I've grown wiser with time, or at least I like to think I have, even if only a little bit; I know what to trust and what to be weary of, and I know that you never, NEVER must trust a singing pumpkin under ANY circumstances... a dancing one however? Now that's a whole different story, show them the forbidden steps, Jack!

A few months ago I played and subsequently reviewed Haiku, the Robot, and during my every interaction with that game, I couldn’t scratch off the feeling that despite me having fun with it, despite some of its elements really clicking with me, despite overall enjoying the experience, I just found the game at times just… derivative. I think that’s one of the worst fates any kind of piece of art can have; now of course, when a game ends up falling flat on its face despite the best efforts of the author or team behind it it’s always an enormous shame, but I certainly wouldn’t call some of the worst videogames I’ve played ‘’derivative’’, if anything they’ve made me realize what’s what I truly appreciate in good art and, even when those are blatantly lifting ideas from other works, I certainly wouldn’t say that they haven’t provided anything of value, even if it is for all the wrong reasons. At least they made me feel something, at least I learnt taken something of value out of the experience, and when a game instead is derivative, I’m either just pondering over one singular question while experiencing it: ‘’Man… I could be playing [INSERT OTHER PIECE OF MEDIA THAT ISNPIRED WHAT I’M CURRENTLY PLAYING HERE] right now instead of this…’’ . I’m perhaps being too mean using poor little Haiku as an example of this, since I still would call it a pretty competent metroidvania, but I think it’s a perfect subject to use in this specific case, because while Haiku the Robot was a game that feels hindered by the fact it follows so much the other games that inspired it and seems afraid to form a mold of it’s own, Pumpkin Jack is a game that lends a ton of elements from its inspirations while also forming an unique identity and heart of gold. It also features the best line in any platformer to date:

‘’Hooray, we killed Santa Claus!... OH NO, WE KILLED SANTA CLAUS!’’

The MediEvil inspiration is apparent as soon as you start the adventure, to the point I at first began wondering were the statues with Scottish accent would be or if the villain would say some funny British swear words ; the base of style, presentation and even gameplay of both games have pretty much the same DNA, what with your platforming with segments of light hack ‘n slash, the spooky medieval ambientantion and even the parts where you pull off a MediEvil 2 and Jack enters crawling head mode, but as soon as I kept playing and playing, rather than this similarities becoming more apparent, quite the opposite happen, and by the time I got to the second level, it was clear that Pumpkin Jack, while taking the same skeleton (no pun intended) of the original PSX series and its many elements, manages to craft an experience that it’s completely it’s own, and one could argue that in some instances it parodies those games; with Medievil being the story of an entitled little prick that after being revived and given a second chance tries to be a true hero a save the world, Pumpkin Jack is the story of a massive asshole that gets revived to work for the devil to keep being a massive asshole freely… majestic…

And my devil, let me tell ya something, I wasn’t expecting this game to be bad in the slightest, but to not only surpass my expectations regarding its own identity but also being this fun is just something I wasn’t coming, and I’m ever so glad for my non-existent mouth to be shut by it. The devil is right to accurse these lands, because the change of look is pure fire; one thing is to try to go for a spooky ambience, and other thing is to consistently pull it off this well level after level, idea after idea, being so original while also managing to have that consistent sense of style and visual flare. Pumpkin Jack looks good and it knows it, each area feeling so natural while being as cartoony and comically terrifying as possible, putting on a spin on the most basic of ideas like cemeteries and swamps, to the most fun and original of all like the mines and even a Christmas theme town. The music makes it even more of a blast, there are no weak pieces here, every track slays, and none feel similar to each other, which taking into account the very specific spoopy style they are going for is a major accomplishment. And for almost everyone in the game looking or being dead, holy hell do they have style; even tho I wished there was a bit more enemy variety, part of that is because every single design is a joy to witness; the use of colors and shapes make every single one of these Grimm Adventures of Billy And Mandy rejects so lovable, and even the most generic of skeletons and gargoyles feel so special and distinct from anything I’ve seen in a long while it’s surreal. I honestly wished Jack interacted with more of this weirdos, because where the dialogue is a perfect encapsulation of everything absurd in this world; it feels like every single character that speaks has at least one or two fantastic lines, either comedic or even a bit more serious, and at the center of it all there’s the son a bitch that is Jack. As I said before, he’s an asshole, but a good kind of asshole! It never steps the boundaries of trying to be ‘’ultra-cool’’ or ‘’dark’’, and when it does is for more comedic effect, instead he feels more like a tired prick that just wants to get this thing done as soon as possible, and bounces off the rest of the characters and takes things seriously enough so that it feels both believable, likable, and that the stakes are very much present, even if this time around those are bringing the world to its doom instead of saving it.

