of the game takes place in the same locations (No less than 3 people you are looking for coincidentally live in the exact same apartment building), figuring out what to do to advance the story line is often easy, but due to the horrible game controls actually carrying it out is choppy and often (again) tedious. There are times where your character dies easily (and is sent back to an auto save point from which you have to play through the same boring set of events AGAIN) due mostly to the sluggishness/lack of responsiveness of the characters movements or the Stone Age gun fight controls. And yet for all of my vomitous negativity, most people LOVED it, apparently. I really really don't get it. I get nostalgia, I would play King's Quest again because I have memories of playing it when I was in junior high school, not because I actually want to play games with terrible graphics and controls. Could not recommend this game less.