Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland

As someone who grew up with the original on NES and the animated movie I love the charming design of the game and it's fresh take. The designs are beautiful and I can't want to keep playing. Gameplay is tight and snappy.

This game was soo much fun. I was a little disappointed I couldn't turn into a frog or ride a salamander, but the toys and pets were a great way to control progression. The map was great. I loved the secrets, collectables, and achievements. The best part was the pet statues, and constellations, I enjoyed them all!

I can't describe this game in great enough praise. If you are looking for a review I believe the positive comment will do a better job than I could. To say this game is awesome is an understatement. It is so full of charm and wonder, you can tell it was lovingly made.

This is a game in search of an audience. Based on the Little Nemo comics from Winsor McCay, it eschews the easily identifiable style of the original and goes for something more modern and clearly aimed at a younger audience. Based on the first level of the game and the writing, this is what you clearly expect from the game: a metroidvania aimed at a younger audience. Easy to play, with writing aimed at kids. As the game goes along, though, the difficulty will rise to the point where young kids will drop out frustrated, and the story becomes something more, not entirely mature, but clearly written by someone trying to leave childhood behind without losing the joys it offered. I didn’t care much for the story, honestly. I can see what it’s going for, but I found it rather pretentious, with someone going for deep and thoughtful, and instead looking clumsy and awkward. The difficulty, on the other hand, is due to stiff controls. That doesn’t matter much initially when it’s just simple platforming. But later the game expects you to do a couple more complicated maneuvers, which isn’t something you can do comfortably with the controls at hand. Mind you, this isn’t a particularly difficult game, merely one that is designed in such a way that it often annoys you. You only have three hit points, and with how busy the screens are, sometimes it’s easy to run into something that will damage you. Bosses likewise only need three hits to die, but the later bosses require a particular sequence of actions so that their weak point is accessible. Once you learn what to do, it’s not an issue, but this kind of design is rather boring. There’s no dynamic fighting here, no genuine difficulty; it’s just rote memorization of how to beat them, and that’s it. You can collect different abilities, like in most metroidvania, as well as different pajamas, that help with some extra minor abilities. One pajama you get late game allows you to transform into a stone figure that is utterly invincible and makes it considerably easier to beat the later bosses. So the game gives you options to make it easier. Gameplay-wise, in each new level, you have to find the boss, beat him, get a scepter, bring it to the kid guardian that is trapped in animal form, bring them back, which removes specific story-relevant damage zones spread out over each level. Repeat ad nauseam for each level. While each level has its own visual identity and enemies, there’s rarely anything interesting here. Occasionally, you have to carry keys or other stuff in your hands (not your inventory) that is merely there to prolong playtime and not particularly enjoyable. Think Hollow Knight’s Delicate Flower Quest, but far easier, and just as annoying. If there’s one part where the game shines, it’s the myriad of secrets to discover, some quite well hidden. You can collect a companion later that beeps whenever there’s a secret close by, but even then, some are tricky to get at. Overall, though, this is a solid metroidvania that doesn’t do anything particularly unique or even offer a compelling story, but it’s good to waste a couple of hours on if you can stand the cutesy style.

As a big fan of the original NES game, I backed this game during development - and boy, am I glad I had the ability to support this game's development! This doesn't play like the original NES game by any means, but it takes the protagonist and modernizes the characters from the world to create a fun adventure. The art is so cute, the music is great of course (shout out to Anamanaguchi) and I really like how the gameplay unfolds as you go. There are little stories which reflect childhood traumas and engage the player in digging into their own memories and through and through serves as a celebration of having grown up as an 80s kid. The creator(s) of this game did a wonderful job tapping back in to what childhood feels like and what is important to children in a way that feels warm and fuzzy. The game is very well guided, though I personally could do with a bit less dialogue/tips and the bosses are easily difficult. Traditional 3-hit boss format where there's a different play dynamic beyond "learn the attacker's pattern and then strike," which is a really cool approach. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys 2D platformers and whimsy.

a must play for any age

Fun game but not even close to the original Little Nemo. The art style is beautiful and the music is good + we need steam achievements! I'm taking a few points off because why did they have to bring DEI crap into this game.

I had a lot more fun playing this game than I had anticipated. I backed it on Kickstarter because it seemed like the developer was passionate about making a great game, and they delivered. It was more challenging than I expected (which I liked), and there were options to adjust the difficulty if desired. The story and dialogue were enjoyable and meaningful, and the art style is so pleasant! You can tell a lot of work and care went into this project!