babe-lathe

another tjerny banger

Pretty interesting, surreal, and experimental. If you enjoy 'figuring games out' and learning mechanics without a tutorial holding your hand the entire way, babe-lathe is a recommend from me.

combining baybaldes with super smash bros style combat is a stroke of genius, and it has such a natural feel to it. its buttery. that being said, the multiple weapons are just not depthful enough to sustain interest in the combat, and the awesome things this games premise hints at are never really delivered on. there's only one boss fight- which was obviously a measure of cutting development time- and the whole game is full of little things like that, which make it feel like a compromised development. those qualities are part of the appeal of a tjern-type game, but this feels un-directed in a frustrating way instead of charming way. when the game reveals itself as a Just Up-type game based on it's very finicky platforming you're kinda just like... oh. the platforming isn't unredeemable but it also doesn't feel as if you're in control. its cool to discover all the types of jumps you can do, but i would often give the same inputs and receive different outputs. the platforming behaved in a way I couldn't diagnose or adjust to, especially when the unforgiving Just Up-ness has you backtracking over and over and over and over. I'm still recommending because its full of obtuse charm, and the kind of unique approaches to game design that make it stand out in a sea of unremarkable titles, but this is a very talented, creative, and unique game developer not living up to their potential.

It's good! The Beyblade combat is cute but ultimately the main draw of the game for me was the interesting grid based platforming. It works well, and though it could be frustrating, the "just figure it out" angle for a lot of the platforming tricks managed to bring out a satisfying gameplay loop. Another tjern banger.

What an incredible banger. It is an amazing, unique game with cute characters and a fun story. The pacing is great, the game deserved more love!

YEAHHHHH I LOVE BEYBLADE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS GAME IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're like me and have a soft internal "hell yeah" when you see weird little indie games pop up then this one is worth the dive. The experience is firmly split between two parts: the fairly difficult grid-based platforming and the random encounters that put you into a fascinating collision-based combat system. While I got hooked into both the biggest hurdle is definitely the platforming, which involves understanding how to take advantage of the fact that wall-kicking resets coyote time and fighting some fairly narrow input windows to make those tricks work. But ultimately I found it satisfying once it clicked for me what each challenge was demanding. My only disappointment is that I would loved to have seen more experimentation with the combat. It's the kind of fun that makes me wish it had absurd optional challenges in the same way the platforming does. This is a full recommendation if both modes of gameplay sound appealing to you.

General life advice. If a caterpillar starts talking in rhymes to you , then adventure awaits !