Balthazar's Dream

[h1]Viva os sonhos de um cachorro.[/h1] A história relata que um menino chamado Dustin, tem uma grande amizade com seu cachorro Balthazar. Um dia os dois brincavam no parque, o garoto sem perceber atravessa a rua desesperadamente para buscar o seu brinquedo, e o caminhão de sorvete o atinge em alta velocidade. Deixando o pobre menino em coma sem esperanças de voltar. O valente cão dorme em seu leito no hospital, a alma de seu dono está presente em seus sonhos diariamente, e Balthazar tem convicção que o seu dono irá voltar após concluir essa grande jornada. Balthazar's Dream apresenta um jogo baseado em puzzles de plataforma, mas com um grande diferencial que é o seu belíssimo conteúdo. Tudo o que há no game é relacionado a vida canina, por exemplo: os checkpoints são hidrantes, quando são ativados o cachorro urina neles, as banheiras douradas e os aspiradores de pó são obstáculos. No início é possível escolher entre algumas raças de cães. A barrinha de osso é o instinto canino, que serve como uma vitalidade, as vezes ao usar uma corda ela esgota mais rápido, ou quando chega próximo dos aspiradores. A medida que o jogador realiza o mapa, os cenários vão ganhando novas características e mais obstáculos vão surgindo, sempre é passado dicas quando aparece novas interações. A música e seus gráficos retro cria uma ambientação incrível, alguns finais de mapa possui um Boss, mas eles são vencidos usando apenas a estratégia. Apesar do game ser bastante curto, ele rende grandes emoções com sua história surpreendente. Talvez uma DLC adicionando mais níveis seria um grande avanço, por enquanto o jogo oferece entorno de 3 a 4 horas de gameplay. A experiência de jogar como um cachorro é diferente, permitindo até que o jogador escolha a raça do seu cachorro, porém não contém a opção de customizar ou de escolher cores. Portanto, para os apreciadores de dogs e de plataforma, Balthazar's Dream torna-se um jogo perfeito. [h1]Prós:[/h1] • Rico em História; • Boa trilha sonora; • Desafiador e Dinâmico; • Gráficos caprichados; • Dificuldade elevada. [h1]Contras:[/h1] • Não tem o idioma PT/BR; • Possui poucas horas de gameplay; • Os controles poderiam ser mais suaves e precisos. Análise para a curadoria [url=store.steampowered.com/curator/6874381]Jogos Grátis Brasil[/url] | [url=steamcommunity.com/groups/JogosGratisBrasil]Grupo Steam[/url] | [url=discordapp.com/invite/UkhuefE]Discord[/url]

This will be shorter than my usual reviews if only because I couldn't bring myself to keep playing. -- I tried to like Balthazar's Dream. I did. I like the theme. If you didn't already know, Balthazar's Dream takes place in the dreams of the titular canine, Balthazar. It details the touching bond between a boy and his dog after said boy gets into an accident that leaves him hospitalized. I like the little details that remain true to the theme. Because Balthazar is a dog, hazards are things that dogs would find frightening, like vacuum cleaners, or hazardous, like chocolate. I like the art. Though the pixel style is a bit muddied, the game has a distinct charm to it. And, to its credit, the game has fair and numerous checkpoints that make it so that falling to your death isn't a big deal. I tried, but I was ultimately unable to get over how poorly the game's mechanics work in tandem and as a result, this dream swiftly became a nightmare. Balthazar has an intelligence meter that drains as he climbs or when he's around objects that are scary to dogs. If it drains entirely, Balthazar will release his grip or bolt off scared respectively. While that sounds thematically sound, it's actually quite irritating as this means your time on a swinging rope, a staple of performers, is artificially limited and nine times out of ten Balthazar will run off of the edge of a platform, lemming style, to his death. These obstacles do nothing for the game except except to make things unnecessarily tedious. Balthazar's Dream presents moments where you'll need split second timing and accuracy to successfully make a jump or series of jumps while also avoiding obstacles that will either kill you in one hit or have Balthazar ignore your input in favour of running for his life; however, because the controls are not precise and the gameplay mechanics make them unintuitive, the game difficulty becomes artificially inflated. This only adds to the frustration. To be fair, I suppose the game deserves a neutral rating because those who are more patient than me will likely be more willing to put up with its flaws. Unfortunately, Steam doesn't give me that option, so a negative this will remain. If you're like myself, however, and you get frustrated by having to do the same thing again and again through what feels like no fault of your own, then you'll likely want to skip this one. If you're the type who loves precision platformers, and are therefore used to having a platformer fight against you tooth and nail, and you also don't mind that these controls aren't exactly "[i]precise[/i]" per se, then Balthazar's Dream is the game for you. [code]If you found this review helpful, please give it a thumbs-up. For more reviews like this one follow the [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gamingwithNtK/curation]NeedtoKnow Gaming Curator[/url] page <3[/code]

