I feel like the game had a good foundation for a compelling world-building, I was almost salivating to get that lore injection, reminds me a bit of Tamashii with its erotic themes, but it never really happened. The world looks interesting, and I want to learn more about it, but there is just so little context to it, and the very little visual storytelling that I got didn't explain much of anything. I am not always a fan of forcing the dialogue into games, but you probably could have at least put a few characters into it just to give you an idea of what I am looking at.
At first, I was a little confused by the style of animation, it didn't look great in the trailer, but now that you mention Oddworld as the source of inspiration, it makes more sense, I can see that you almost imitating that feel, kind of like intentionally using old prerendered models, so given the context, it looks better than I initially thought. My personal experience with cinematic platformers is more from the Flashback side, but this game is not really going for those momentum controls, and to be honest it does not feel very cinematic, with the exception of a few 2.5D effects. It seems there are more basic puzzles in this game than the actual experience that you would associate with a game like this, and that is why I think I feel the disconnect.
The game can be completed in about 60 to 90 minutes, mostly simple puzzles and some basic platforming, with some combat that only starts maybe half-way into the game. My first impression was really bad, I think the animation feels extremely clunky, especially when you change direction, and exiting the slide as well, it kinda has a delay feel to it, and I think you should remove it completely, just make it constant or almost the same speed. See once I got the blades I didn't mind the animation as much, the attack frames are much faster than any interaction so I am like, wtf, now the game feels better, why could you not do the same for movement.
Visually I felt the game had a very bad consistency with the effort that you would put into decorating the areas. Many segments of the game felt cheap, while some rooms had very complex structures with patterns and nice light effects, almost reminds me of the dev that goes by ArkHouse, so like, I kinda wish you did that level of quality across the entire game and not just some rooms.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) I will say the visuals and the level design were not consistently good, whenever you would go out of your way to create those patterns on the walls and actually put some clear light effects against the images, I thought the game looked a lot better. There are many other effects that I was not a fan of though, like the blurry lights and fog spam.
(+) The combat system really didn't have much to it, but at least compared to regular movement the attack animations were a lot faster and more responsive. I do like that some enemies would have multiple attack animations, I kinda wish you took the game further into that direction and maybe make of a metroidvania style of game.
(+) Interesting world, except well, you kind of left me with nothing to work with, it's okay to keep it vague, but give me something you know, maybe a few characters that would talk to you.
[h1] Feedback: [/h1]
- So the attack animations have really fast frames, but why everything else feels so slow. I think that turning speed and animation recovery between movement should be more consistent compared to your walking speed, if you can do that I think the game will feel better. Also maybe speed up that chain climb and swing momentum. The direction speed change has such a big delay, it almost feels like the game is lagging, even though it's just bad animation speed.
- I was waiting for you to toss me that world-building bone, but you never really gave it to me. Even when it comes to visual storytelling you not really elaborating on anything that I see, I get it has some erotic metaphors, but for what. I kinda wish there were maybe a few characters that would talk to you, give a little bit of a background.
- Some parts of the game really didn't look that great. The game looks better when you create those wall patterns and designs that I can somehow associate with this strange world, I wish you kept that look of the game consistently across the experience. Some light effects, especially those that are clear look a lot better than blurry fog and static.
- Maybe mid-air attack should cleave down a bit, cuz it goes straight, so you can easily hit over things
- Perhaps for immersion's sake, instead of having Loading between every segment, put something world related, some animations perhaps.
- The ending felt too abrupt, a little context would help.
[b] Overall Thoughts: 5/10 [/b]
I finished the game mainly out of curiosity, I was waiting for the game to give some lore injections but it never really happened, I was interested in the world, but you didn't explain any of it really, it's erotic in nature, something about lust and submission, that is about as much as I can see. A lot of it comes down to the game not having the best pacing and overall experience, some parts are a bit more thought-provoking, others feel like you doing another generic puzzle. Needed a bit more world-building and perhaps a little more exploration, cool idea, but came out feeling a bit underdeveloped.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
