Rifter

You love platformers? You REALLY love grappling hooks? You want nothing more than the feeling of swinging around, doing cool tricks while rocking to good old synthwave? Then this game is EXACTLY what you want.

[b] Rifter [/b] is a very refreshing take on a "hardcore" platformer that relies on enjoyable grappling mechanics. It's basically designed for a speedrunner community because you get ranks depending on how you perform. It seems like you have to manually enable leaderboards, which is a nice gesture if you want to avoid that competitive pressure. The first 20 minutes I had a hard time with default controls. You should probably go to controller settings and check the "classic controls", see if that makes it more comfortable. Also, you can rebind the keys and buttons. The game settings are very good in general, especially for this type of game. Obviously, the game has a very stylish aesthetic, although I feel that variety in environments is lacking; I got to the second planet and the environment is essentially a color swap. Not that I don't like the way the game looks, it just needs more backgrounds and unique detail, otherwise, it may feel somewhat repetitive. Each planet has several towers which are like sets of missions and challenges. Most levels have secret collectibles that can be spent on skills trees. Yes, the game has skills trees despite not being an RPG, granted they are very linear and not all that interesting. The selling aspect of Rifter is the dynamic platforming, it feels unique when compared to almost any other platformer (well, there was a similar game that came out not too long ago). Still, even for someone like me that played platformers all my life, Rifter managed to make me feel like "a fish out of water". The gameplay feels great, it takes a lot of practice but I have no complaints. I would say that difficulty is slightly above average, there are plenty of checkpoints and the levels are not too long. I should make a note of the soundtrack, it fits the game very well and it tends to speed up or slow down depending on circumstances (ahh and the songs are very good). [h1] Pros: [/h1] + very good game settings, including things you would not expect + you can rebind controls (keyboard & controller) + unique and dynamic gameplay, feels great + stellar soundtrack used dynamically + basic skills tree and unlockable mobility tools + hidden gems and many challenges + overall a good aesthetic and polished experience [h1] Cons: [/h1] - I don't think that planets are different enough [b] Overall Thoughts: 8/10 [/b] Perhaps the game is not for everyone, its focus on complex platforming and hard challenges might filter out a certain type of gamer. I am not a competitive person but I am enjoying the feel of the game, it feels different when compared to your traditional platformer. You might have to play around with controls until you find a sweet spot. Overall, a solid game in almost every aspect, the variety in environments feels somewhat lacking though. [code]Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

I just bought it, played the first planet and it's awesome. Love the 80s soundtrack. The game gives you the feeling that you are doing something awesome. It makes fun and gives you anger, but good anger that let's you enjoy your success even more. Feelings I remember from playing Super Meat Boy.

这是一个好玩但是不太可玩的游戏。 在低难度关卡里一切表现的都还不错：你可以随意的、快速的、自由的穿梭在每个节点中，享受速度带来的快感。 但是在稍微高难度一点的关卡里，游戏机制就会使得一些事情变得很糟糕。 在游戏里你可以用抓钩来快速移动： 但，你的转速总是会超过每秒1圈。在每秒一圈/60fps这个级别上，1帧就会带来至少6度的偏差，5帧就是至少30度的偏差；而当dev想要提升难度时，你的转速总会超过每秒一圈，而可容许的角度总是会小于30度——有的时候甚至需要精确到12度以内，也就是前后各一帧。 其实这并不是太大问题——传统高难度游戏可以通过手感——或者说节奏感或者叫其他什么玩意，来解决每次按键按多长的问题。但是这个方法的前提是你的速度、起始位置是都恒定的。这种情况你固定按5帧+-1帧并不是太难的事，背就完事了。但问题在于这个游戏往往给出了多个连续的挂点跳跃：每个挂点的微小扰动都会引起下一个挂点起始值的错位。如果你上个挂点提前结束了2帧，可能下一个挂点要补3帧，也可能你速度反而变快了一丢丢（虽然你感觉不到），下一个挂点要提前1帧。再下下个挂点可能就无论如何都补不回来——就好比你扮演了柏青哥里的小弹珠，虽然理论上可以达到终点，但实际上无法知道确切自己在哪个节点应该怎么做，才能最终将自己引导到终点。 也许一个144-240hz的显示器可以缓解这个问题，但并不能缓解太多，我觉得。 *或者还有一种选项：背诵整个地图的解法，然后试试运气。 另外就是，这个游戏在本身已经趋向于混沌理论的基础上，又加入了使得游戏更加混沌的——人品过滤器。就是在某些挂点上会有旋转的伤害判定，碰到很容易即死。 但是你无法在一屏外得知这玩意转到什么角度了；在高速移动过去之后又很难再调整自己的位置，这种时候就会有一部分局面（大概20%~30%左右）因为运气不好而失败，玩家无法控制。 *以及，游戏的物理规则/隐藏规则也有一些微妙的违背直觉。 *跑酷游戏天生需要背板也是一大问题。虽然游戏本身给的引导线并不少，但是总有没覆盖的地方。跑到最后不认识路被杀了还是很烦。 ……综上，你要问我推不推荐，我肯定是不推荐的。但游戏本身质量还不错，我也不太能打一个差评。就这样吧。

