Gunborg: Dark Matters

Quick Score: 4/5 Notes: Tbh my only real complaint is that it's a bit light on the content, and the S ranks for the main missions are a bit too easy. The only decently challenging S ranks are for the 3 survival missions. Having a scoring system without leaderboards but then also having in-game ranks that are too easy to max out is unfortunate, feels like a waste. Would like to see S+ ranks introduced that force you to play on hardcore mode, or something along those lines. Took me about 3 hours to 100% the game

It's sad that this game is not more popular - it's rather amazing and deserves way more attention from all fans of hardcore platformers. Adding a limited shield that you can use to jump on spikes does wonders to it's gameplay loop - combining it with wall-jumps and double jumps is insanely fun in "easy to learn, hard to master way". A nice looking, polished, challenging platformer.

The game's fairly short (<90 minutes to win with almost all collectibles), so only get it on sale. But it is pretty fun, and delivers on both combat and platforming.

awesome cyberpunk action platformer, the survival levels were my favorite

Great ideas, mediocre execution. The screenshots look nice, but the graphics effects and animation are actually underwhelming and feel like a student project. There's not much juice to it. The feel of movement screams "my first indie game". While it is somewhat precise, it just doesn't flow well. You get stuck on corners or miss jumps in a very tight window with spikes that take 1/4 of your HP per hit. You can shield yourself with a shield, but it takes dexterity since the shield runs out very quickly. The shield is also directional, so you have to move one stick and hold LT to jump while simultaneously holding the right stick in another direction and RB to shield. Now, this could all work if you were given enough leeway. I didn't expect this game to be Meat Boy or Celeste and having to repeat each screen multiple times. Especially since controls are nowhere near precise as in those games. Enemies with shields that force you to use melee are cheesy at best and annoying as hell. The bullets just don't feel powerful. For a game where destruction is the way to win, the audiovisual feedback you get is... well, meh. Comparing this to something like Broforce or Dead Cells, the action feels sluggish. I'd give the game 6/10 the most, and since 7/10 is my threshold for an upvote, I have to give the thumbs down. I was considering whether to give a vote at all, but it definitely doesn't deserve the 95% rating it currently has. I guess you could buy it on sale if this is your type of game, but only if you have played all the rest as there's nothing special here.

Fun twin stick, not too long or hard but solid all around. In particular, shielding to reflect bullets/pogo on spikes and max combo evolving your weapons stood out as cool mechanics. I'd recommend this game, but honestly not at full price, 10 USD is steep for the runtime of the game.

Hard ---Edit: Too hard, unplayable, leave a positive review but actually not recommend.

[h2]Verdict:[/h2] 100% worth buying. It's challenging, fast paced, the combat and platforming are fun and it's got a lovely aesthetic. Going for high score, no damage and speed all feel super rewarding. [h3]Positives[/h3] [list] [*] Fast paced combat [*] Feels awesome to deflect enemy projectiles with your shield [*] You get a quadruple jump (1 jump + 3 jetpack jumps) [*] The game rewards you for killing enemies quickly w/o taking damage by empowering you with dark energy which makes you do double damage and has unique effects for each weapon [*] You can bounce off of traps with your shield [*] Super satisfying sound design [*] Music is surprisingly catchy [*] The survival mode that got added later is a blast [*] You get detailed scoring for your time, damaged received, info bots collected and enemies killed so there's heaps of replay value if you're like me and like pushing your highscores or doing no damage runs [/list] [h3]Negatives[/h3] [list] [*]The bomb spiders are usually just a nuisance to fight and force you to slow down your pace lest one of your attacks sets off one of their chaotically bouncing mines [*] The story is extremely minimal [*] As much as I enjoyed the platforming, I would enjoy the game even more if it was a bit more combat heavy but it really does have a good balance between the platforming and combat... Just my taste [/list]

It's really short, but I liked it. Feels really good to play, just wish it was a couple levels longer.

This game is one of Steams best kept secrets. The gameplay is brilliant. The use of the shield to reflect shots and surf/bounce on harmful terrain is excellent. The boss fights are the perfect level of increasing difficulty.