Gecko Gods

Somewhat uneven experience. The start feels good (if simple) and seems promising, but unless you beeline it straight for the next main objective (which you probably will not immediately recognize as such), you'll spend at least an hour doing basic platforming, solving basic puzzles, and running through basic ring courses. Around this point I was starting to feel pretty disappointed with the game, but then I got to the desert island and the game felt like it was *on* for a solid 3-4 hours? With a couple nice puzzle mechanics, fantastic exploratory level design, and excellent vibes as the bgm constantly evolves. And then you do the final dungeon and that one also falls a little flat because it has some good puzzling at the start but then sort of just eases off into somewhat-less-basic platforming (when the platforming in this game doesn't feel spectactular?). idk this sounds more negative than it actually is, I had a good time overall and the desert island in general was fantastic, but I feel like the start and end of the game not being able to hit that same high causes the experience to not shine quite as brightly as it could have.

This is probably one of my favorites, as far as cozy puzzle games go. Most of the puzzles were entertaining and easy enough (although I did get stuck on a couple). The gecko is absolutely adorable, and the story was wholesome and simple. Definitely a game to play when you just want to unwind. Most of the gameplay is pretty relaxing and laid-back, in my opinion. My only gripe would be that a couple of times I felt a little lost on what I was supposed to do. Albeit was infrequent and didn't take much time to eventually figure it out with a little trial and error, but it would be nice to have some further explanation on newly discovered puzzle mechanics. Overall, I'll probably play it over again because I just find the game to be cozy and fun.

Cute!

