Exodus

I guess this is what happens when graphic designers decide they can make a game without much input from those pesky software engineers? Let's pretend for a second that the very first thing I did with this game was select "New Game" and start playing. I [i]didn't[/i] and we'll come back to that, but let's pretend I did. The very first thing I'm treated with is an unskippable cinematic (I use the term loosely) about something I have neither the patience nor emotional investment in to bother commiting to memory. The cinematic looks like something a particularly talented teenager, or maybe a professional designer who has really under the pump and just flat out didn't care, might create. It goes for so long that I had time to reflect on it's nature, and post to Twitter about how games can do many things that film cannot, but creating animated shorts of dubious quality is not one of them. This is not hyperbole, [i]this is something that actually happened.[/i] And the unskippable cinematic that I didn't care about was still rolling. Okay, we can stop pretending now. What I really did at the attract screen was select "Options" to make sure there wasn't anything selectied that would cause my five year old laptop to melt onto my thighs. And also check out the controls. I'm going to type this next bit in bold, because if there is only one part of this review anyone reads I want it to be this: [b]move left and move right are mapped to the Q and D keys. Jump is mapped to the Z key. Every time you try to remap a key, the game crashes.[/b] That's right, the game [i]defaults[/i] to a hand-pretzel position for the three most basic functions of a platformer. I've played guitar for 20 years; I'm used to working my hands into and out of pretzel positions, but no. I am not going to play a game this way. I dug around the game install directories for a config file or some such where I could manually configure the keys. Yes, it's there, but instead of calling the keys by plaintext values they are called by decimal values. At this point I decided that instead of remapping the keys this way, my time might be better spent plucking my nosehairs or throwing darts at the refrigerator. This game might be completely awesome, and I will never no because it is basically unusable. If you want to find out and don't mind dealing with hand cramps, be my guest. Everyone else, just go buy a cup of coffee or something. You'll get more out of it.

Exodus is a fun Metroidvania platformer with unique visuals and intermittent crashing problems. Even though I am recommending this game, bear in mind this warning: for some players the game crashes to desktop. Before buying it download the demo and see if you can play a couple of hours without problems. Not everyone experiences these crashes, but I do. I also have an old computer with a small amount of RAM, so I'm inclined to blame myself rather than the developers. Exodus has a fun world to explore where the player will discover plenty of secrets and collect loads of energy orbs. Energy orbs are the currency for upgrading skills and aptitudes. Subsequently these skills, such as double jumping enable deeper access into the world. You'll also need some combat abilities to deal with creatures that get in your way. Other abilities that can be obtained include dashing, and grappling. The graphics are hand drawn and have a warm look to them; they are charming and consistent. The game music fits well with the world of Exodus and reminds me of songs composed by Jean Michel Jarre. Everything is held together with a small story to explain why Zoulux\Ly'sax is there in the first place. Even though the crashing is a big turn off for most, I recommend Exodus as a lovingly crafted Indie effort put forth by a small team of folks. It is quick and easy to pick up, but before buying it, check out their demo first! [Thanks go to Derek for gifting me this nice game.]

*** Edit *** I decided I wasn't going to let the game beat me and got past the part I ragequit on earlier. It took 26 more tries (yes, I counted). Since then it has crashed multiple times. Two times it reverted to a save that was 30-45 minutes old. I'm going to leave the review as a thumbs up because it is a fun game, but you may want to wait for a patch unless you are ok with this. *** End Edit *** This is not a full review, and I have to qualify it by saying that I have quit playing 4-5 hours in to it and probably won't play it any more. Things I liked: * Nice graphics. * Lots of skills. * Huge area to explore. * Controls are good, if maybe a bit floaty. Things I didn't like: * The save points are sometimes too far apart. * A couple of "cheap" tactics, like things falling on your head out of the darkness that you can't see to avoid. Why I quit: (** mild spoiler **) Moving+rotating platforms inside of a laser maze. There is a section where you ride moving platforms through an insta-death laser-wall maze. The plaforms periodically flip over and the bottom side hurts you. This is not even close to fun for me. After a couple dozen attempts at this, I decided life was too short and put the game away. (** end spoiler **) To be fair, I am, let's say, a "seasoned gamer" and may have lost my edge over the years. And I am certain my tolerance for frustration is lower than it used to be. If you have the patience for these types of things, there is a lot to like about the game. And it is certainly worth the price.

