I'm usually not one who is into a lot of the precision platforming genre. I don't find most of them fun and I think most of them feel intentionally rage bait-y for the streamer crowd. Beton Brutal feels different. Instead it feels like a game crafted for the love of the speedrunning community and a fondness for Minecraft's jumping puzzle maps.
It's weird to think Minecraft has been around long enough to make the concept of a standalone nostalgia game actually feel right and meaningful. Everything is faithfully recreated while being precisely optimized for this new engine. Meanwhile the beautiful level design both encourages you to give each puzzle a try on your way up while also asking you to look for skips to improve your time. I never found a skip that didn't feel intentional and they all felt brilliantly hidden or laid out. Eventually the weight became taking the risky jumps of a skip I know in and out vs. taking a longer route that is generally safer but has more options to screw up and fall further.
This game almost works as a sort of climb out of a pit of despair. Every climb upwards may not result in success but each ascent you know what you're capable of. I know I can reach this point because I've done it before. And every climb back up comes with improvement. Eventually you're making more progress than not and finally reaching the top.
It's simple and complex all at once. The range of emotions ending with that final sigh of relief. It's hard to find something else that quite hit that same satisfaction.
Also I'm like 90% sure this game is haunted. I'm not just seeing or hearing some of these things right? Unexpected but very appropriate given the brutalist yet hopeful atmosphere.
It's weird to think Minecraft has been around long enough to make the concept of a standalone nostalgia game actually feel right and meaningful. Everything is faithfully recreated while being precisely optimized for this new engine. Meanwhile the beautiful level design both encourages you to give each puzzle a try on your way up while also asking you to look for skips to improve your time. I never found a skip that didn't feel intentional and they all felt brilliantly hidden or laid out. Eventually the weight became taking the risky jumps of a skip I know in and out vs. taking a longer route that is generally safer but has more options to screw up and fall further.
This game almost works as a sort of climb out of a pit of despair. Every climb upwards may not result in success but each ascent you know what you're capable of. I know I can reach this point because I've done it before. And every climb back up comes with improvement. Eventually you're making more progress than not and finally reaching the top.
It's simple and complex all at once. The range of emotions ending with that final sigh of relief. It's hard to find something else that quite hit that same satisfaction.
Also I'm like 90% sure this game is haunted. I'm not just seeing or hearing some of these things right? Unexpected but very appropriate given the brutalist yet hopeful atmosphere.