I don't normally preface my thoughts on a particular subject with "this thing is very polarizing, yet interesting" but I feel like with this game that aphorism is rather apt. Stretch Panic is another in a long line of Treasure games where it's mere existence is anomalous. Almost every game they've made defies contemporary practices at their respective times; While also crafting really engaging gameplay loops that stress emergent mechanics and player expression in a way often not seen in games outside of pvp genres. Stretch Panic as it exists is a very short boss rush style game, where the entire point is deducting what causes different feedback. Immediately upon first playthrough you're not really sure as to what you're supposed to do, and the controls are very awkward. Left stick moves Linda, and the Right stick controls the scarf at all times; A big reason this is so awkward is because Linda's movement has rather poor handling; on top of there being no way of quickly moving the camera besides turning Linda herself and snapping the camera to her facing position using L1.
So for the first half hour or so you might not even know how to keep relevant elements on the screen, especially because of how zoomed in the camera is. While fairly strange, I feel like the entire play experience I had was within their intentions. So the bit earlier about how the game's about 'deducting what causes different feedback', there's only 3 things your character can do, and the 3rd one uses points, the only retained resource in the game. This aspect is why I like this game so much, and others might not. There are admittedly pretty awful aspects about this game, such as the camera and certain boss weak spots being somewhat rng heavy; But this game very boldly flaunts it's gameplay identity despite being a very very tiny package. There's only one action button; after the intro you're dropped off with very little context in a room with a crazy effect, and absolutely no signposting. The only way to truly beat is a boss is by exorcising it using the scarf bomb, a technique you wouldn't know unless you fiddled with the controller and pressed down both sticks at a time or read the manual. Even then the former isn't bound to clue you in on that that's what you're supposed to do, because you have to keep your hold for about a solid 5-6 seconds on the boss and you're probably not able to or even see the point in holding for that long without knowing about this sequence. Experiences like this are pretty intriguing actually. A boss' weakness is usually pretty subtle. Sometimes they're obvious visually but the execution might be a bit difficult to parse. Everything in this game has immediate feedback grouped into separate but intuitive categories that all relay to you the weight of your actions in order to facilitate the problem solving process.
It's fair to call this a tech demo of sorts. It's a very short game, and outside of the hub world and bosses, there are only small stages filled with big breasted mob enemies that's only purpose is to give you points. Unlike Alien Soldier, Silhouette Mirage, or Guardian Heroes, there aren't many different things you can do. Most of the game's spent figuring out what your best course of action is, so I do definitely recommend playing this game blind, just maybe with the awareness that bosses are only truly defeated via the scarf bomb. For me this game was a truly pleasant, but transient experience.
So for the first half hour or so you might not even know how to keep relevant elements on the screen, especially because of how zoomed in the camera is. While fairly strange, I feel like the entire play experience I had was within their intentions. So the bit earlier about how the game's about 'deducting what causes different feedback', there's only 3 things your character can do, and the 3rd one uses points, the only retained resource in the game. This aspect is why I like this game so much, and others might not. There are admittedly pretty awful aspects about this game, such as the camera and certain boss weak spots being somewhat rng heavy; But this game very boldly flaunts it's gameplay identity despite being a very very tiny package. There's only one action button; after the intro you're dropped off with very little context in a room with a crazy effect, and absolutely no signposting. The only way to truly beat is a boss is by exorcising it using the scarf bomb, a technique you wouldn't know unless you fiddled with the controller and pressed down both sticks at a time or read the manual. Even then the former isn't bound to clue you in on that that's what you're supposed to do, because you have to keep your hold for about a solid 5-6 seconds on the boss and you're probably not able to or even see the point in holding for that long without knowing about this sequence. Experiences like this are pretty intriguing actually. A boss' weakness is usually pretty subtle. Sometimes they're obvious visually but the execution might be a bit difficult to parse. Everything in this game has immediate feedback grouped into separate but intuitive categories that all relay to you the weight of your actions in order to facilitate the problem solving process.
It's fair to call this a tech demo of sorts. It's a very short game, and outside of the hub world and bosses, there are only small stages filled with big breasted mob enemies that's only purpose is to give you points. Unlike Alien Soldier, Silhouette Mirage, or Guardian Heroes, there aren't many different things you can do. Most of the game's spent figuring out what your best course of action is, so I do definitely recommend playing this game blind, just maybe with the awareness that bosses are only truly defeated via the scarf bomb. For me this game was a truly pleasant, but transient experience.