Looking at the reviews I found myself wondering "was I playing something that these folks weren't?"
There were complaints about difficulty, controls feeling overly dated, and I just got none of that?
Turns out, probably! A recent update seems to have improved quite a lot of the game - I have not played the prior version, but this version? Pretty good, I think. It's a charming if somewhat immature game, with great 2d pixel art graphics, excellent music and overall gameplay that's "good enough.".
It still feels a very old school platformer, but as someone whose first gaming experience was the ZX Spectrum, and grew up with the Sega Megadrive, it feels the right amount of old school for better or worse.
There is some 'old school style jank' intentionally recreated - the protagonist stops to shoot when on the ground but not in the air, some jumps have some particularly weird timing, Boss patterns are usually fairly easy to parse but every other boss has a single solitary attack that will be the bane of a no-damage run... And the 'secrets and collectables' aren't exactly obscure but damn if that one rescue item in the Lava Stage isn't thoroughly annoying.
All that said, the game's good. I enjoyed it.
If I had a real 'complaint' or thing people need to be aware of, it's tied to the difficulty and game length. This game is short. VERY short.
But that's OK. Games this short are made to be replayed, and I can safely say I have done so a few times now. (.. so if you look at my hours on record, you have an idea of how short it is). A lot of the gametime will come down to achievement hunting and trying harder difficulties.
Back in the day you'd pay AAA prices for a game this short but now, £5 is certainly a lot more of an appropriate price.
Because, yes, it is very short.
I found it on the verge of being a too easy on the default difficulty. But I've also been playing these types of games for decades, so take that with a pinch of salt.
If this really was back in the day, you'd expect a much more punishing game, but this smooths over a lot of what would've been backbreaking, so Ultionus is pretty generous as these types of games go.
Lives handed out like candy, minimal instant death hazards, continues aren't even a thing (run out of lives? You just get kicked back to the start of what is always a fairly short level).
There's still some difficulty there, not always in a fair manner - most of the trouble comes from trying to get the good ending after all - but it shouldn't take more than one or two attempts to clear any given level.
Except penultimate stage's lift segment. That part kind of sucks.
I've rambled long enough, if any part of this sounds like it'd click for you, it probably will.
