Duskfade

After finishing this game 100% all achievements, this was a very close "NO, not recommended" [h3]TLDR[/h3] This game is what happens if Ratchet and Clank had a baby with Kingdom Hearts and Jak and Daxter but kept none of the core qualities of either game. It looks like the parents, sounds like the parents, but something is just off. Highly suggest waiting for a sale, but its still "okay" at best. [h1]THE LONG PART[/h1] I have played the majority of all major PS2-PS5 3D platformers, as well as all of KH collection on PS4. Various indie 3D platformers and most of the known best ones. This game is ambitious. And honestly, at the price point, it's mostly fine that it doesn't meet the standard of those "Legends". But the problem lies in that, this game exceeds at nothing. Even compared to other indie 3D platformers. I'm writing out this list with the frustration of the last bit of "cleanup" caused me in the game, and also hopefully so the devs can improve on this possibly, or even make these changes going forward in their new games. [h3]The Awful[/h3] [list] [*]The fast travel system is garbage. Literally one of the worst I've ever seen in any game. I don't even know how it made it through QA. One single travel point per area, with no way to get back to that point quickly or even the "HUB" town which is hardly a hub, UNTIL, literally like the last 20 minutes of the game. [*]The platforming is so repetitive and the areas feel the same. Even by the end of the game and you have all mobility and powers, everything still feels the same. [*]Backtracking for collectables was so tiring because the entire levels look the same. Good luck finding that one spot you needed an ability for without walking through the whole level again. [*]There is NO COLLECTION TRACKER IN THE MENU! HOW DO YOU MAKE A GAME THAT HAS ALL THESE COLLECTABLE ITEMS, AND NOT EVEN HAVE A DEDICATED MENU FOR IT? Your save file has a completion percent. The only way you can track your collectables is either at the specific NPC to turn them in, or the fast travel points, and even then, it doesn't show the glass shard collectables at all. [*]The combat is mediocre. And that's giving it a bit of a boost. There are no combo upgrades, the abilities are bland, perfect dodges and even counter attacks feel so underwhelming. Every encounter after the first 10 feels the same and quickly becomes a chore. [*]The story is so unsatisfying. The parts that are voiced and has cut scenes are so nice and pull you in, and then you go like 3 hours doing nothing but reading flavor texts and hearing the same few words repeated over and over. [*]The "side quests" if you can really even call them that, have no indicators. Just talk to every NPC you come across, most of which look the same as they're all clouds. They don't reward you anything other than an achievement, and they are just boring. [*]Boss fights are the real highlight of combat except every single boss has a gimmick, that it repeats at a minimum of 3 times per fight. They literally take like 99% reduced damage until you do these gimmicks. [/list] [h3]The Good[/h3] [list] [*]Art direction is amazing. Everything is pleasant to look at visually, minus the NPCs all looking the same and some of the areas that are very "samey". [*]The music is great. It very much so tries to imitate Kingdom Hearts to the point you can hear the similarities in almost every single track, but it's still very pleasant. [*]Collectable cosmetics are nice. Many outfits and colors for them. Different weapon cosmetics. It's just a nice feature. [*]The platforming DOES feel good, until its the same forever and every area has the same level layout. With some changes, the platforming could be one of the best of indie 3D platformers. [/list] There is more that I disliked that what I did enjoy in this title, but it's easily fixable and changeable I think. Well maybe not easy, but possible. I played the demo of this game and did not have high hopes, but given it had more time to cook and my love for 3D platformers, I gave it a shot anyways.