ecotone

I've really enjoyed my time playing through Ecotone, the creepy-cute artstyle bleeds into every part of every level. The sound design is pretty on point with the varying level background music reinforcing the sombre atmosphere. What I like most about Ecotone is how it changes up mechanics on each level throughout the game, some of these changes are fairly subtle, but often enough the alterations totally change how you play the game. This could easily be super confusing but each level is prefaced with a little phrase which gives a clue to what to do for the level and for the most part its intuitive enough anyway. These clues stitch together to give the game what amounts to its story.Whilst the story more or less fits the sombre atmosphere of the game, I'm not sure its executed fantastically, plot arcs that seem to be building feel like they aren't resolved properly, though I suppose that sadly mirrors real life in many cases. Another problem is that sometimes the phrases have to be awkwardly worded in order to both fit the current level, and fit itself into the wider narrative which can be a bit jarring. Without going into spoiler territory, I found the ending the game goes with very surprising and confusing, I mean I could just be a moron but it made me feel like I had missed something in terms of the story that seemed to be being told throughout the game. And the bonus epilogue chapters didn't really help in that regard, even though they did deliver more of the off-beat platforming I'd been enjoying. So far as difficulty goes, Ecotone doesn't require the level of platforming skill and dexterity of, say Super Meat Boy, but its still not exactly a cakewalk either, mercifully death in the game allows you to get back into the action quickly, which may not be unusual in challenging platformers these days but it certainly saves on frustration. The difficulty curve throughout the game is a little strange, there are a couple of early levels where its pretty easy to sabotage yourself early on, requiring a level restart, but beyond those early spikes, the difficulty curve is pretty smooth. So, if you like platforming and enjoy the artstyle you've been seeing for most of this video, and the idea of a game changing up its mechanics from level to level interests you, then ecotone could well be right up your alley. If you'd like to watch a more in depth review, I've made a video [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfuaQZYx23U]here [/url]

Very good puzzle game with really good ideas!

Excellent game. Perfect for a casual play in the evenings with enough challenge to make you concentrate too. Enjoyed the music, especially the last level when the metal version kicks in.

Jean Michel Gimmick, The game : plutôt que de broder autour d'un ou deux gimmicks, les devs ont choisi la variété, et ça change à chaque niveau. C'est du coup la (bonne) surprise à chaque niveau, d'autant plus qu'on a évité le cauchemard des daltoniens, à savoir les trucs merdiques à base de couleurs. Le concept est simple : trouver de une à trois orbes de lumières dans chaque niveau, avec à chaque un fois un petit masque caché en plus pour finir à 100%. Un niveau inversera la gravité, l'autre vous donnera le double saut, encore un autre introduira une mécanique à la VVVVVV, etc ... En plus d'être daltonien, je suis aussi masochiste donc j'ai joué au clavier : les contrôles répondent plutôt bien, même si certains sauts sont quand même en mode frame perfect. Je pense notamment au dernier niveau, qui en plus d'introduire une mécanique nouvelle que j'ai eu beaucoup de mal à maitriser, certains sauts sont vraiment au poil de cul : préparez vous aux cris de rage sur ce passage. A part sur ce niveau, le challenge reste honnête, comptez entre 3 et 4 heures pour finir le jeu et chopper tous les bonus pour débloquer l'épilogue. L'ambiance aussi bien graphique que musicale est très chouette par ailleurs. La seule frustation finalement, c'est que j'aurai aimé avoir certaines idées utilisées sur plus de niveau, mais bon, choix des développeurs !

If you're keen on beating your head against a brick wall for hours then this is the game for you. If you didn't enjoy super meatboy, however. Steer clear.

Just finisehd this game. I saw it during Game Happens, where I presented my own game. Then I bought it because of puzzles, cute creatures and environment and a bit of European Union sense of belonging, and really enjoyed all these factors playing. I also appreciated the effort to make each level different. However, I didn't like to calibrate timing and force of jumps in a such precise way; I like to train my mind with puzzles and challenges but I don't see pratical usage to train myself to a sequence of timed jumps, where I spent most of time. Other people could see that in a different way, spending most time in puzzles, so I still recommend this game.

Puzzle platformer broken up in levels with little text snippets at the start of each. I feel like I’ve played a lot of these before , and this one doesn’t seem to do anything different. It has the “2 characters at once” and the “reversed controls” and a new , yet familiar gimmick each level. It might get inventive later in the game, however an imprecise physics engine tends to make manipulating objects unpredictable and it got too tedious to bother playing anymore. The art style is leagues better than some minimalist box or poorly done pixel style , so that’s one point for it there. If you’ve never played anything similar and you don’t mind having to retry a level because something fell a completely different way on this attempt, sure play it.

Un jeu très sympa ! Chaque niveau introduit une nouvelle mécanique de gameplay, ce qui permet au jeu de se renouveller en permanence. Certains niveaux sont assez classiques, tandis que d'autres sont vraiment originaux. A la fin de chaque monde, on a un niveau de "poursuite" assez difficile qui cumule les mécaniques de plusieurs niveaux. Ces niveaux sont clairement les meilleurs, et j'aurais aimé qu'il y en ait plus comme ceux-ci. Quelques bug par-ci par là, mais qui ont dû être corrigés durant l'early access. Au niveau du design, comme d'habitude on aime ou on aime pas : j'aime ! L'univers est joli, mystérieux, dynamique et agréable à l'oeil. Les musiques s'intégrent parfaitement à cet univers mais ont parfois tendance à se répéter. Ce qui m'a particulièrement plu, c'est l'ambiance qui se dégage de tout cela : malgré les personnages mignons, le tout est assez... glauque. On a vraiment l'impression que quelque chose ne va pas, et la "cinématique" de fin confirme cela ;) Bref, un jeu vraiment pas mal pour s'occuper un après-midi, voire plus si on adhère complètement :)