PROS:

- Adorable Art Design
- Mario 2 formula (Jump on enemy/pick them up)
- Indie Developer
- Unforgiving Level Design
- No lives system
- 2.5 hours to beat it

CONS:

- Mostly UNFAIR Level Design
- Uninspired Soundtrack (It's generic 8-bit blips and boops)
- Unavoidable Damage
- No Checkpoints
- Long LONG respawn time
- 2.5 hours to beat it


Okay, here's the thing. I'm ALL for having unforgiving yet rewarding level design like Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy. That's fun and it feels GOOD to finish a map knowing the ins-and-outs. These games are DEPENDENT on SOLID controls. More times than I can count, I've died because the controls borked or one of the enemies that was necessary to complete the leve wouldn't respawn.

Also, there's only ONE WAY to beat these levels. Absolutely no way around it, you have to beat them the way they're designed. This means there's no room for error, unlike Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy where you can ususally recover from an error.

2 Examples of Infuriating Levels:

1. Ice levels: Yes, we all love the slide mechanics of old Mario games. Careening into enemies at Mach 2 with nary a way of avoiding it. What do we do with this? Precision platforming, of course. Not only that, but you have to freeze projectiles, that DON'T have a pattern to form a rinky-dinky staircase to proceed up the level.

Oh, and in case you forgot, the projectiles damage you if you slip up AND you restart if you die. Have fun figuring it out.

2. Wind levels: Remember the Flying Machine in Shovel Knight? You time your jumps WITH the wind to get further along the level. Not here. The wind is ALWAYS blowing against you. It always blows in the direction you're not facing so it's constantly trying to push you back. Also, we're back to precision platforming, but this time, getting blown off means doing it ALL. OVER. AGAIN.



Finally, we're at the Final Boss. Made it this far? Good for you. It's nothing different.

Oh, except the boss has 6 PHASES:

Hope you studied because it throws EVERY ANNOYANCE AT YOU FROM THE PAST LEVELS.

YUP:

1. Precison platforming under projectile fire
2. PROJECTILE PLATFORMING
3. Restart if you die ALL FORMS AGAIN
4. Unavoidable damage
5. Long respawn + Same unskippable dialogue.


tl;dr I bought it for 99c, but I still regret it.

[h1]Let's start with a PROS/CONS to make it easily digestable THEN move to more in-depth stuff.[/h1] [b]PROS:[/b] - Adorable Art Design - Mario 2 formula (Jump on enemy/pick them up) - Indie Developer - Unforgiving Level Design - No lives system - 2.5 hours to beat it [b]CONS:[/b] - Mostly UNFAIR Level Design - Uninspired Soundtrack (It's generic 8-bit blips and boops) - Unavoidable Damage - No Checkpoints - Long LONG respawn time - 2.5 hours to beat it Okay, here's the thing. I'm [b]ALL[/b] for having unforgiving yet rewarding level design like Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy. That's fun and it feels GOOD to finish a map knowing the ins-and-outs. These games are [b]DEPENDENT[/b] on [b]SOLID[/b] controls. More times than I can count, I've died because the controls borked or one of the enemies that was [b]necessary to complete the leve[/b] wouldn't respawn. Also, there's only ONE WAY to beat these levels. Absolutely no way around it, you have to beat them the way they're designed. This means there's no room for error, unlike Dark Souls or Super Meat Boy where you can ususally recover from an error. [b]2 Examples of Infuriating Levels:[/b] [b]1. Ice levels:[/b] Yes, we all [i]love[/i] the slide mechanics of old Mario games. Careening into enemies at Mach 2 with nary a way of avoiding it. What do we do with this? [b]Precision platforming, of course.[/b] Not only that, but you have to freeze projectiles, that [b]DON'T[/b] have a pattern to form a rinky-dinky staircase to proceed up the level. Oh, and in case you forgot, the projectiles damage you if you slip up AND you restart if you die. Have fun figuring it out. [b]2. Wind levels:[/b] Remember the Flying Machine in [i]Shovel Knight?[/i] You time your jumps WITH the wind to get further along the level. Not here. The wind is ALWAYS blowing against you. It always blows in the direction you're not facing so it's constantly trying to push you back. Also, we're back to [i]precision platforming[/i], but this time, getting blown off means doing it [b]ALL. OVER. AGAIN.[/b] Finally, we're at the Final Boss. Made it this far? Good for you. It's nothing different. Oh, except the boss has 6 PHASES: Hope you studied because it throws EVERY ANNOYANCE AT YOU FROM THE PAST LEVELS. YUP: 1. Precison platforming under projectile fire 2. PROJECTILE PLATFORMING 3. Restart if you die [b]ALL FORMS AGAIN[/b] 4. Unavoidable damage 5. Long respawn + Same unskippable dialogue. [b]tl;dr I bought it for 99c, but I still regret it. [/b]