Blessed Surface

If you like creative, weird, or experimental games, give this a try. If you manage to last past the first boss, you'll find a wildly creative game with a lot of unique ideas and charm. Be warned though, if you require polish and consistency in your games you probably won't enjoy Blessed Surface. But if you can bear a little jank, there's a lot of fun to be had here. This game is really weird and really janky. Almost everything in the game is confusing when you first encounter it, and it's even kind of hard to figure out how to get out of the very first room in the game. For me, a big part of my enjoyment with the game is encountering new and strange things and experimenting with them to try and understand them. I've found food that turns all your projectiles into ghost monkeys, a monster heart that gives me wings and spawns homing crystal barriers, centipede monsters that you can ride on to get around quickly, and a lot more. There's so much here, and every time I launch the game I find something new, even in previously explored areas. The combat seems awkward and simple at first, but after you get used to it and make a good build it becomes very enjoyable. It's still awkward and janky, but the variety of enemy and weapon behaviours combine with the heart system and environments to create some really engaging and unique fights. The world is expansive and strange, with weird creatures and items scattered around many distinct areas. Very little is locked away in the traditional metroidvania sense (asides from literal locks that can be opened with common generic keys dropped by enemies) and you can go almost anywhere as long as you can figure out how to get there without dying to the local wildlife. In short, Blessed Surface is a strange and confusing gem. It's got a really rough start which I think contributes to its relatively low review score, but for all its roughness it has a lot of great qualities. I think it's a shame that this game which obviously has had so much love put into it has been so overlooked and so poorly rated by the few that did notice it. If you like weirdness and don't mind jank, give it a shot. You might play it for an hour and decide it's not for you, or, as in my case, you might find the most memorable game you've played in a while. As a side note, there seems to be a decent amount of content in the game as well. As of writing this review I've played 6.9 hours, and have only beaten 2 out of the 10 bosses. EDIT: I just "finished" the game (in that I got the ending, there's still quite a lot of unfinished business and unanswered questions which I am definitely going to spend a lot more time on) and wanted to edit my review slightly. I played the game in a weird order, where I explored as much as possible before beating bosses. This meant that I could beat the remaining 8 bosses in a pretty short time. I just wanted to add that so my review isn't misleading about how long it takes to get the ending. Even though I've gotten the ending, I plan to continue playing for a while. There are a lot of things I still don't understand about the game, and there are some puzzles I and to solve and side quests I want to complete. Overall, really great game. It doesn't deserve its current steam rating at all.

Ok so this game is good BUT (^hear me out) Yes the game is hard and brutal but thats the charm. Yes its not very well explained on tutorial wise or how to equip stuff. (if you have any type of brain or anything even remotely close to functioning gray matter it should be fairly fking obvious on what to do to equip ♥♥♥♥ but i digress) Yes it is coop all you have to do open overlay and join someones game or invite them. (^ bit fked right now players dont see each others monsters and it tends to get very fking annoying when you can do team damage but not help them with something when they really need it.) No it is not hand holding straight you could litterly skip the first boss and run to the last one if you can find key holders. Yes it is a good time if you enjoy platforming and dungeon crawling type game play. thats my review its fking 7:30 am and ive been up for 24 hours on writing this someone please kill me.

I'm enjoying this, it's different and unknown. It genuinely intrigues me. Given to me by a friend, we play together and he helps me explore around the world, definitely better together.

A strange, complex and challenging exploration-focused open-world platformer. Not exactly a metroidvania, but similar. It's like a crunchier Knytt, or a more complicated Rain World. Tutorial elements are minimal - a big part of gameplay is figuring out how everything works. I can see how that might not be to everyone's taste, but in my opinion, this is what makes it interesting. I can tell there's a lot of depth here. Might update this review once I get farther in.

