Exoder

Безумный 2D платформер с уникальным дизайном. Пройдите 7 уровней ада и сразитесь с жутким монстром. Прыгайте, уклоняйтесь, используйте рывок и отражающий луч, чтобы уничтожить врагов. Собирайте бонусы, набивайте очки и ищите путь к секретному уровню. Игра динамичная, затягивающая, но довольно сложная. Приготовитесь умирать множество раз. Кругом куча нежити, парящие платформы, ледяные поверхности и порталы. Тут некогда будет скучать. Только успевай уворачиваться от глазных яблок и тварей, питающихся сердцами. «Exoder» не очень длинная, но сложность заставляет переигрывать каждый уровень несколько раз. Кому нравятся платформы и динамичный игровой процесс, понравится и «Exoder». Фанатам жанра рекомендую сыграть.

TL;DR If you like VERY difficult games with no difficulty ramp up, feel free to give it a shot, but just be warned that prior to this I ALSO thought I liked very difficult games. I unironically rage quit this game 6 times within 20 minutes, and then as i started writing a negative review each time i thought "ehhhh it's too soon, let me just try 1 more time", but no.............no more times. I like hard games, but oh my god this game is obnoxious RIGHT from the very start. Character movement and gravity feels like I'm playing at 2x speed, projectiles move so fast you have literally no time to react most of the time, all while trying to jump from tiny platform to tiny platform "jump king" style. Even "rage games" like boshy have at least some kind of difficulty ramp up and learning phase. If this games first level is as easy as it gets then no thank you lol sorry. The UI is a bit odd, but otherwise visually the game looks cool. If you like INSANELY difficult games, feel free to give it a shot, but just be warned that prior to this I also thought I liked very difficult games. The trailer looks cool, and the bosses look pretty cool, but i can NOT force myself through this first level. I've never got so mad at a game so fast.

[h1][b]The good:[/b][/h1] - Upbeat retro music and visuals - Some neat design ideas and concepts - Challenging bosses [h1][b]The bad:[/b][/h1] - The checkpoint system can end a run - Seizure-inducing flash and strobe effects on certain stages - Extremely annoying level design and enemy placement with bullets everywhere - Bugs and weird hitboxes - The first level of the is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had since the days of Atari and made 85% of the players give up before even facing the first boss [hr][/hr] After finishing this game, I can say that Exoder got some neat concepts and ideas that would be enough to turn it into a hidden gem, but unfortunately it falls ways too deep into the masocre genre with some strikingly bad decisions. Let's start with the elephant in the room: the entry bar. Beating this game or unininstalling, it all depends on wheter you are going to have a Budda-like patience to beat the first level or not. And the first level of Exoder is remarkably bad. It's horrificaly bad, it's harder than any end-level of a rage game, to a point that everything after it is as pleasurable as a summer breeze. There are some wild ideas here, enough to make for an interesting ride, like stages with gravity switches that let you walk upright on walls and ceilings, ice caves, a doomsday castle, some really weird and spooky bosses - everything gated by this first stage. It took me more than six hours to clear the first stage, while all the rest of the game took me about 2 hours. Most games have ways to warm you up like Celeste, Super Meat Boy and I wanna be the guy, but Exoder throws you immediately at a brutal tower climb littered with some of the tiniest platforms that I've ever seen in a game, with super precise jumps that in case of failure will potentially erase most of your progress, if not outright giving you a game over because not only you are climbing a huge tower, you are doing it while escaping from a monster that is slowly crawling its way up. All other stages got this same monster chasing you, but they are nowhere as bad because the way you progress through them is much less of a hassle. Don't get me wrong, those are very hard and rage-inducing too, but nowhere frustrating like the first stage. The checkpoint system allow you to create a point to revive anywhere you want after you have made enough progress, but oftenly it can be a pain in the ass. You have a limited time to create it, which can be HARD since you need to charge it like a spell and there are sections with no room to breath with monster and bullets everywhere. Failing to do so will have it forcibly made anywhere you are at the moment. It can even have you spawn mid air, above a trap or in a place with dozens of invencible monsters shooting at you. Another issue is that the levels are super long outlasting their welcome, in some of those it's also impossible to progress faster since the screen is slowly scrolls from left to right and you have to follow it. I only recommend Exoder to whoever enjoys pain, there's better games out there when it comes to test your skills. Apparently this was supposed to be the second part of a trilogy of games, but the dev has been silent for years. Good luck finding anything about the lore of Marrow or Exoder by yourself, all of the supposed lore is actually scattered through the devlogs and posts he made on steam and a couple other sites explaining it, instead of being inserted anywhere in both games.

