oddreel

This game could have been great. The art style is wonderful and using lanterns as extra jumps is a nice concept. But none of that matters because of a number of major issues I simply couldn't overlook. Believe me, I tried. I wanted to love this game but I couldn't, and here's why: - Controls: The most egregious error this game makes is that every single jump from the ground is a max-height jump. Why? Why could the devs not allow you to light tap and hold jump for varying height? How is that not a standard for modern platformers? This is simply unforgivable. It cheapens the whole experience, removes the need for skilled play and is just simply awful. And don't even get me started on not allowing a character this tall to 'duck' by pressing down. - Physics: This game has a terrible implementation of inertia (momentum) throughout. One example: landing on a water slide surface while facing upstream allows you to somehow slide upstream? Really? It even does this if your momentum is carrying you the complete opposite direction before landing. I can't even... - Level design: There are many sections where you are suppose to somehow know ahead of time what obstacles exist in an off-screen area you have never explored. I understand that if you die, you simply respawn and, "now you know", but that is just an artificial way to raise the difficulty. Good level design teaches and shows you what to do ahead of time and lets the complexity and compounding platforming mechanics add difficulty. Hiding off-screen obstacles is just a cheap way to raise your death count. Maybe I would have been able to overlook those development errors. Everything I've listed so far would have added polish and allowed for more dynamics and even harder levels. But even so, I might have been willing to overlook all of it if it weren't for the aesthetic of the story being told. Don't get me wrong, I like poetic, even abstract stories in games. But this one just shoved the nihilist "all is meaningless" down your throat. I understand the game revolves around eastern themes but common' this was just not even compellingly done. It isn't like the themes are there to explore if you want. Nope, instead the devs decided to completely interrupt the gameplay with mandatory and painstakingly long (and I mean LONG) portions of just holding right while a character crawls their way across the screen for no reason. "All is meaningless" is apropos since this game's story is meaningless. I hate it. Truly I do. I almost couldn't make it through this game - not from the gameplay mind you, from just how upsetting it was to have to sit there and watch meaninglessness. If you have any amount of belief in the value of life, maybe steer clear of this game. What a waste of a potentially fun game concept.