After rolling the credits on this indie, I've been having a difficult time deciding if I would recommend it or not.
If you have no idea what this game is, it is essentially a 2D The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on about a 15 minute timer. You play a treasure hunter exploring an ancient lost island, slowly uncovering the islands secrets. The only problem is the sudden appearance of this island signals the beginning of the end, as not long after appearing the world is going to explode. Worry not though, because do to some unexplained reason some time bs happens and you'll be sent back to the beginning, only this time with a handy map showing where you have already explored.
The loop of this game is to explore an area, solve some puzzles, and then move onto an unexplored area of the map to repeat. You'll do the loop about 12-18 times (it took me 16 loops) before you have all the answers to the puzzles solved and are able to do the "perfect run" that brings you to the end of the game. You'll hit some checkpoints throughout your loops that permanently unlock passages that make this final run possible.
It's a fun gameplay loop that kept me hooked until that final run as every loop felt like I made progress towards the end.
Unfortunately, touchy controls really frustrate the experience. You character runs and parkours through the levels incredibly fast, which when you get into a flow state of running, jumping and rolling is incredibly satisfying. But there are plenty of areas that require precision platforming, and a simple tap in one direction will have you sprinting off to one side. Wall jumping and climbing didn't always respond normally as well, leading to some unfortunate falls and unnecessary frustrations. Music and visuals are alright, the backgrounds being the best part of the presentation with varied and interesting designs. The story is so forgettable that it would probably have been better to just not even bother with it and save the 30 or so minutes it takes to play through the story missions and cutscenes.
The fact it kept me coming back to finish it makes me lean towards it being worth trying. It's not groundbreaking, and the controls can be legitimately frustrating at times, but the loop of gradually working your way towards the perfect run through the island is satisfying.
If you have no idea what this game is, it is essentially a 2D The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask on about a 15 minute timer. You play a treasure hunter exploring an ancient lost island, slowly uncovering the islands secrets. The only problem is the sudden appearance of this island signals the beginning of the end, as not long after appearing the world is going to explode. Worry not though, because do to some unexplained reason some time bs happens and you'll be sent back to the beginning, only this time with a handy map showing where you have already explored.
The loop of this game is to explore an area, solve some puzzles, and then move onto an unexplored area of the map to repeat. You'll do the loop about 12-18 times (it took me 16 loops) before you have all the answers to the puzzles solved and are able to do the "perfect run" that brings you to the end of the game. You'll hit some checkpoints throughout your loops that permanently unlock passages that make this final run possible.
It's a fun gameplay loop that kept me hooked until that final run as every loop felt like I made progress towards the end.
Unfortunately, touchy controls really frustrate the experience. You character runs and parkours through the levels incredibly fast, which when you get into a flow state of running, jumping and rolling is incredibly satisfying. But there are plenty of areas that require precision platforming, and a simple tap in one direction will have you sprinting off to one side. Wall jumping and climbing didn't always respond normally as well, leading to some unfortunate falls and unnecessary frustrations. Music and visuals are alright, the backgrounds being the best part of the presentation with varied and interesting designs. The story is so forgettable that it would probably have been better to just not even bother with it and save the 30 or so minutes it takes to play through the story missions and cutscenes.
The fact it kept me coming back to finish it makes me lean towards it being worth trying. It's not groundbreaking, and the controls can be legitimately frustrating at times, but the loop of gradually working your way towards the perfect run through the island is satisfying.