Kandria

This game is an absolute blast! The world map is interesting to explore, with political intrigue and tidbits of lore tucked all about varied environments. If you're looking for an open world with plenty of platforming challenges where the only limits are your own abilities, then this is the game for you! I adore the level design and the philosophy of no place being item-gated. Whenever I would encounter a particularly challenging room/path that I didn't feel like messing with, I would find that there were usually plenty of other options to approach my objective or other avenues begging to be explored and mapped while just enjoying the chill post-apocalyptic vibes. The platforming is fluid, satisfying, and really plays well into the only exploratory limits of the world being the player's skill with game's mechanics. When I would die, I felt like it was my fault, never the game. The combat sections in this game are simple but extremely fun when they pop-up and really introduce some extra variety and tension between the save locations. As you explore and level up, you'll become more survivable and you'll also have the ability to upgrade your sword if the enemies are giving you any trouble at all. Kandria provides an amazing amount of customization of your gameplay experience through its accessibility options. As a result, this game can be made more approachable to beginners of the platforming genre and/or can also remove some of the frustrations you may be feeling if the game seems like an insurmountable struggle. And just like whether you can choose to use the accessibility options or not, you can also choose to not upgrade your weapon, or to limit the amount of healing items you allow yourself to carry to make it more difficult through self-imposed challenge. This game can be as tough or as approachable as you would like it to be. Everything really is left up to the player. I would recommend this game to anyone interested in an immersive and open world, any fan of the platforming/metroidvania genre, or anyone looking to sink their teeth into a genuinely interesting and rewarding experience involving a charming android uncovering as much about the past as they can, while also working to find their place in this new world. It's important to also note that this game exposes the level editor to the player, so if you find yourself wanting more after the game is over (like I did), you can work on creating your own vision for the next map to explore. The amount of depth and value to this game are both truly impressive!

It's a precision-platformer with pretty simple combat. The accessibility configuration to slow time is helpful, but even with it, some of the rooms are quite hard to get through. As described, you can travel anywhere from the start of the game, which means there are no interesting upgrades: you can make your sword stronger, and I think you gradually increase hit points over time. Choices in conversations also don't seem to have any effect. The end of the game also just stops, without resolving any of the mysteries raised during the game.

Nothing is wrong with the gameplay but there are two major technical issues that are stopping me from playing it. I'm getting no sound at all in game, and there is an unusual brightness around the character and outside that make it hard to see and hurts my eyes. Workarounds mentioned on the forum are about changing various hardware settings that I can't do, as my setup for streaming and work is more important than getting one game to function properly. If they can fix these issues, I'll change my review.

Intriguing story, great mechanics, very responsive platforming. Hints of celeste in some of the challenge areas - and those areas are pretty challenging! Only a few hours in, but will come back to play more, likely on my Deck. Played flawlessly on my Linux desktop.

Elements of Celeste, Cave Story/choose-your-metroidvania, and a bit of Nier Automata are all here, if you liked any of those you'd probably like Kandria. Especially if you've played Celeste before, that'll be the first thing you're reminded of when it comes to the core movement and this game's source of challenge. But after completing the story I can say Kandria is its own game and I didn't feel like I was just playing any of those others yet again. It was also refreshing to play something without ability and upgrade locks, though there are a couple movement and combat tricks you learn as you go. Very calming atmosphere even though it's post-apocalyptic and some of the rooms I came across were challenging enough that I gave up on them for the time being. There's a bunch of accessibility options if the challenge is too much but you just want to explore, though I haven't messed with them yet.

Pros: 1. [b]Unique Narrative:[/b] Deep, post-apocalyptic story filled with mysteries. 2. [b]Engaging Exploration:[/b] Open world with diverse environments for discovery. 3. [b]Impressive Pixel Art:[/b] Detailed and expressive visuals create a distinct world. 4. [b]Atmospheric Soundtrack:[/b] Music enhances theme and atmosphere. Cons: 1. [b]Navigation Issues:[/b] Unclear objectives may confuse players. 2. [b]Challenging Platforming:[/b] Some segments may frustrate with difficulty. 3. [b]Shallow Combat:[/b] Lack of variety in combat mechanics. 4. [b]Incomplete Explanations:[/b] Mechanics may lack clear guidance. Overall, the game offers a unique narrative and engaging exploration, but faces challenges in navigation, platforming, combat depth, and explanations. Its distinctive qualities make it worth considering.

Fun 2d platformer showing Common Lisp in action.

I liked it, but note that platformer sections are brutal and require exceptional precision. There are accessibility options that include game speed though.

So far, I'm having a lot of fun with this game. It's a challenging platformer without being over the top difficult, the controls are fluid and smooth, and I'm really enjoying the characters, especially Jack. Admittedly, I haven't gotten very far, but I honestly want to just give this game a thumbs up to support LISPers and more usage of LISP in game development!

Deserves to be played by more people