In Retrospect

Nothing about this game really appealed to me in the end. The artstyle is kind of weird and all over the place. The story appears nonsensical. These levels are supposed to be you reliving through your memories, but the levels themselves appear to be completely random nonsense with dinosaurs and spaceships in space with flying cars? There are collectibles scattered all throughout the level and are supposedly important to the story in some way, but based on their placement and how they are randomly scattered on the levels i have no idea how you would ever purposefully collect any specific type of collectible. Would make much more sense if there were clearly different routes you could take on each stage and those routes were guided by the different collectibles. The level design itself felt way too "loose" and wide open. There is frequent downtime between obstacles and inputs which is very counter to the general idea of an autorunner. The levels are also often hard to sightread especially with certain mechanics like the wind, it feels incredibly arbitrary how and when you are supposed to jump with the wind and the trajectory it will send you on. And just in general I wasnt a fan of almost any aspect of the characters movement mechanics. Took about an hour of playing before I decided I had zero interest in continuing. Here are some alternative autorunners I have enjoyed and would recommend. Atomik - run gun uump gun Miles and Kilo Super Meatboy Forever

I grabbed this game as a time waster for my Steam Deck, and I am glad I did! Although initially it seems like a simple runner, I find that the placement of objects and obstacles have a flow to them that works well with getting "in the zone." Once you get the feel for a level, it feels like you played it like an instrument. Speaking of instruments, the music is excellent. The game is totally worth it just for the beats alone. The story is pretty unique for a runner, and the collectables you choose to grab change your experience with the game. For example, I focused on "education" during one level, and was treated to some tips for scoring high the next level. When focusing on wealth, a store opened up allowing me to purchase one bonus for the next level. I have yet to focus on more than love, wealth and education but I will return to the game to experience what each focus changes within the journey. Finally, the challenge mode shines brightest for me. Focusing on a high score while feeling "the zone" is lots of fun, and achieving a crown is quite demanding! It's a great pick up and play game and it runs well on the Deck.

Story mode is fun and thoughtful, and the challenge mode is already addictive and competitive.

In Retrospect, by developer/publisher Paper Salamander Games, is a 16-bit action platformer that takes players along a journey of their past life. Normally, I don’t find myself picking up platformers - in fact, I avoid them in favor of MMORPGS or even FPS games (despite my aim being absolutely atrocious). However, In Retrospect definitely left a good impression on me. Although the game is short, it’s very obvious Andrew Nee, its creator, spent a lot of time on its development and music, making the journey enjoyable but bittersweet. So, I’ll be dividing this review into a few categories: story, gameplay, and music. Story If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t expecting much at all from the story. I don’t even know exactly what I was expecting. However, the story certainly did not disappoint me. The addition of collectibles within the game adds to the story as well – like any other popular choice-based title. Depending on what collectibles you “focus” on, dialogue changes, and from what I could take away, what’s added to subsequent levels changes as well. While I liked this aspect of the game, you may be wondering why I put focus in quotes. Not that it’s that big of a problem – especially if you aren’t paying any particular attention – it’s quite hard to change what exactly it is you want to collect. I’ll touch upon that more in the gameplay section. Another aspect of the game I really enjoyed were the deaths. Now, I may sound crazy, but I think it genuinely adds a lot to the storytelling part of the game, which resembles real life more than I would expect. The game progressively gets harder (just like life), which means that players are more likely to die/restart levels. Anytime you die or restart the level, the text “Is that how it really happened?” appears. At first, I thought it was rather ominous and kind of scary especially since it comes after death and a big red screen. After some thought though, it goes along with the idea that the player is essentially retelling their life story (in retrospect) throughout the entirety of the game. To coincide with that, each life is a “telling,” and while you have unlimited lives, the number of times you retell your story increases with your deaths. It’s a little detail, but it adds to the novelty of the game, making it more enjoyable to play. Gameplay As for gameplay, it’s pretty typical for a platforming game with a few unique elements. It can be compared to the popular title Geometry Dash, given that it has many similar mechanics. Just like Geometry Dash, it’s a very hectic platformer. Like once you get past chapter 3, things begin to get rough and confusing. I think that adds to the gameplay though and makes it pretty realistic – life gets very rough and confusing as you grow older. This was my issue, however. As I said, I don’t normally pick up platformers. Heck, the last platformer-esque game I played was Geometry Dash and I couldn’t even make it past the second level on my phone. In Retrospect is not nearly as hard as Geometry Dash, however, the added collectible part to change the story is what makes playing chapters difficult. If you want to get a sense of what each collectible does, you have to really pay attention and be intentional (which I was not). I only managed to ever get wealth, creativity, and love – only 3 out of 6 collectibles – despite trying to see what the different one’s would’ve given me. That being said, it makes the game replayable. And if you’re really not into that stuff, there are challenge stages where you can test your abilities. Although it wasn’t really my thing, it was definitely fun to try out. Music The music in this game ties everything together to give it its charm. If you’re familiar with content creators like DashieGames or CoryxKenshin, this game has music they’d definitely jam to or freestyle on, making it all the more fun to play. As you play, you can tell Andrew Nee was very intentional in his selection of music throughout the chapters, and even the levels as the music changes as you progress. It’s kind of like a soundtrack of life, which I really appreciate. Overview All in all, I really enjoyed the game. If you’ve got a little time on your hands, I’d definitely recommend playing In Retrospect.

In retrospect, The re-memorization of unique features within this retro-spectral symbiosis pixel game is very memorable to the 1 brain cell individuals.

Another gem from paper salamander games, which you might remember from its completely adequate blastworks stage, or its zip file called database functions. This is much better however, and like celete conveys a lot of story in a short amount of time. I don't need to re-describe the game, because its description does a pretty good job at that, but I can say that its a good game for the expense. The main game is a little short however, so you shouldn't go in expecting 20+ hours of content.

Good Game Absolute love it! Soundtrack is fantastic

Solid game. Came to support an indie developer and came back with a good game. #Vote4Stan

fun little game with a few spots that have really uncharitable checkpoint placements, a really nice soundtrack, and some interesting ideas.

Fun autorunner with a fair amount of mechanics and some depth to its movement.