Super fun fast-paced grappling hook platformer with smooth acrobatic movement, fantastic level and enemy design, and satisfying dash-into-enemies combat that will make you wonder why other grappling hook games don't do combat this way. The controls make it very easy to pick up, especially considering it's a grappling hook game, but it's still ridiculously hard to master; I'd argue that some of the optional end-game challenge levels are even harder than the equivalent levels in Celeste. It has a ton of levels, hidden collectibles and optional challenges, e.g. "finish this stage without touching the ground" or "finish this stage without using the grappling hook more than X times", like the similar "only use X portals" challenges in Portal. I bought this after randomly seeing it in my Steam discovery queue and ended up getting waaaay more polish and content than I expected, along with super tight momentum-based controls. Highly recommended!

The game used to be great, but there is a graphical bug in it that appeared some time ago, it has been reported and the developer does nothing about it. The game is unplayable as is... I am on a flavor of Ubuntu and as long as the dev does not respond to those kind of issues, I can't recommend the game.

One of the very best in the field of fast-paced precision platformers. Smooth and super-fast movement that massively rewards skill, a relatively forgiving base level of difficulty with harder optional challenges sprinkled all over, great variety in level design (there are awesome boss fights too!), in-game competitive leaderboards for speedrunners and a striking, polished audiovisual style to tie it all together - can't go wrong with those ingredients. The developer is a cool guy too.

I'm always on the lookout for challenging and fast paced platformers, so when I saw the trailer for Rifter about a month ago I instantly fell in love. It looked like everything I want from a game, and more. Now that I've played it, I can tell you... It's even better than I thought. It starts off quite easy for the first few levels, but the difficulty ramps up quick to place that is appropriate for a game of this type - it is a difficult game, but as any good difficult game it is never unfair. You get better quickly, and breezing through parts of a level that you just a few minutes ago were completely stuck on is amazingly satisfactory. The level design is excellent. It could easily have become a bit tideous to just be running one direction all the time, but the game mixes it up with fights that take place in enclosed spaces, in a more arena-like setting where you get a chance to learn the layout of the map, rather than just blazing past it. I'm not going to comment much on the graphics and the audio, you can see for yourself that they are amazing. However, I think that some more variation in these areas would not harm the game. I think that adding a few extra songs would go a long way, though as I'm writing this I'm not done with the game, so maybe some more songs will unlock as I progress? I love Super Meat Boy, and ever since I played it I've been on the lookout for something that scratches the same itch. This game is not only better than Super Meat Boy, it is the best 2D platformer that I've ever played. It's just that good.

This game is a blast and deserves more people to play it. A bit short if you're just looking at reaching an ending, but with all the challenges and extra content, you'll definitely get your money's worth if you go for true 100%. Amazingly satisfying to zoom through levels once becoming more familiar with the mechanics, and even the combat-oriented levels are fun.

This game is actually so sick, and I'm baffled as to how nobody knows about it. This is the biggest hidden gem I have ever come across, ever (and I can tell it's hidden, cause the way I found out about it was a random steam game search). It's not even a sense of "well the development team is small so I guess I can cut the game some slack", this game genuinely competes for one of the best platformers. It isn't THE best, but good god does it compete. Of course can't recommend it to everyone since it is still a challenging game, but it isn't an unfair challenge... Except for that one level near the end of the game where to 100% the level you need to beat it without getting hit and it's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of enemies in a tight space, yea, that one. That is unironically the ONLY instance that I can think of in the ENTIRE game where the challenge is a bit unfair, but it won't even matter if you're not going for 100% so problem solved! Seriously one of the best platformers I have played, 8/10.