A really gorgeous game that I feel lacks the most in the department of communicating what it wants to the player. I had fun with the levels I was able to play.
It's one of those platformers like Mario World or Kirby Star Allies where the level select menu is a top down hub where you can run around, and when you beat a level, a path opens up for you to the next level. However, there's multiple paths open from the beginning, so you get a bit of choice in where you go. After a while of playing through levels, however, I realized that, even after beating levels, more weren't opening. I could see the gates on the map, but the paths wouldn't appear. I assume this has something to do with me not getting all of the collectables from a level, but if that's the case, that fact is not communicated to me. Never before were there levels that needed all of their collectables to be gathered in order for the next path to open, and there's no distinguishing differences between the level entry points for levels with assumedly different goals. And because there are at least two types of collectables, knowing which one I'd need to get in order to progress would be a challenge of guess and check. To me, at least, that doesn't sound very fun.
Another critique I'd add is that the game has a very, very interesting and unique mechanic, that I feel like is used well for the most part, but I feel like the game (or at least, individual levels) do a haphazard job of communicating if they want you to collect the coins or not. Yes, there are some levels where the coins are presented like obstacles, but there are also some where they're needed to progress, and there's not really any way of knowing if you need them or not until you get to the point where they'd become either a problem or a solution. Although, to a degree, I understand how that adds to the replayability of the levels.
And a few more final nitpicks, I feel like the controls here are both very slippery in certain circumstances (specifically when pushing boxes, but also when it comes to the physical boundaries/edges/cliffs of objects), there was a moment where I pushed a rock into lava to use it as a bridge, but when I jumped, I landed too close to the edge of the rock (but still above it) and it slipped from underneath me and I died. Yet at the same time, regular running and jumping feels a bit sluggish and heavy. And in terms of dialogue box/text progression, there isn't a lot of it, but the instances where it does exist don't give you the option to click/enter through it. You HAVE to let it autoscroll like it were a voice acted cutscene, but it's not. And it only seems to autoscroll if you stand beside the NPC and wait, and since most of the dialogue starts in a way that could be perceived as just a silly NPC one-liner, I have to wonder how much of it was just completely skipped.
Although, I absolutely adore the approach to a platformer where the enemies and environment don't damage you, and instead hinder you in other ways. The sound design is also very cool, as well as the environments and set dressing. The game was just so, so, so gorgeous.
My concluding thoughts are this: I enjoyed my time with the game, and thought it was visually and auditorily incredible, but after getting stuck, I had no urge or desire to really try and look around and figure out how to get unstuck. It was a fun time, and I do not regret playing it at all, I just hit a brick wall and decided it wasn't worth my time.
It's one of those platformers like Mario World or Kirby Star Allies where the level select menu is a top down hub where you can run around, and when you beat a level, a path opens up for you to the next level. However, there's multiple paths open from the beginning, so you get a bit of choice in where you go. After a while of playing through levels, however, I realized that, even after beating levels, more weren't opening. I could see the gates on the map, but the paths wouldn't appear. I assume this has something to do with me not getting all of the collectables from a level, but if that's the case, that fact is not communicated to me. Never before were there levels that needed all of their collectables to be gathered in order for the next path to open, and there's no distinguishing differences between the level entry points for levels with assumedly different goals. And because there are at least two types of collectables, knowing which one I'd need to get in order to progress would be a challenge of guess and check. To me, at least, that doesn't sound very fun.
Another critique I'd add is that the game has a very, very interesting and unique mechanic, that I feel like is used well for the most part, but I feel like the game (or at least, individual levels) do a haphazard job of communicating if they want you to collect the coins or not. Yes, there are some levels where the coins are presented like obstacles, but there are also some where they're needed to progress, and there's not really any way of knowing if you need them or not until you get to the point where they'd become either a problem or a solution. Although, to a degree, I understand how that adds to the replayability of the levels.
And a few more final nitpicks, I feel like the controls here are both very slippery in certain circumstances (specifically when pushing boxes, but also when it comes to the physical boundaries/edges/cliffs of objects), there was a moment where I pushed a rock into lava to use it as a bridge, but when I jumped, I landed too close to the edge of the rock (but still above it) and it slipped from underneath me and I died. Yet at the same time, regular running and jumping feels a bit sluggish and heavy. And in terms of dialogue box/text progression, there isn't a lot of it, but the instances where it does exist don't give you the option to click/enter through it. You HAVE to let it autoscroll like it were a voice acted cutscene, but it's not. And it only seems to autoscroll if you stand beside the NPC and wait, and since most of the dialogue starts in a way that could be perceived as just a silly NPC one-liner, I have to wonder how much of it was just completely skipped.
Although, I absolutely adore the approach to a platformer where the enemies and environment don't damage you, and instead hinder you in other ways. The sound design is also very cool, as well as the environments and set dressing. The game was just so, so, so gorgeous.
My concluding thoughts are this: I enjoyed my time with the game, and thought it was visually and auditorily incredible, but after getting stuck, I had no urge or desire to really try and look around and figure out how to get unstuck. It was a fun time, and I do not regret playing it at all, I just hit a brick wall and decided it wasn't worth my time.