Scary_Ghosty

You pay a 0%-interest mortgage to a sentient raccoon. What more could you want?

I want to note that this game actually struck me in such a way that I specifically made an account on Metacritic to tell everyone how wonderful I think it is. While not technically, graphically, or narratively impressive (at times it does indeed feel like a tech demo more than anything) Defunct shines a light on what modern high-speed exploration games could play like (I'm looking at you, modern Sonic), and it is important to remember that this is developer Freshly Squeezed's first and only game to date. DetectiveDonut's review seems to hint at the connection with the Sonic franchise, and also mentions that this game shines with potential- something I can corroborate. Not always executed perfectly, the gameplay mechanics need improvement and refinement but it is also worth mentioning that their theoretical simplicity is welcomed: each mechanic is easy to explain and easy to understand, even if not easy to execute (in the case of the Magnetize ability). At the end of the day, Defunct receives a positive-leaning 7/10 not because it is the most well-executed game out there, but because while it may or may not be derivative of the modern Sonic franchise, Sega is the one with a lot to learn from this simple Swedish-developed indie. A bit pricey compared to the amount of content in the game, I would recommend picking this title up while it is on-sale (at the time of this review it goes for literal cents on the Nintendo Switch eShop), but if it doesn't appear that strong savings will be a possibility any time soon and you have the small amount of cash to spare, this extremely short game is worth experiencing nonetheless and Freshly Squeezed is certainly worth supporting so that we might see what comes from them next.