Exodus - платформер с рпг-элементами,где есть возможность прокачивать разные (по выбору) способности инопланетянина,начиная от стандартных здоровье/выносливость и заканчивая такими вещами,как телепортация/левитация.Накопление экспы осуществляется путем собирания энергитических частиц(причем от цвета зависит количество этой самой энергии .что перепадает на нашу долю).Так же частицы выпадают из поверженных врагов,так сказать,фауны неизвестной планеты.Примечателен тот факт,что можно не только нападать на монстров,используя весь свой разнообразный арсенал способностей,но и прокрадыватся мимо них. Пожалуй,самый главный плюс игры,это ее потрясающая 2D графика.Каждая из локаций прорисована до мельчайших деталей.Видно,что разработчики большую часть усилий направили на создание флоры и фауны планеты,от чего ,ее исследование становится наиболее любопытным. Итак,Exodus - это не новое слово в жанре платформер,но очень приятная,красочная игра,которая может вполне скрасить пару вечеров.

The game would be good if it worked reliably. Unfortunately, while it started off well, as I got closer to the end of the game it started crashing repeatedly, and the dev has shown no presence on the forums so I suspect these bugs are unlikely to be fixed

Exodus - на удивление очень хороший и приятный платформер, в котором Вам надо будет управлять инопланетянином и бегать по различным планетам. Почему "на удивление", да потому что Exodus эта игра, которую вряд ли кто-то заметит. Рекламы ноль, а зря. По сюжету - Вы инопланетянин, которому пришлось покинуть свою родную планету и искать новый дом. Прилетев на эту планету, Вы как бы пытаетесь обжиться на ней, исследовать окрестности, что бы Ваши собраться могли спокойно на ней жить, однако на пути ваших путешествий Вам буду встречаться мирные жители, которые не чтят инопланетных вторженцев и что бы выжить Вам придется с ними разобраться. В общем очень дружелюбно) Немного о самой игре и начну с графики. Сказать, что оформление красивое - значит ничего не сказать. Сразу видно, что очень много сил при создании игры ушло именно на прорисовку уровней и создание атмосферы, кстати музыка тоже очень хорошо влияет на эту самую атмосферу. Думаю скриншотов у игры достаточно, что бы оценить эту 2D графику. Играть Вы можете за двух персонажей - Zoulux и LySaxю И путешествуя вы собираете так называемую "природную энергию". Собрав достаточно этой энергии Вы можете прокачивать различные умения для Вашего персонажа. (Вот этот момент в игре мне очень нравится). Причем прокачать Вы можете не просто Здоровье или Выносливость, так же Вы можете получить телепорт, веревку (что бы цепляться за стены и притягиваться к ним), левитация. Есть несколько минусов: 1) Как бы странно это не звучало, но первый минус это графика (что за бред). Просто она не ординарна и я Вас предупреждаю, что по началу она может Вас отторгать, в общем как и все новое, но перетерпите первые минут десять и погружайтесь с головой. 2) Управление. Не само управление странное, а странно расставлено управление при первом входе в игру. Обязательно поменяйте в настройках управление так, как Вам будет удобнее ("Q" - двигаться в лево, это странно) 3) Баги. Игра только вышла и в ней присутствует некоторая несовместимость с машинами. Лично у меня ничего не вылетает, но сказать об этом стоит, т.к. у некоторых знакомых прис3утствует эта проблема. Думаю с патчем все поправят. 4) Скорость. Лично я привык к более быстрым платформерам, однако тут игра идет не быстро, а размерено. В этому тоже быстро привыкаешь) Оценка - 8.5 из 10)

This is a beautiful game with a brilliant concept. I didn't really expect a platformer to encourage exploring, but this one does. It has you collecting energy points which you can spend in aquiring new skills/moves, you can then go back in the game to previously visited areas and re-explore them using new skills which has you reaching new areas with rewards of pages or new "energy points". Oh yea, Pages are just small bits of texts you can collect to learn about the world and stuff... pretty cool game highly recommended! P.S the sound track is very relaxing :) Sorry about any typos or whatever, I am very tired and I haven't slept in ages.

