Chrono Ghost

Interesting art style. Great soundtrack. Responsive controls. EXCEPTIONALLY difficult level design. No tutorial. :( Only buy this if you are REALLY into difficulty. https://youtu.be/5nRs62QJu_M

This game has taught me a lot about myself and life. I always thought I was good at game, but this game proved me wrong. The biggest lesson I learned from this game is that failure is not the end. Although I failed a lot, it was fun failure. I made a short video about Chrono Ghost play, and you can check more about the game here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIq1F49S7xs&index=3&list=PLY-sxvsjfLmVaD6zHW9Qe2PM4U0CcqqIl&t=0s

I was excited to hear that Chrono Ghost was coming to Steam after playing it 2 years in a row at MAGFest. The design/animation is very dreamy with a beautiful soundtrack to match. The game itself is challenging, but is laid out in a manner that allows you to very easily to learn from your mistakes and keep progressing further with a bit of determination. With it being a platformer, I was impressed to find myself not losing interest/rage quitting even after a prolonged period of gameplay. Overall, the game is fantastic and worth a try for yourself. I hope the Devs keep doing what they have been and I am looking forward to seeing where they take the game.

I played demos of this game before at conventions so I came into this game knowing a bit about it already. Chrono ghost is a difficult puzzle platformer where you must determine how to interact with the obstacles with your the time control mechanic. You can use your powers to speed up, slow down, or stop green objects (honestly you are going to be holding down slow a lot). The game is very demanding with how it wants you to traverse through its challenges, but one you figure it out/get comfortable what took you 10 minutes will be a breeze. The visuals are simple and clean with colors dictating what can and cannot be controlled by your time powers, what time power you are using, and recharge rate. The controls feel great on a game pad. The music and background imagery are ironically calming for such a stressful platformer. The negatives of the game is that is difficult from the start expecting you to be familiar with the controls already as there is no real tutorial. You have to learn about weaving the mechanics such as the second level the game expects you to know that you can dash jump and dash again in mid air. There are save points in the game, but they aren't obvious in location. When I thought I would reach a save point I had to do the puzzle again or I would overshoot the point and not know it. I wish for them to put in a few more save points or a clear indicator of where they are. I also encountered a bug where after I cleared the level the timer continued and decided I ran out of time so I have to repeat the level. Hopefully that gets patched out. Overall if you like difficult platformers I would recommend this one for the interesting time mechanic, but probably after they tweak it a bit.

good game

Chrono Ghost is a very challenging platformer based around the manipulation of time. By the games end, I had died 774 times (it keeps track) The challenge is always fair however, it requires a good amount of thinking, good timing and reflexes to best each set of obstacles. Some hazards can be slowed down, sped up or stopped completely in time. Others are unaffected by your time powers. I found the music to be stellar and the visuals were beautiful, especially the backgrounds. The game has difficulty settings, but they don’t affect how hard the platforming is. Instead they influence your time limit and the amount of lives you get per stage. Each set of hazards in a stage has a check point. But run out of time or lives and you start that stage over. The game is a little short, around 4 hours for me. But its length is going to depend on your skill at advancing. And there is always a hardcore mode to return to.

In the same vein as Celeste or Super Meat Boy but with modern graphics and gorgoeus level design; to include perfectly matched original music, Chrono Ghost is a game that will challenge you. Emerse yourself in thoughtful, hard-as-nails-while-still-unique-and-well-designed levels that both push and reward you. Much like a Souls game, Nioh or Ninja Gaiden (new or old). There's a very unique and almost strategic blissful combination of graphics, music and trying to beat the clock while not depleting your skulls to get to that next level. Almost a harkening back to the days of earning you way through a game in the NES area, there are no hand outs. Buckle up butter-cup and dig in, there's a true gem here if you're up to the challenge!

Full Disclosure: This was recommened to me by a friend of the developer. Tranquil music and serene environments mask a challenging experience. You're given unlimted power to slow or speed up time, limited power to stop time, and plenty of lives (you'll need them); then dropped into a challenging platformer not unlike Super Meat Boy. Jump, dash, and manipulate time through each level in 15 minutes (or 100 lives) to progress. Luckily, when you die, you start at the last checkpoint, which are (mercifully) plentiful. If you like unforgiving platformers, give this game a shot. If you're going to rage because you died 3 times in the same spot, it probably isn't for you.

Update: Level 3 no longer has this weird perfectly spaced stair jump that was 100% not allowing me to progress through the stage. Every other stage after that so far has been easy except for Frame Rate (Frozen) Pursuit. This could be a PC issue but even on the lowest settings I can hardly control my character's timing at all. I normally don't even mind ice physics, but ice physics + bad frame rate = terrible time hopefully no one else is having this huge frame drop ruin their experience.

hard, challenging, fun, and frustrating.