Well, after finishing ef – a fairy tale of the two., I can finally check out Killjoy Hunter Yuuko. To be honest, I didn't have very high expectations of it despite absolutely enjoying the ef games. You see, this game works as a spin-off and is only one to two hours long and thus, there isn't a lot of new insight of the base storyline, however, it ended up being quite enjoyable, regardless. Although Killjoy Hunter Yuuko can be enjoyed by any platformer fan, it is clearly meant to appeal to fans of the series.
It is highly recommended to play the ef games before starting this spin-off as it contains spoilers. However, this entry is entirely optional and isn't significant for the main games at all.
That being said, feel free to check out my reviews for [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/xTentacleBunny/recommended/1144300/]ef – the first tale.[/url] and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/xTentacleBunny/recommended/1145030/]ef – the latter tale.[/url]
[h2]Was Everything Just a Dream?[/h2]
Killjoy Hunter Yuuko takes place after the events in ef – the latter tale. Yuuko returns once again and finds herself back in the previous cast's dreams. However, this isn't a peaceful dream as it's, in fact, actually a nightmare. In this story, there are monsters called "Killjoy" who are trying to bring unhappiness to our precious couples. Therefore, Yuuko decides to fight against the enemies and tries to find out who the mysterious culprit behind this incident is.
Story-wise, there isn't a lot happening in Killjoy Hunter Yuuko. It only revolves around Yuuko fighting against all the girls so they realize that they have gone crazy. However, as a fan of the series, I still managed to enjoy the short interactions between Yuuko and the heroines. You see, this game contains a lot of references that made me feel nostalgic. I enjoyed seeing the old cast once again, even for a short while, although there is not an in-depth story available. I found it a shame that the dialogue fell rather short, so the player moves on to the next girl after purifying them when I just wanted to talk to them a little bit longer.
[h2]Left… or Right?[/h2]
The game itself works like a typical platformer where the player takes the role of Yuuko who can jump, attack and move either to the left or right side of the area. In total, there are five different stages available, although each of them is very short. Through these stages, the player can jump through different areas. Luckily, when the player dies, Yuuko gets teleported to the beginning of the area so I didn't have to go through the whole stage once again. However, there is a certain number of lives available the player has to pay attention to. The important thing here is that when all of them are gone, the game ends and I found myself back on the title screen. But fortunately, Killjoy Hunter Yuuko is quite forgiving and thus, the player can just restart the stage they were stuck on.
Another thing I noticed is that there is a difficulty setting available in the menu, as well as the amount of the total lives, although 20 is the maximum settable number. When I was too frustrated and impatient with the game I just added more of them and could play without getting stressed over dying a lot. I liked that the option is available for those who are not good at platformers, as I admittedly found some stages pretty tricky. The double jump is quite high and although is a good thing, I couldn't see the ground anymore, which was slightly inconvenient when bricks I had to jump on were moving. The familiar problem here is that they get combined with enemies as well, which made me fall into death a few times.
Something I really liked was that there are a lot of different kinds of enemies available in this game. They didn't only look entirely different from each other, as they are mostly animals from various species, but also don't have the same abilities. For instance, while bears are just walking around while trying to attack the player, birds actually fly around and snakes which dash against the player once they are spotted. I had to constantly pay attention when I happen to stumble across a new enemy and there was not a single moment where I could sit back and lower my guard. Additionally, each boss has different abilities as well, which were quite fitting.. Considering the player knows about their personality and preferences from the previous entries.
[h2]Graphics[/h2]
As aforementioned, I liked the variety of the designs of the enemies as well. Each stage was colorful and the environment was familiar as it takes place in the same city as the other ef games. In addition to that, I absolutely loved the chibi graphics during the gameplay part and Yuuko was utterly adorable while jumping around trying to survive the wave of evil Killjoys. The visual novel parts were well-executed nonetheless and offered multiple facial expressions which even improved my immersion. While the characters surely aren't fleshed out like in the other games, they still appeared lively during the cutscenes.
[h2]So, what do we have in the end?[/h2]
I had fun going through Killjoy Hunter Yuuko and enjoyed it for what it is, although it's a very short game and only offers a simple plot without any deep insight. Whilst the story didn't manage to surprise me, I loved to see more of the cast. The dialogue between Yuuko and the girls was rather silly and I couldn't help but feel nostalgic throughout the game, which made me feel slightly disappointed at the same time that each girl didn't have a lot of screentime. That being said, Killjoy Hunter Yuuko is probably enjoyable to fans of the ef series, however, it might be pretty confusing for newcomers, as it is clearly meant to be played by those who already finished the previous entries.
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