Violet Wisteria

攻撃に一癖ある横スクアクションゲーム GOGOアックマンやスーファミのゴエモンをイメージするとわかりやすいかも メトロイドヴァニアじゃないので気楽にプレイできるのがうれしい！ 難しさは超魔界村くらい

I just grabbed a copy of Violet Wisteria on launch day and was able to play for about an hour so far. I also played the demo a bit back when it was released. First of all, this game is difficult! If you go into this thinking you're going to get a run-of-the-mill, hack-and-slash platformer with barely any challenge, you're in for a big surprise. But the challenge is baked into the DNA of this game and every design choice, from the way the enemies move, to the layout of the platform elements, to the distribution of items and powerups. This is 2D gaming much like what I grew up with in the late 80s and early 90s. It doesn't hold your hand and there are no shortcuts to completing a level. The only thing you can do it play, fail, and play again until you've earned the skills needed to move on to the next area. That in itself is the reward. Thankfully, the visuals are extremely well done and so full of imagination that being able to see each new stage is a real treat. The backgrounds are detailed and gorgeous, with great parallax effects; the animations are simple but effective; the enemy designs are varied and interesting—there are some enemies that made me laugh when they first appeared because of how unusual they were. The music is another highlight. To be honest, the first time I heard what can be considered the "main theme," I wasn't thrilled with it. But the more I heard it, the more it got stuck in my head, and now I love it. The rest of the music that I've heard in the game (I've only made it to stage 2 so far) has been surprising and unpredictable. Each piece is often marked by sections of extremely memorable and catchy melody and harmony, which are then contrasted by bizarre, abstract sections of (semi)controlled dissonance and intense, strange lead melodies that rise, fall, and jump around like they're lost...only to find their way home again. I'll definitely be buying the soundtrack when it goes up for sale (on the 11th, according to the developer on Twitter). I'm looking forward to jumping back into this when I have a long stretch of time with no distractions (because the game doesn't have a save system—remember, Violet Wisteria is paying tribute to games of old that didn't utilize saves yet), because I really want to see how far I can go. The mid-boss of stage 2 was kicking my butt, but I'm determined to get past it and see what's next in the game.