I tried writing a review for this game and it ended up becoming so long I hit the steam review character limit while I was still describing the first level. I think I'll try another way of sufficiently describing my thoughts on this game. But for now all I'll say is, this game is pretty beautiful. It blew my expectations away for a super unknown indie game I had never heard of... though to be fair, I love that stuff. The art and general vibe of the game definitely drew me in pretty hard with its retro style, its difficulty, its beautiful visuals and sound. The small bits of story I gleamed from it were also very interesting and hit pretty well into what I like in narratives. I love the art and music a lot. The developer has an incredible art style, it's very sort of raw and grimy yet in the cool retro way (the cover art is also very impressive! Maybe a weird thing for me to point out but I like doing art myself and am a bit of a nerd about that). The in game pixel art gets especially fun with how crazy some of the bosses look. And there are quite a few bangers in the soundtrack. Shout out to the title screen theme, the first level's theme, the 4th level's theme, the 6th level's theme, and the theme for the first phase of the final boss. The ending had me sobbing. That pretty much never happens with me with anything - I'm going to be speaking a lot about that I bet if I get around to talking about this game again. The song there ruined me - I was going to mention it in the last paragraph but thought that would be better to mention here. The gameplay is very fun, the controls are responsive and the moveset strikes a good balance of simplicity while still being versatile and interesting. I like how you can't attack, only parry. The ground pound is satisfying, and the dash makes you have to learn it but its fun as well. If you're reading this review because you're judging whether you want to get the game or not, I will tell you: the game is hard. It's quite hard. I personally love difficult games, and I don't think this game is too unfair, but the first level is a filter and you'll need determination and patience to get through it, just like the game's description says. If you stick with it though, I hope you'll feel as rewarded as I felt. I really hope Fever Dream Gameworks is still out there making stuff. I've heard there's apparently a third game that was mentioned a few times - I hope it isn't cancelled. I hope the developer is doing well in general, as when I scoured through the steam discussions, youtube, and their twitter I didn't find anything recent. They're doing god's work is all I know. I still have Marrow to play too, since I bought it with this game. I've been spoiled on it since I watched a video about it (Yes, the DoshDoshington one) which is how I found out about this game, but I still want to experience it myself, despite how difficult and unfair I've heard it is. Exoder is very worth it in my opinion. Absolutely one of my favorite games right now. I know this may sound weird, but what was especially cool and a big source of motivation to play it was how unknown it is. I checked steam db and through most of my playthrough, I was apparently the only person playing the game in the whole world. It felt like I alone was allowing the game to exist in those moments. A bit egotistical when I put it that way, but that's not how I felt about it - I felt a sort of reverence for the opportunity, especially with how beautiful the game is. And to be fair, I really really wish the developer got more attention. They deserve it so much... but for now, I'll do my best to spread the word around. I've already convinced someone else to buy this game. I hope I wasn't rambling too much. Game is good. Love it a lot. I hope you'll love it too. Thank you Fever Dream Gameworks. I'll save the rest of my thoughts for perhaps a video on this game I think. Have a good day, whoever may be reading this...