Thankfully, dialogue isn’t the only good thing about this weird-ass vegetable, because the way he controls… Oh. My. GOD. Level design nor combat in Pumpkin Jack are particularly deep, but they are varied and fun enough so it’s always fun to do them, and what seals the deal is just how good Jack feels to control. Even if his move set is limited to two jumps, a roll and an attack, the responsiveness and snappiness of every single movement and attack, the weight on his run and the jump being just floaty enough to be responsive and forgiving and the little moments where the gameplay changes up to something more akin to an on-rail section make what would otherwise be a fairly simple but fun set of levels, to a joy of little worlds to traverse through and complete; hell, even when you are just a head it feels good to move. The bosses are also a highlight for sure, showing off the strengths of Jack’s movement and of the combat, specially that of the crow, a nice substitute for a high-range attack that can be extremely satisfying to use on the right moments (Plus, the crow is just funny, I really like that bird). The collectables are so perfectly balanced, the bird skulls, which are also the coin to buy skins, are easy enough to find so you consistently get them, but hidden enough so it’s always satisfying and that you’ll miss a few, and the gramophones are a bit more hidden, tho still easy if you look for them enough, and the reward is… well, you’ve already seen one of it, so I guess it isn’t necessary to say that it’s more than worth it. The developer behind this game clearly knew what worked and what didn’t, and sticked to that all the way through, tho ironically enough, is in that repetition of the formula where I have my gripes.

The game does repeat a ton of beats level after levels: There’s always three on-rail sections, always two or three headless mini-levels, you always get a weapon at the end of each level… things are always varied enough so it never becomes truly boring, but’s it a bit hard to not notice that you are pretty much repeating the same actions over and over again, and I honestly could have done without the second memory game with tombstones full of references, I honestly believe that if the game stripped back a bit some of its sections, it would make the ones that would be left a ton more memorable and impressive. How are weapons handled is also a bit weird? I say it with an interrogation because it’s not that any feel particularly bad, not at all, it’s just… there’s not much incentive to go back to previous weapons once you get a new one, except I guess on the final level; none of the drawbacks the new weapons that you get have are enough to deter you from constantly changing between arms, which was probably the intention, but as it is, it really doesn’t feel right, and now matter how slow the scythe may be, it really doesn’t make me want to go back to the shovel.

But even in these flaws, it doesn’t feel like the age tried to follow the beats of another and screw up, it just tried something different that in some aspects didn’t pan out, and that’s what makes me so happy about Pumpkin Jack. It screws some aspects a bit, yeah, but it’s still a really, really fun platformer, a game with so much passion and love for itself that even the credits are full of images of early builds and designs of it; is yet another proof that yes, you can borrow a ton of elements of other media and videogames while also feeling original and inspired, it’s a fine and hard line to walk on, but Pumpkin Jack holds its horses and nails it. So happy to have yet another spooky platformer than I can say its both fantastic and its own thing, a truly beautiful thing…

Oh, and another thing, when I showed the game to a friend, he said, and I quote: ‘’He looks like the Fortnite guy’’, which I didn’t really understand or see… and then after a boss he gets a shotgun… and if you have it equipped your jump is literally the jump from Fortnite… I… don’t know if to, laugh, clap or to be scared, to be honest.