Sword of the Black Stone

Its not great. But you know what, the creator probably had 100x more fun putting it together than I did playing it. So I guess they have the last laugh, huh?

I had reviewed this before, but I wanted to give it another shot, without being as mean-spirited. This game seems to walk the line between "So bad it's good" and "The clunkiest game I've ever paid for". I'll be 100% honest, I had to use exploits and glitches to get through the game. Pause sliding (which ignores collision) is very easy once you figure it out and it can save a lot of time, as well as keeping the blaster's hitbox active while not using it. I'm a sucker for these kinds of games. They have a certain charm to them, and this one has sated my craving for it. If you're also looking for something akin to this, go right ahead, but do keep in mind the things that follow. [b]In this next section, I will be much more critical, so keep that in mind. I'll try to be as constructive as possible.[/b] The story is not something to write home about. It's trope-y and, when coupled with the art style, the influence anime has on it is very apparent (Which in itself isn't a bad thing, but it comes off as somewhat generic and uninspired). If you're looking for a satisfying ending, look elsewhere. [spoiler]It would be nice to know what happened to Sadie after the defeat of DarkVol, or some kind of closure for any of the characters.[/spoiler] I could go on for hours about the control scheme and how Sadie controls. But all I really need to say is that there's tank controls with the strangest layout I've ever seen. And even then, movement is slow, platforming is nearly impossible, attacking stuff is janky, and many items barely function. It would probably need the most work to fix, starting with the control scheme. The biggest fix I can think of is to make space jump and escape the menu. The UI looks very compressed, and the controls menu is somehow much worse. I'd suggest upscaling them so it's actually readable. The menu is much worse, as it seems that the elements are different sizes in each room. This is easily one of the most front-and-center problems with the game, and I feel like it should be fixed before anything. Also, I'd highly recommend changing the room of the Neko Desert right after the first dark world section in it, specifically some of the characters that are there. It makes for an image that is very, [i]very[/i] questionable. If you know, you know. TL;DR - If you're looking for a clunky so-bad-it's-good game and don't care too much about a story, I'd go for it, but keep in mind you may need to know some speedrun strategies to complete a casual playthrough.