[h1]A decent stealth assassin or maybe a puzzle game[/h1]
[i]The Psychoduck[/i] is a remake of the now-removed [/i]Psychoduck[/i], with slightly better graphics and improved UI.
In the game, you are a duck who collects crowns, worn by herons, so the psychotically logical thing to do is to kill them and take their precious belongings. But since herons can fly and they are guarded by frogs, you need to be sneaky about it.
[h1]Increasing complexity[/h1]
First few levels teach you to approach the heron silently ('shift' for sneaky mode) and to avoid the gaze of the frog guards. Running, while faster, will more easily get you caught and lose, restarting a level.
It takes a bit of time to figure out how the sight of the frogs works. They see pretty far towards sides, but only a bit towards north and south. Then, it's often possible to pass a guard at a daring place. In mid-game it often offers a couple of approaches, and as the levels get larger they become more non-linear.
Tutorial screens welcome new mechanics every few levels, including boxes to push, bushes to hide in, a distracting device to lure guards, and some travel and block mechanisms to bolster level design. For full completion, one needs also to be on the look out for snail shells, which are sometimes hidden away from the path. If you miss any, you can always return to find them using a handy level selection screen.
[h1]Small annoyances[/h1]
The line-of-sight of the frog guards caused me two kinds of grievances, one neutral and one frustrating.
First the neutral one: the levels sometimes have enough space for you to sneak riiight past a guard, above or below, in a way that's probably intentional given that there usually was another clear path to success. This way, it's possible to sometimes skip small or occasionally large portions of the level.
The frustrating one is that initially it's hard to know how well the frogs see, causing many level restarts early on. A sight cone like e.g. in the excellent [i]Shadow Tactics[/i] games would've been useful for this purpose, though admittedly it would've made the game way easier. Still, this would have fitted the first tutorial levels nicely.
This remake introduced icons to show guards off-screen, a handy feature that I applaud, since in the first version it was easy to walk into a guard without realizing before it was too late.
[h1]Just long enough[/h1]
The game mechanics are exciting only for a couple of levels. Good that the game is only 50 levels long, or it would have needed something more going for it. I think this was pretty much a perfect length for the game.
For me, the completion was about 2h 40min. Price is quite fair, particularly on sale (I got it for €1/-50%), so it's a good enough recommendation for me.
[url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9997062/]~Twistorian Curator~[/url]
