Nice art/really awkward English translation.

Visually, I enjoyed it! The multiverse concept is so fun, like, in general. The game mechanics were entertaining and the puzzles were challenging enough to need to think for a second, but not so hard that you get stuck for ages. But that's about it.

The ending felt....unfinished?? There was no real resolution, which could be a deliberate creative decision, but for me it was a huge miss. It was very unfulfilling and made the whole game not feel worthwhile as the story was the whole reason I played it to begin with.

The English translation was at best awkward, at worst super distracting and pretty annoying. The amount of grammatical errors just took me right out of the story and made it hard to feel invested. I don't get why great games don't get native/qualified speakers to translate, it makes such a huge difference. :(

A relatively short and charming puzzle platformer. The aesthetics are beautiful and the game never manages to get boring thanks to the fact that every level has it's own unique gameplay gimmick and no level goes on for too long.

The one weak point of the game for me is its narrative. This game has a lot of tone issues and weird writing. I get the sense that the creators wanted to have a similar sort of tone to other modern indie games (like Undertale, Lisa, and such), where they kind of have a quirky sense of humor, but also darker more serious subtext underneath the humor, but it really doesn't work here, the humor isn't funny enough and the drama feels forced.

The story does a poor job of setting up a lot of the more serious aspects of the story early on, which makes them feel jarring once these more serious moments do arrive.

Still, the game is a lot of fun and I very much recommend it if nothing else then for the great pixel art visuals.

What Lies in the Multiverse is a 2D puzzle-platformer that really surprised me. Sometimes, when I have a few dollars worth of gold points left over in my Nintendo account, I hop onto the eShop and see what random game I can afford. Usually, I get one-off novelties or hilariously bad shovelware, but this time I actually got a charming little experience I'd recommend people check out.

The gameplay is based around swapping back and forth between different universes to traverse the world and solve puzzles. There are a number of different universes you can see throughout the game, and in addition to providing mechanics for traversal, it's also a lot of fun to see the little stories told exclusively through these universe swaps. You can see lovey-dovey couple in one universe, and then find that they're cruel and violent in another. Or perhaps a bustling city in one will be replaced by a more natural landscape in another. There's a decent variety across the game's runtime and I always look forward to seeing what came next. Plus, collectible artifacts scattered throughout the game encouraged exploration and further expanded on some of these micro-stories.

The plot of the game is nothing mind-blowing, but it did hit on some emotional beats and dark subject matter that I wasn't expecting. There were multiple moments that made me laugh out loud, with witty dialogue, dynamic sprite work, and funny sound cues to really bring up the charm factor. And the little cast of characters you get to know during your journey is very endearing. I will say that a decent amount of dialogue does feel a bit awkward in its phrasing. It looks like this game is originaly from a small indie studio in Chile, so I'm guessing this is just the result of limited resources for translation. It doesn't ruin the experiencd by any means, but it is noticeable.

Overall, this was a very pleasant surprise and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a lovely little story with some laughs, puzzles, and nice artwork.

The charm, humor, and creative exploits of shifting between parallel worlds will keep you riding well enough through this indie title. Even the story begins with enough intrigue and character personality to invest the player. Unfortunately, while shifting from moments of humor to somber morbidity in the latter half of the game, you grow tired of a narrative that feels the need to overcompensate. The game invests too much time trying to reach a dynamic altitude of emotions while mostly missing and dragging its heels along the way. At this point, the development of each character feels stagnant and underwhelming. The conclusion doesn't have much staying power and feels remotely unfinished/unrewarding. The gameplay and level design work well enough, but it's all pretty commonplace. The handful of levels where you lose your ability to shift between worlds are lacking in their execution. It's the game stripping you of some fun with boring puzzles and no abilities to entice creativity. On a positive note, the collectibles and hidden NPC moments are cute and well spread out. Also, the 8-bit artwork/design is solid, and there is legit anticipation for each chapter's feel. In the end I respected the developer's attempt and had some fun at the start with the mechanics and world building. Still, I don't have confidence I'll remember much about this title later down the road.

Good puzzle platformer. Nothing else to say really, you'll know if it's your type of game or not.

Pros:
- Clever puzzle design
- Interesting premise and gimmick
- Intreguing story
- Good soundtrack and art design

Cons:
- The story had a really dark undertone that never paid off
- Switching music tracks between dimensions is cool, albiet incredibly jarring. The messenger did this better.

83