To keep this short, I very much recommend this! But you might want to wait until there's a sale, IMO. Quick overview first, more detailed after. On the plus side, TONS of exploration, AWESOME music, you play as an adorable squeaky little gecko that can climb on almost EVERY SINGLE SURFACE, reptiles aren't the bad guys for freaking once, lovely cel-shaded visuals, it's super-easy (and satisfying) to get money for the various skins where tons of other games would make it annoying, and some great puzzles. I came out of this game pretty satisfied, and I'm glad I didn't watch my streamer friend go through the entire thing so that I was blind going into it past the first area. On the minus side, however, it's a liiiittle glitchy in parts, I found many of the puzzles to be a bit on the easy side (which is honestly mostly fine, since it's clearly more about atmosphere), combat is...you know what, I'm gonna say it, it was pointless, you can't change skins on the fly, and while there's lore, there's little story and the ending (aside from the final gameplay sequence holy CRAP that was cool) is kind of a letdown. Overall, DO play this wonderful little gem and support the devs! But I think it's a little much to ask $20 for it, especially these days ^^; --- Okay, here's the wordy version. The game is packed with exploration--almost too much, honestly; sometimes I found myself thinking, "Okay, I wanna get off this island, now, I've been here for an hour, but I haven't found everything," but not too often. You move fairly quickly, though a faster way would be welcome, and the stick-to-everything mechanic is very forgiving. I didn't find myself falling off much, and mostly that was me moving too fast. There are pots to break everywhere, and if they're in a line, you automatically zoop through them, and it's very satisfying. As a plus, the money you get doesn't need to be collected right away, it flies to you a few seconds after spawning. Not only that, you get to find new bugs (actual bugs), and the relics are a great side thing with fun extra puzzles. You get to ride around in a little boat, too, so there's a bit of Wind Waker in it, too (especially with the sailing music)! There're a couple handfuls of skins to unlock, some of which are glowy, and almost all look decent. (Main exception IMO is the deep red-purple-cyan one; glowy tail, yes, but...something about it doesn't do it for me. Maybe a different shade of blue?) You can mix and match colors and patterns. Getting the achievement for unlocking all the skins is super-simple, too; as long as you keep busting up pots, you'll have more than enough to get them all by the time you (are supposed to) hit the final island. Only downside is that you need to find these black mirrors to change skins, of which there is only one per island. This is already a bit annoying, but while I looked all over, I couldn't find one on the final island, forcing me to sail to another one to swap; being able to just change our skin whenever we want would be perfect. The gecko themselves is adorable, and they just stop in whatever pose they were instead of assuming an idle pose, which is just like lizards in real life. The main draw gameplay-wise would be the puzzles. You're a gecko, so you can't exactly push blocks or carry things from point A to point B. Instead, you mainly manipulate switches, often rotating things, or push balls along mercifully short distances. The three main islands have multiple puzzles to complete, each taking a few minutes each, before you get to the island's goal...but the second and third have more once you complete the surface tasks. I was shocked how enormous the second island's other half was, I wasn't expecting it! The puzzles are pretty simple, though, and I found them mostly to be a bit too easy. That's not a bad thing, though, since it's all about the experience and atmosphere, not difficulty. I do think that there's a bit of a jarring swap in gameplay in the final area from puzzles to platforming, but it's not that bad. Oh man, the MUSIC. Jasmine did a killer job on the soundtrack here! After I'm done writing this, I'm going to see if the OST can be grabbed--if not, that would be criminal. Atmospheric is the flavor of the day, without getting too new wavy as there's a lot of thematic ethnic stuff--chimes, wordless (mostly?) vocals, tons of different drums, and flute. Refreshingly, strings aren't as huge a thing in this OST as in many others, and instead we get a wind ensemble with more focus on woodwinds (as a flute, this made me very happy!) than brass. The music changes as you play, too. Only gripe is that it seems inconsistent when on the boat. Speaking of gripes, the game isn't without its flaws. The biggest problem is that it can be a tad glitchy. The grand majority of the time, it works just fine, but I noticed parts where the geometry doesn't quite go as far as I think it should, mostly. In the middle of the second island's latter half, for instance, I was able to crawl under a layer of sand to see what lay beneath. Sometimes, effects fail; there are three big statues at the end of the game that are supposed to be all glowy, but one of them was always off when I played, which was disappointing. The most annoying glitch, however, is that you can sorta get stuck inside walls. I was able to escape with enough running and jumping around, enough that it may have just been a weird camera, but in one case, I literally got stuck inside a door that had closed on me...perhaps after it had closed, too. I went to the title, then reloaded...but it was stuck on the loading screen, forcing me to restart the game. There was also one other major glitch I encountered, but I hope that it's not that common: puzzle elements failing to spawn. At the start of the final area, I was stumped, since it looked like I couldn't control one of the elements. Desperate, I killed my poor little gecko; lo and behold, when I respawned, there was a switch that hadn't been there before. (Also found a hole in the floor that I'm not sure was meant to be there, ha.) Now, normally, I don't like outright saying a mechanic is entirely superfluous, but this is one of the cases where I have to admit that the game would've been just as good if it didn't have one. In this case, combat. You only have one, count 'em, one form of attack, that being a short dash. While this is enough to deal with the enemies, they're another issue--there are fewer enemy types in this game than in Breath of the Wild. You've got one-hit scorpions, one-hit saucers, three-hit baskets, and three-hit camouflaged basket. They can shoot at you, but that's about it. There are two instances where you need to fight a few in a gauntlet, but they're not challenging at all, since you heal after a little while. If there were more methods of combat and more enemies to fight--or at LEAST different strategies for each one aside from just smashing into them--then I wouldn't call the combat pointless. But as it stands, totally useless. The final issue I have is the story. The game has its own bit of lore than you can unlock, and there's some dialogue from the birds that give you hints here and there [spoiler]and the eponymous gods themselves[/spoiler], but that's it. There is zero explanation for why you have one-eyed little things trying to kill you. There is no antagonist, which some may find fault in, and no pressing reason to awaken the gods like averting some future catastrophe. Most of the time, I have no problem with excuse plots like this. However, the ending makes this a bit egregious. That said, no, I'm not talking about the final gameplay sequence right before the ending. I'm not gonna spoil it, you gotta do it yourself. It's exciting and had me quietly cussing as I went. Yes, the game is forgiving, but BOY do you feel compelled to keep your little gecko safe! Definitely the highlight of the game! (Continued in comments.)

A wonderful gem. This isn't just a barebones game about being a little guy. It's chock full of little details and creativity. It would spoil the experience if I list any of them, so you'll have to take my word for it. Take one look and listen at the promotional videos and you'll immediately be able to tell how much love went into this. The level design is a standout to me. Being a gecko that can scale walls and leap through the air gives you such a refreshing sense of freedom - and the world plays into that. Even though there are paths and structures that guide you, you're encouraged to explore in and around them freely. This is a very casual open world, adventure, collectathon. In giving Gecko Gods those labels, you might understandably think this will be a generic experience you've had before. Yet in all my years of playing this flavor of game, I've truely never come across something that feels this inspired and well crafted. Well done Inresin!

Incredibly cute, fun to roam around, and a good mix of difficulty without feeling too irritating. I'd say I got my money's worth!

Un petit jeu d'exploration et de casse-tête d'environ 7h de jeu où tu contrôles un petit lézard. Les énigmes et les succès du jeu sont simples à comprendre et accessibles à tous. Il y a quelque bug de temps en temps, mais rien qui ne t'empêche de continuer de jouer. Un bon jeu pour se détendre et s'éloigner de jeux nerveux.