I want you to read this before just assuming it's me praising the game. It's not something I would tell most people to buy, but there is a certain type of person who is going to be all over this. The closest comparison I can make for this game is the Valley Without Wind series, but it's not nearly as deep (or interesting, if you ask me). This game is about ten times jankier, though. I ♥♥♥♥ you not, this game really feels like it was made by aliens, or some rudimentary AI with Game Maker or a similar creation toolset. The default controls include, and I am not kidding, Q to go left, D to go right, X to jump, and S to crouch. The text was clearly written in French and probably machine-translated for the English release. Massive amounts of the art assets don't match, with some being bright and pixellated, others being more subdued, and others still being 3D or a pastel style or... it's jarring, and makes it incredibly hard to tell what's a threat and what's environment until you've blundered into something. Bosses seem staggeringly untested - the first was a massive HP sponge whose health bar ticked down a single sliver at a time whenever I hit him in his weak spot, until he suddenly died about 1/3-1/2 into his bar in an explosion of health powerups. Similarly, my attack seemed to have a weird ghost-range on it, as did some enemies. That might have been due to the upgrade system though. Also, I'm just going to throw this out due to the genre it's in: don't make lava or some surfaces instakills. Plenty of this genre rewards slipping or taking a risk by letting you pit damage rates against your health and see if you can get a new powerup or some kind of item from it. This game just goes "screw off and lose your cash, sucker". Here, though, is why I am giving this a positive review and suggesting you try the demo to see if you're the target market: it's a Metroid clone with a bizarre tacked-on skill system and Souls-series-like currency for upgrades that you lose if you die but can regain if you get back to it... etc. Where it gets friggin' insane is the fact that things which you would expect to be powerups in any other game (double jump, health upgrades, dashing, etc.) are now skills on a tree which you spend your "energy" on. But then there are random powerups you find as you go, like a longer-range attack. There's also a choice of protagonist at the beginning of the game for some small tweaks in stats, although I didn't try the second to see if they had a different story. It's not like I was going to understand it in any way. (I cannot stress how poorly the game's English translation is handled. Multiple times it gave me directions or orders which were just entirely incorrect, if not opposite of the truth. Check your map, not the dialogue.) Some of you are going to see the issue in the above: this makes sequence-breaking or exploration something locked to grinding, given that a lot of your traversal powerups are locked behind massive gates of currency costs, and not your finding them. Here are things the game does well, however: save points double as fast-travel, the game allows you to leap from the air for more creative platforming at times, later upgrades on your skill tree like short-range teleportation or the jump height boost allow for early areas to become quick jaunts on revisits. I just wish that this was ported into a better title.

Can't start a new game. Game crashes at the first loading screen. Followed the suggestions on the post about crashing and still can't play this games. What a waste of money. You have to sit through to stupid intro story each time you try to which is a waste of time. DONT BY THIS GAME Also no controller support on a metroidvania game is horrible.

Exodus is a fine platformer. You explore an unknown world, gathering different kinds of powerups. Some instantly grant you new abilities (these are rare) while others act like experience and are used to unlock your skill trees. There is also nice variety of game play. In the first three zones, you move from exploration, to dodging traps to navigating in the dark. There was never a moment of boredom. So you know what to expect: Exodus is not a very forgiving game. It is not the enemies that are dangerous but the environmental hazards. You loose any unspent experience upon death. This experience waits at the location of your death, but if you die a second time before collecting it then it is lost permanently. Some users experience the game crashing upon launch. It is recommended that you download the demo first. I initially had trouble with this but the issue resolved itself after I updated windows.