Если вы не прошли через пыточную камеру Marrow, прошлой игры Fever Dream Gameworks, то готовьтесь к худшему, впервые запуская Exoder. Эта крайне малоизвестная студия, состоящая из одного человека, абсолютно безжалостна к своим игрокам, поэтому вероятность того, что нормальный человек, поиграв в Exoder до своей первой смерти, просто плюнет и удалит игру, навсегда забыв о ней, стремится к 100%. Посему для начала проверьте себя на пригодность. Если вы: - не любите проигрывать - не любите проигрывать на волосок от победы - не терпите издевательств со стороны противников - не готовы тратить подряд 3 часа реальной жизни на постоянные попытки пройти один и тот же уровень - не готовы к 10-минутным боссфайтам, с огромным количеством нечестных атак, которые при случае проигрыша нужно начинать с самого начала, то вам можно смело пропускать данную игру. Лучше попробуйте Super meat boy или They bleed pixels. Всем "ненормальным" же можно читать дальше. Мы играем за некое существо, отчаянно пытающее вырваться из некоего потустороннего мира, именуемого Адит (не лишним будет упомянуть, что Exoder напрямую связан общей сюжетной линией с прошлой игрой студии. И как и в случае с Marrow, не ждите что кто-то будет вам что либо объяснять). Игровой процесс разделен на две части: прохождение уровней и битвы с боссами. О втором можно много не упоминать - боссфайты здесь интересные, каждый босс обладает своей собственной ареной и требует новой тактики для победы. Главная же боль в игре это уровни, которые подразделяются на продвижение к вершине, либо на сайд скроллер влево или вправо. Не думайте, что сможете пройти первый уровень даже на десятый раз. Локации до отказа набиты самыми разнообразными противниками, непрерывно выпускающими на нас тонны снарядов или докучающих нам тварей, помимо этого добавьте кучу шипов, прессов, лазеров, порталов и до безобразия узенькие платформы. Добраться почти до конца уровня и упасть на пару километров вниз, жуя от ярости нижнюю губу - явление совершенно обычное для Exoder. Скажите спасибо если вам удалось хотя бы не упасть в черную массу, непрерывно преследующую нас снизу, иначе начинать вам с самого начала уровня (а уровни здесь ну очень длинные!). К счастью, эти муки не распространяются на боссов: едва достигнув чекпойнта, можно умирать на боссфайте сколько душе угодно, не боясь начинать уровень сначала. Персонаж совершенно не умеет атаковать и все его умение сводится к уклонению и отражению снарядов. Это самое отражение является ключевой механикой к более быстрому прохождению, если вы, конечно, не хотите перепрыгивать через каждую платформу, рискуя свалиться от малейшего чиха. Вовремя отразив снаряд во время прыжка, можно прыгнуть куда выше и падать куда медленнее, а каждые несколько десятков отраженных снарядов подарят столь желанную аптечку. Летающие то тут, то там бонусы дают, помимо здоровья, различные способности: временный двойной прыжок и увлеиченный щит, замедление времени, "экранная" бомба и т.д. А чуть отличающиеся по цвету блоки также могут хранить аптечки. Exoder имеет свой ритм и свои тайные механики, и обладев ими, можно существенно облегчить прохождение. Весьма оригинальное решение с респавном - каждые несколько десятков шагов наверх мы получаем заветный портал, который можно ставить где захочешь, и при смерти восстановиться в том же месте. Впрочем, не слишком радуйтесь - как только таинственная многоглазая тьма, преследующая нас, доберется до точки респавна, то новая точка появится автоматически в том же месте, где находится герой. Поэтому тщательно рассчитывайте место, где и когда ставить портал, чтобы в следующий раз не возродиться прямо над глубокой пропастью. По сути же, Exoder это один большой оммаж играм со старых платформ. Уровни разнообразны, каждый со своей собственной механикой, будь то перемещение по порталам, хождение по стенам или полет в стиле шмапов. Отсылки к самым различным хитам Nes, как известным, так и не очень, встречаются на каждом шагу: Zen Intergalactic Ninja, Super Mario Bros, Ice climber, Contra, Abadox, а последняя локация со спуском вниз через узенький проход живо напомнит о Battletoads. При этом игра не выглядит как смешанный в кучу салат, а уровни органично перетекают один в другой. Итого: Exoder, в силу жанра и короткой продолжительности, не достигает такой же атмосферности и степени погружения в свой мир, как это делал Marrow. Однако, она ничуть не уступает ему в хардкорности и безжалостности. При прохождении вы рискуете превратиться в один большой сгусток накаленных до предела нервов и выдранных из головы волос, зато пройдя эту игру до конца, вполне способны испытать куда больший катарсис, нежели главный герой, достигнувший своей цели. Не для нервных игроков.

This game is ten gallons of creative level design crammed into a 5 gallon bucket, or litres for the folks across the pond... FDGW knocked it outta the friggin park with this game and it oughta be pretty much at the top of everyone's list. If you're fence sitting on Exoder, do yourself a favor and gird your loins (cuz the game can be crazy tough at times) and conquer it! It's truly a journey worth the effort!

Flawed and chipped, but a gem, in it's own way. Beat the whole thing in one go, since I was not sure if it had a save function. Turns out it does, presumably after beating an area. Tutorial almost put me off due to how bad it was, but there's a bit to enjoy here. The game has no difficulty curve, more or less. First stage will be a showstopper for most people, but if you can make it past that, you can beat the whole game. IMO game caters to masochistic players, since a lot of attacks can be very hard/impossible to avoid. First stage started to click once I started using dash more and bouncing off enemies to other platforms. + Good OST + Varied levels/bosses/enemies + Well priced + Easy mode, although it limits content if you use it * Story is ??? * Got used to keyboard controls but they are questionable, gamepad is recommended - Rarely unclear hitboxes, sometimes even unfair - Some jank - Explains very little about obstacles/some key mechanics - Design often expects you to get hit and then just remember to avoid that later (similar to rage games) - Checkpoints can mess up your run if they are placed in a bad spot, somewhat avoidable by your own actions but not always - Final boss is next to impossible unless you realise [spoiler]dev hid heals inside cracked blocks, looked this up myself[/spoiler] "Fun" to play through if you don't mind getting tested at every opportunity. Though first stage is the hardest, some others still put up resistance. My actual playtime is around 6h on Normal.