Vortex Of Pain

Vortex of Pain is coming along, though I still don't think it's worth full price for most people. There’re only 3 levels, and there's alot of jank. For example, I've died twice so far just from jumping. No nearby explosions, full health, not falling out of the map or off of a ledge, immediate death on landing from a normal jump. If you don't mind this kind of thing, read on. Otherwise, wait for polish. Vortex of Pain is a side-scrolling beat-em-up with alot of unpolished physics interactions. Sometimes the interactions are hilarious, as when everything or your enemies are blowing up and flying everywhere. Other times, as mentioned above, you're dying for either no apparent reason or for reasons that seem outside your control. There are mundane annoying moments, like when a random enemy headbutts you out of nowhere and you're forced to wait for your character to just get back up already before being knocked down again, and there are awesome moments like when you find yourself bouncing enemies in the air and against walls repeatedly. The worst moments haven't been bad enough to offset the fun ones. The environments are visually distinct, if odd due to lower-end assets, and the enemy types feel different from each other. There are standard large and small enemies, backflipping ninja enemies, enemies that try to act like cars, mimes that grapple you... there's at least 1 other indie beat-em-up I can think of (but won't mention) that looks better but somehow lacks even this much enemy variety. Player abilities feel fairly standard, and have been improved from when I first tried the game. You can now automatically grab enemies when you walk into them, which makes grappling far easier and useful over needing to rely on a grapple button. The grappling button is still present, but I've always found it hard to use. Overall, still fun if a little frustrating for the weird deaths. Even if you don't buy today, I'd recommend keeping an eye on Vortex of Pain.