austinkeeley

I knew the game was going to have some grind elements to it, but I wasn't quite expecting it to really hit so hard in the last quarter of the game. Everything about the game's feel works pretty nicely, but the "economy" of upgrades feels a little off. After about 12 hours into the game, I basically was at a point where the only way to make progress was to go into the castle and hunt down enough gold to get a single upgrade and then repeat the process. The controls felt tight and I never felt like I died a cheap death from bad platforming. I like the novelty of using death as a regular aspect of the game along with all the traits. Somewhere, there's a story, but I honestly wasn't following it; the final boss's monologue tries to wrap it all up, but none of it seemed to really be engaging. There's a lot of meta jokes and developer commentary in the game which I appreciated a lot. Overall everything was fun and I was satisfied with the entire package, but after beating the final boss, I don't plan on pursuing New Game+.

It's not quite a game and more of an interactive fiction piece. It's fun to watch how things burn, but there's not a lot of challenge apart from finding combos. The quirky humor caries it through the few hours you'll spend playing it, but there's not a lot of replay value. The soundtrack and art aesthetic, however, are fantastic.

A fun, but somewhat brief, puzzle platformer. This is an enjoyable game with a fun retro aesthetic and good soundtrack to match. Most of the puzzles are satisfying and very few are frustrating to the point of quitting (I only came close to rage-quitting once during the entire playthough). It would have been nice if more items were available, however, the simplicity of the game was also a strong point. The original set of levels (the non-unlockable ones) are solid but feel a little too short. Still, this game is priced to suit, so it's very much a good deal.

I bought this game for the atmosphere and to support indie adventure game development. It was enjoyable, but there were a few things that distracted me. First, the action sequences felt very out of place. While the game is mostly a LucasArts-style point and click adventure, you'll be occasionally thrown into a gun battle. These sequences don't really add anything to the game and they aren't challenging. Your health regenerates and there's very little chance of dying. The keyboard-mouse controls were also a little questionable. You don't get a mouse cursor on screen, so all your clicking needs to be navigated with your flashlight and this can feel very strange at first. There were a few neat elements that I liked, but weren't fully explored in this game. Your character has the ability to "network" with various objects in game. This element is used so rarely in the game, that it's almost an afterthought and I was disappointed that there aren't more puzzles that use it. The atmosphere of the game and the overall look and feel is nicely done. I particularly like how certain parts of the game force your user interface to pseudo-glitch. I was expecting a lot of jump-scares, but thankfully, there were only a few jumpy moments; the majority of the game's tension was built up by the environment and interaction between the (very few) main characters.

Depending on your perspective, this is either a post-modern indie game that satires the industry or it's a dumb glitchy game that gets old quickly. In honesty, it's both. I bought it to be part of the in joke and it's kind of fun to experience this for yourself. Eventually, you run out of quests and things begin to grow stale. Embracing the glitches can be fun and I probably got the most enjoyment out of just watching the game seemingly break to pieces as you play it.

This is a fun sleeper game that I really enjoyed. The puzzles are moderately challenging, but not frustrating, and the mechanics of the game are fun. It gets high praise from me for teaching you new game rules without needing to throw a tutorial at you; you get to learn the game as you play. Allowing you to figure out these concepts is very satisfying; it's too bad that more games don't work this way. It's oddly refreshing to play a game where dying is not the end of the game and falling into a trap is a legitimate way to win. My only complaint is that the game is feels a little short. It's possible to play though this entire game in a few sittings. There are some bonus challenges, so that extends the life of the game to a degree. The end credits in particular are pretty awesome.