This game almost got a thumbs up...BUT.... The main core mechanic, which is ..well..platforming...sucks. The controls feel floaty and annoying and just generally induce rage. Also theres this weird 'fear' mechanic which just sends you running off into pits of doom. Feels like early broken alpha release. Everything just floats around the screen, feels like they smeared the physics engine with butter. A real shame since I really do like the premise, pixelart and music It has charm but sadly its not enough. It shows the developers put alot of effort into this, but I have to judge this game based on how enjoyable it is to play and not just for development efforts. The game is just A$$ to play. I think this would have worked a whole lot better as an adventure game instead.

[u][b]-Quick Review-[/b][/u] Balthazar's Dream is a 2d indie platformer adventure game with a hint of other 2d genre elements to keep the game interesting (but still primarily a 2d platformer). [u][b]-Detailed breakdown review-[/b][/u] [b]My connection to the game:[/b] I had the pleasure of getting an e-mail from the developer asking me to try out the demo and cover this game on my youtube channel. I did, and I'm proud of the little part I got to play. [b]Development story/perspective:[/b]The story for the game development is worth noting: at this time Psilocybe Games is a VERY small team of Arist, Progamer, and music composer. Balthazar's Dream was kickstarted to raise funding and then later released on steam through the greenlight system [i](before being shut down... I think?)[/i] [b]Games Story:[/b] You play as the protagonist dogo "Balthazar", who goes on a quest to try to save his owner in some dream-state-ghost-world-thing. That's about all there is to the story, it's a 2d platformer, for Mario on the NES we had "Save the princess". So yeah no, that's enough for me. [b]Gameplay:[/b] The problem with crippling the story-telling part of the game, is that now the gameplay needs to drive it forward. I've felt like the game is rather "floaty" in the jumps, and the running animation makes it difficult to time jumps in 2d space [i](think of it as shapes, you're running around as a LONG rectangle rather then a square, or tall rectangle. In GW2 if you play as a Char, when they run on all four's it's more difficulty to stick your platforming in 3d space, even if the hitbox is the same, it just complicated the platforming)[/i]. Now that being said, I did get through the whole game and rather enjoyed myself. I do venomously hate every single boss in this game, and found ways to cheeze through the fights [i](because I'm a slacker; Work smarter! not harder!)[/i] And the gameplay varries up from area to area very nicely... in other words: The game paces it self very well, mechanically speaking. [b]Conclusion:[/b] As a whole, there are some 2d platformers which knock it out of the park... Balthazar's Dream isn't going to turn people's heads for it's gameplay or story... but it's totally worth your time if you can get over the basic movement and jumping problems. [i](It sounds like I'm saying "It's a good 2d platformer if you can get over the 2d platforming"... But what I'm trying to say is "I got used to it after a while")[/i] If you need a bit more of an idea what you're getting yourself into, feel free to watch my unscripted thoughts video below, thanks for reading! [b]Unscripted Thoughts Video:[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpKsY3seQWQ

6 minutes gameplay and 15-20 seconds for review: sorry but no. wrongly tagged, also: you can't appreciate the quite nice pixel graphics while playing an hella hard of a platformer. story might be touching and all, but the somewhat clunky gameplay made me quickly rage quit, so...

