To be perfectly honest I don't usually write game reviews but I am both astonished at how much content this game offers for the price and at how quickly the difficulty ramps up with subsequent challenges. The standard run is a great way for new players to learn the necessary mechanics to survive. That and how to throw the grappling hook during a free fall so that they don't become a meat pancake. Nightmare mode turns things up a notch, the centipede that is normally pretty easy to avoid is still fairly easy to avoid but it is faster and smarter. It means you have to know your route, otherwise the centipede will come and very politely starts mulching you to death. Still, nightmare mode is quite manageable. Before I get on with first kiln mode I will state that I have not attempted an inverted run yet, 1. for my sanity and 2. because I wanted to see what each run had to offer before I attempted any of the silly stuff. With that stated that now brings me to the first kiln run, which I have yet to beat. I have made it quite far and I think more than anything I just have to learn the terrain with subsequent runs but I digress. First kiln mode addresses one of my gripes with nightmare mode, which is that nightmare mode felt decently easy. That said for first kiln mode the dev went, "eh the terrain was too easy, let's make that harder", and then proceeded to take every form of drug known to man and thought "wouldn't it be funny if there were more centipedes, and like, what if there were overdosing on crack?" and "oh yeah let's add dead ends to the terrain so you're forced to climb upwards if you ♥♥♥♥ the bed". I have not been able to do a full count of all the centipedes but practically every hole you climb through produces a view of at least 1-3 centipedes that are either crawling upwards towards you or climbing down after you. ANd when I say the centipedes are on crack I mean it, while nightmare mode introduces slightly faster and slightly smarter centipedes first kiln mode introduces a linebacker with a mathematicians brain. They are so much faster and they actively target your grappling hook, meaning that if they get the opportunity to drop you a few hundred feet they will absolutely do so. Beyond the centipedes, the dead ends that I have died in have offered a truly unique experience. I'll paint the scene I was presented with on one of my first kiln runs; you fell into a dead end, and after failing to grapple twice you finally get your hook set, however, there are two centipedes that are coming directly towards you like the usain bolt of crawling. That's fine you think to yourself, you have just enough time to start climbing, that is you would have enough time, if it weren't for the crack in the wall you noticed upon falling into this dead end. This crack was not big enough for you a human being to fit through, however these centipedes apparently have santa clause physics cause ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THERE IS A CENTIPEDE COMING THROUGH THE CRACK AND YOU CANNOT CLIMB FAST ENOUGH and now you are dead.
If I'm being perfectly honest what makes first kiln feel like an appropriate challenge after the first two runs, and why I'm looking forward to playing it until I beat it, is that it utilizes a skillset you should have already leraned from the first two runs. You can move very quickly in this game and while the centipedes in first kiln mode are very fast they are also very avoidable. The speed with which you can decend is far greater than the speed with which they crawl which leaves 2 issues you have to solve. The first is dead ends, which after a run or two are more trivial largely because you should have the know how to route arround them at this stage in the game. The second is more difficult terrain and while routing helps somewhat knowing how to grapple at greater distances and which surfaces are safe to use the grapple on is vital.
To summmarize this lengthy review I will say this, I try to stick to a one game at a time policy and this game (as well as barony) have made me break this policy. This is a fantastic indie gem with a fantastic and fair challenge run. I truly hope that this game gains more traction and more people get to experience this game, and truly, hats off to the dev.