UPDATE: As I mentioned, I did want to keep playing this game, because I suspected there was a really unique and interesting developer work put into this game. After spending more time, I found a few solutions to the below issues. I'll censor them under each complaint/confusion so that others can experience the game as it is if they don't want help. For those who want to understand the game even just a little bit better, hopefully some of the below will help you. _____________________________ Original Review with Comments: I'm going to recommend this game because I really want to like it and will likely keep playing it. However, I have some major complaints which are not unique to my own experience, if the other reviews are taken into account. 1) There's no explanation of controls. While I understand trying out random things to figure out how the game works can be a part of the "character" of the game, I feel like even when the game tries to tell you something, it does so in the most obtuse, easy-to-miss way. [spoiler]Actually, if you are using a keyboard, the controls are available by pressing ESC; on a controller, I believe this is the Start or the Select buttons. I could be incorrect. This is a where you can change keybinds too, which I found especially helpful for the kb+mouse shield blocking. [/spoiler] 2) The inventory is a pain. It's entirely transparent, except for cell-like outlines. As a result, I often cannot tell if I have anything equipped on my "corpse" or if that's just my outfit displaying through the background. This could be solved by adding some opacity to the inventory. [spoiler]I am still a bit confused about this. I can equip different armours, which is totally neat and gives you a unique finisher move (which I had previously thought was tied to weapons rather than corpse armour). However, the item doesn't appear in the inventory, and I cannot take them off (for whatever reason). You can, however, equip a different item by simply placing it on your body; the old one will pop out again. [/spoiler] 3) Speaking of inventory, I found out that holding e is a great way to pick up items... Except sometimes it doesn't work. Further than that, hovering over the item in the inventory screen (click e) appears to do nothing. To remember what items did what, I have to drop the item, use the ENTER-based item description, and then put the item back in my bag. Letting the item description appear /on hover/ in the inventory and /in a box with clear, small text/ when you're standing on it, without the need to click enter, would be much preferred. [spoiler]While I do not have a huge solution for this -- the inventory system is still a bit enigmatic for me -- I have discovered that the items which you cannot pick up by holding E (or left shoulder button for controller), you can open the inventory, then use the mouse/right analog stick to pick the item up and place it in a storage spot.[/spoiler] 4) I've yet to figure out the whole red swirling portal thing. I found a second one, but it zoomed me back to the beginning, which is less than helpful without some sort of explanation. I thought it was a nascent checkpoint or item-saving mechanic, but I couldn't teleport /from/ the first one /back to/ the second one. So, I'm not sure what the purpose is. [spoiler]From what I can tell, this is a design choice. It was mentioned in the game developer's social media, I believe. I can deal with this. It just didn't make sense to me at first. I might avoid portals until I'm a bit more familiar with the world.[/spoiler] 5) I just wish I could find some sense of continuity in terms of my character and how to develop him more as a threat. This may involve carefully killing minions until my weapons level up, but I'm not sure. When I die, I imagine I lose whatever bonuses (if they exist) that I receive from levelling up... if they exist. [spoiler]Okay, so this is kind of a big thing. When you kill a monster, it has the opportunity to release a heart. Eat it (hold E) and the next time you open your inventory, at the top of the screen will be a buff. Hover over it for the description. This buff lasts until the timer goes out. There's a really interesting and insightful description of why this system is in place if you check the developer's social media. Seriously. It's not an endless amount of information, and it does help both familiarize yourself with the game as well as get a feel for whom the developer is and their design choices. [/spoiler] 6) I received an error after about 15 minutes of playing. I will submit this to the developer in hopes that it can/will be fixed. [spoiler]I emailed the developer, who emailed me back the next day, apologized for any delay, and said he'd be fixing it. In the meantime, I just avoided killing pogostick cats to avoid the error. At a certain point, the error stopped, even when I did kill the pogo-cats.[/spoiler] 7) I am still not sure how enemy health works. I notice them kinda breaking apart like a pixel Monster Hunter style, but I'm still not sure how much health they have or when to do my finisher on them. Some seem to show hearts some don't. I imagine this is a sort of random chance, and the others just have that empty spot if they don't have the heart. [spoiler]I think you're supposed to sort of struggle with this until you've killed the monster a few times and recognize when it is needing the finisher move. It's a bit hard to tell, so if you're unsure, look for whether the monster has a heart inside of it, but also if it is... emitting hearts or red + from it. I cannot really remember which one, but that is your signal that you've done enough damage. [/spoiler] Despite the above complaints, which may sound really critical, but are simply meant to underscore features which are obtuse or unintentionally baffling, I do enjoy the game. I love its character. I love that the creator appears to have thought about providing some complexity in the amount/type of items one may discover. [spoiler]Obtaining your first new armour is VERY exciting! The game still needs a better inventory size/chest system, but I'll update later again if I find a solution.[/spoiler] This game is like a Terraria that is whackier and less refined... and emphasizes platformer game style way more. There's a lot of jumping involved. [spoiler]Usually, this isn't my cup-of-tea, but the Grom Wall was so silly that I definitely had to reach the top![/spoiler] If the developer is interested in reaching a farther audience without sacrificing a "learn-as-you-go" play style, a guide could be submitted in the forums which could explain the most basic ideas and concepts which weren't introduced in the introduction. I'm going to keep an eye on this game and hope to see further developments. This game could be very successful with some modification.

This game is weird, (Read: Unique) in all the best possible ways, and i cannot stress this enough. The menu is weird, the health bar is weird, your character is weird, the story is weird, the creatures are weird, the weapons are weird, AND YET DESPITE ALL OF THIS WEIRDNESS, it's intuitive. I just love it so much, i'm dreading when i finish it, because i will want more. In Blessed Surface, you seek the Blessed Surface. I won't spoil anything, as the story lends to the atmosphere. It feels similar to a retro game. Controls are tight and responsive, Combat is simple to understand but has some depth to it. The music is great, and every area is a different banger.. heck, all of the sound design in this game is just brilliant. There are secret mechanics abound, events that happen at certain times, and a world that feels alive thanks to the movement and spawning of its creatures. It makes you want to know more, see more. The "multiplayer" is the only down side i see to this game, though the dev has stated they want to implement more functionality, for now its just like playing in different instances, but you can see each-other. Its cool in it's own way, but don't get your hopes up thinking you will be able to take down bosses together (yet, hopefully) Two things that might turn off other players, though i love the way the game is, are the difficulty which is very old school, and the amount of instruction given. You have to fight tooth and nail in many cases, while figuring out what the enemy can do, this could be seen as frustrating for anyone who wants to be able to kill and win just by running in and attacking. Half of what you can do/find is not explained, you have a very limited inventory, and things such as souls and gold are dropped rarely, and must be semi-sought out, and figured out. 5/5, i just love this game so much, an underrated gem for sure.

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