So after finishing Inscyprtion, and not really wanting to start anything major until Final Fantasy Rebirth comes out, I figured this would be a nice little follow up game. Something I've had on my backlog forever, and with the freshness of how fantastic Inscrpytion was in my mind, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to play this.

What followed a pretty uneven experience, but definitely something that would lay the ground work for the brilliance that would be ahead.

First of all, lets start at the top. I finished this game on Steam Deck, and this was NOT an ideal place to play it. The game controls really poorly on that, which really isn't on the game, and it even warns you to not be stupid and attempt to do that. Some better control options would have been appreciated though.

The game itself is interesting. The puzzle segments were okay, though overused, and the arcade bits were fun. I wish there was a bit more playing around on the desktop, and using creative stuff like that in the game to do cool stuff t here.

The ending is pretty great, which I won't go into detail, suffice to say, I think Daniel's strength might be ending his games on a high point after two now.

Overall this was fun in spurts, frustrating in others, but the ending makes me overall positive on it. Cool to experience, once is good enough though.

The game is not about ponies, for sure, I guarantee, don’t even start playing otherwise...

Игра не про пони, точно, гарантирую, даже не начинай играть иначе...


К͇͇̜͇̰̣͙̳̫̘̉͆̆̐̍́̂̌̒̏̚̚ͅО̲͎͇̘̮͊̅͒̒̂̍̂Н̫̖̫͍̗̬̳̣͉̜̰̳͂͋̂̈̐́̊̒Е̤̠̠͇͉͖̜̦̋͒͂̉̔͑̀̚Ц͙̪̙̘̭͇̥̯͓̝̪̟̋́̄̀͂̾̈͌̈͒̊̚ Т̦͚̗͓̬͋͋̑̍́͋̚Е͚̦̤̜͉̲͆̓̇̂̏́ͅБ͕̟̠̱̘̪̱̲̟͐̐̉͒̂͋̚Е͚̞̥͚͕͇̦͎̥̣̮͌͌̾͆́ͅ

I'd almost guarantee that I if I had played Pony Island closer to when it came out, I'd have a fonder perspective on it. Instead, I just think about all of the somewhat neat 4th wall breaks, including one that is genuinely terrific, (you know which one), is other games that have done them better. Still, even if the puzzles are easy and the main gameplay is pretty lame, intentionally and unintentionally, I think it's presentation and short length prevents it from being a 'bad' game.

6/10
Game #2 of 2024, January 3rd.

Pony Island em 2024 provavelmente não tem o mesmo impacto que teve em 2016, quando 4th wall breaks em jogos não eram algo tão comum ainda. Quando esse impacto é retirado, não vejo grande coisa de sobra. Muita gente não culparia o jogo, mas para mim isso é uma grande falha.

Em jogos como OneShot, 4th wall breaks são um elemento importante no design da experiência, mas servem de um modo produtivo para alimentar uma história e atmosfera que se seguram de pé. Pony Island parece ter sido feito ao contrário, onde toda a história e atmosfera estão em serviço de ser o spooky game com 4th wall breaks. Honestamente o jogo parece-me só demasiado superficial, style over substance, não há nada significativo aqui a ser dito ou feito.

Não me interpretem mal, é um jogo muito competente no seu design e a arte é fixe, e pelo menos não se prolonga desnecessariamente. Nunca estive aborrecido a jogar, mas também nunca estive muito cativado. Por falta de uma palavra melhor: é mid.