man.. so many thoughts, so many expectations, and barely any fun to be found.
i've been following this game for quite some time, i saw it a few years ago and only late mid last year i followed the man behind the project on twitter, ever since hollow knight i've been keen to see more things from the land down under and its finally time to show the world what australia is made of! show me what you've got.
i'm always cautiously optimistic in general, i always give indie devs especially the benefit of the doubt. pat naoum (the man behind the game) would always upload "his process" to twitter (and maybe other social media but i only follow him through twitter) and to me it seemed very clinical, by the books that the game never really spoke to me but hey if he spent 7-8 years working on this, its gotta mean something right? not only that but i am literally the perfect audience for this game, i grew up playing puzzle platformers, this looks cool enough in my books.
well.. it was a sad struggle to get through this game. i mean no offense when i say this but this game was not fun at all. i really tried to play this game with optimistic eyes but it really doesn't do anything interesting or unique that i see no reason to even finish it, and im sorry to shit on something you've worked on for so long, but if you're reading this pat, what were you doing for those 7-8 years?
the game plays so generic, the physics, the aesthetic, the sounds, the gameplay.. there is no life at all in this game, no passion for gaming. maybe a passion for art, but im not playing this for the art lol. this plays like someone's first unity game with maybe somewhat "interesting" art choices? sure it fits the theme of the game, being handpainted and all, but maybe it wasn't worth it in the end because well, was it really needed to begin with? the main selling point of the game wasn't even that interesting, so what are you left with? a barebones puzzle platformer with little to no soul. all bark no bite.
the only thing i can give pat credit for is that some of the puzzle designs were quite interesting! i did enjoy 2 or 3 puzzles but they were few and far between, it is mostly just mindless running around some soul-less landscape and eventually solving the puzzles just by doing what you're doing, nothing engaging for the most part.
perhaps this game was not designed for me, despite being a puzzle platformer enjoyer? so who exactly was this made for? art fanatics? maybe there was some "deeper meaning" behind the game that i am not getting; "maybe the whole point is that the game is absolutely horse shit because.. maybe the painter had a shit life or something! its meant to convey how shit your life can get but you can still make money off of it if you put your heart to it!" (for legal reasons a joke and i have no malice intent), but you have to actually grab me, get me interested in the game before you can decide to throw this bullshit at my face. im not going to pretend that i understand the game. this game was not fun, not interesting and i didn't finish it. this probably did not need to take 7-8 years to make.
i've got a question for you pat, did you actually play the game? did you think this was going to be fun? were you constantly bombarded with positive reinforcement that you were blinded by the good that you couldn't find the bad in the game? well, i think you might need to get new perspectives. thats starts by playing some games yourself and understanding why you enjoy them or why you hate them. if you get no emotions from playing games, maybe a new path in life may take your further. who did you make this game for anyways? im not saying i could make this, but stardew valley was created in 4.5 years and that game has 100x more content and replay ability, i dont even need to mention other solo indie game devs that have made it big by just creating what they wanted to create.
please don't take this as an insult if you are reading this mr pat naoum. i see you only get positive ratings and positive reinforcement about this game, i legit could not find a single negative thing about this anywhere, so i felt the need to step in and rain on your parade. let this be a wake up call that you disappointed a potential fan. i was really excited for this game :/
i've been following this game for quite some time, i saw it a few years ago and only late mid last year i followed the man behind the project on twitter, ever since hollow knight i've been keen to see more things from the land down under and its finally time to show the world what australia is made of! show me what you've got.
i'm always cautiously optimistic in general, i always give indie devs especially the benefit of the doubt. pat naoum (the man behind the game) would always upload "his process" to twitter (and maybe other social media but i only follow him through twitter) and to me it seemed very clinical, by the books that the game never really spoke to me but hey if he spent 7-8 years working on this, its gotta mean something right? not only that but i am literally the perfect audience for this game, i grew up playing puzzle platformers, this looks cool enough in my books.
well.. it was a sad struggle to get through this game. i mean no offense when i say this but this game was not fun at all. i really tried to play this game with optimistic eyes but it really doesn't do anything interesting or unique that i see no reason to even finish it, and im sorry to shit on something you've worked on for so long, but if you're reading this pat, what were you doing for those 7-8 years?
the game plays so generic, the physics, the aesthetic, the sounds, the gameplay.. there is no life at all in this game, no passion for gaming. maybe a passion for art, but im not playing this for the art lol. this plays like someone's first unity game with maybe somewhat "interesting" art choices? sure it fits the theme of the game, being handpainted and all, but maybe it wasn't worth it in the end because well, was it really needed to begin with? the main selling point of the game wasn't even that interesting, so what are you left with? a barebones puzzle platformer with little to no soul. all bark no bite.
the only thing i can give pat credit for is that some of the puzzle designs were quite interesting! i did enjoy 2 or 3 puzzles but they were few and far between, it is mostly just mindless running around some soul-less landscape and eventually solving the puzzles just by doing what you're doing, nothing engaging for the most part.
perhaps this game was not designed for me, despite being a puzzle platformer enjoyer? so who exactly was this made for? art fanatics? maybe there was some "deeper meaning" behind the game that i am not getting; "maybe the whole point is that the game is absolutely horse shit because.. maybe the painter had a shit life or something! its meant to convey how shit your life can get but you can still make money off of it if you put your heart to it!" (for legal reasons a joke and i have no malice intent), but you have to actually grab me, get me interested in the game before you can decide to throw this bullshit at my face. im not going to pretend that i understand the game. this game was not fun, not interesting and i didn't finish it. this probably did not need to take 7-8 years to make.
i've got a question for you pat, did you actually play the game? did you think this was going to be fun? were you constantly bombarded with positive reinforcement that you were blinded by the good that you couldn't find the bad in the game? well, i think you might need to get new perspectives. thats starts by playing some games yourself and understanding why you enjoy them or why you hate them. if you get no emotions from playing games, maybe a new path in life may take your further. who did you make this game for anyways? im not saying i could make this, but stardew valley was created in 4.5 years and that game has 100x more content and replay ability, i dont even need to mention other solo indie game devs that have made it big by just creating what they wanted to create.
please don't take this as an insult if you are reading this mr pat naoum. i see you only get positive ratings and positive reinforcement about this game, i legit could not find a single negative thing about this anywhere, so i felt the need to step in and rain on your parade. let this be a wake up call that you disappointed a potential fan. i was really excited for this game :/