Tiene una historia muy tierna, un montooooon de detalles y referencias a la vida de los perros que hacen reir [spoiler]los chocolates lo matan, le teme al ruido de la aspiradora, persigue al cartero, corre tras un palito, frisbee o pelota, odia los fuegos artificiales, si se agarra muchas pulgas muere, etc etc[/spoiler], mecánicas muy divertidas que van variando de nivel en nivel y añadiendo una cresciente dificultad, pero con un respawn tan inmediato que no te frustra morir, está bien pulido y nunca es injusto, pero si demanda presición. El diseño pixelart es mucho muy precioso, se nota por todos lados que fue realizado con cariño y detalle, y para ser que soy una catlover, este juego de perros me enamoró jaja. Cuando terminás la historia podés seguir otro modo de juego con otras razas de canes. No agrego nada más, porque lo tenés que comprar y jugar, punto ♥

This was a gift from my lovely girlfriend this past Christmas and I finally got around to playing it (sorry, WoW things) I'll start of this review by saying it will probably be a bit biased because dogs are just too great. Anyway, games' premise is simple; it's your usual platformer and you play as Balthazar, the faithful companion of Dustin, who unfortunately was involved in an accident. Now, this game isn't particularly hard but it can be challenging, for at times it requires split second timing for you to succeed in making a long distance jump, for instance. This is because Balthazar has a meter that depletes if he gets scared or if he hangs on a rope for too long. Personally, it was entertaining to pull off these jumps and the fact that it plays with the theme of you playing a dog adds to its charm (Balthazar is scared of vaccum cleaners, touching chocolate or grapes will kill him, etc). There a plenty of save points too so you get the "thrill" of pulling these stunts off but you can also save your progress shortly after - and we all know how frustrating it is when you finally get through a tricky part just to die afterwards to something stupidly easy to dodge! So, my pros would be: - nice, wholesome, artstyle - good soundtrack - a very endearing story - there really is nothing quite like the bond between Man and dog - slight spoilers here; like seen in the trailer, there is a part where you go to space via rocket launch. When you get there, you will find Laika, the soviet space dog! My first pet was named Laika, she had to be put down about 2 years ago, and this small honour to the legendary pup was really a huge plus for me and, well... The feels. But they were good feels :) Cons: - when Balthazar jumps on a mushroom, he curls into a ball until he lands. During the last fight, sometimes he would curl and not go into his regular position after landing. If this happens and you jump on a mushroom again, you'd be literally flung to outerspace. It was hilarious at first, but after a few tries at beating the game, it gets frustrating - if you're not agile enough, it's very likely you'll get easily frustrated trying to get past some parts Neutral points: - game's a bit short and there's not much replayability, albeit for 5€, I feel it was well worth my time Dogs are awesome and if you're as keen to the little furballs as I am, and you enjoy a bit of a challenge, I wholeheartedly recommend this game to you.

I could not understand or get the hang of the game mechanics at all. Something about using fear and depleting smart bars or whatever. The 6-7 checkpoints I made was through sheer luck. It only took me 200 attempts to beat the first vaccum cleaner. The part with the ball is where I decided to stop trying after another 500 attempts. Very disappointed with this game.

Interesting, but flawed. I'd call this one a "somewhat recommended" as it is a cheap game. The game is a platformer mostly based around mechanics that get revealed to you as you play. The difficulty spikes fairly early, with little concern for a natural progression. The story and aesthetic is the main draw, with an emotional story and a cool look, and the controls are adequate. It doesn't re-invent the wheel, or even improve upon it, but it at least rolls. Worth a glance if it's on sale.

A game that feels like it was made with a lot of love and very little skill. A platformer that has a lot of small challenges that it presents to you to overcome to keep it fun. The problems arises when in the technical execution of the levels and the challenges. Things like, when you are afraid you can jump farther to make it over large gaps. But the problem is you stop being afraid if you get far enough away, such as, halfway across the gap when you suddenly fall like a rock. It also has a habit of pilling on multiple small challenges together to create a larger challenge that requires you to put full trust in the game while also repeatedly proving why you should never trust the game. Overall, I want to love it, but it's a very flawed execution.