Muldulamulom

released on Dec 05, 2017

A surreal Metroidvania-style platformer made for Ludum Dare 40.


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Your honor, I'm afraid you are mistaken, my client wasn't leaving bombs in the middle of the street, just highly explosive guns!

Muldulamulom describes itself as a ''small metroidvania with focus on graphics'' and yeah, I think that's a pretty fair summary of the whole experience. It wasn't the worst thing I've played, not by a longshot, but I really didn't enjoy my time in this LSD looking world.

I may have grown too accustomed at the high quality short games I've played during this years (some of them being from game jams themselves), but I really don't think that has cloud my judgement in any way, this game is just... not great, sadly.

And it's really a shame 'cause... looks at it! The game has such an incredible visual style, one that I could only define ''surrealism meets Claymation'', and the result is this fantastic look that... isn't unique to it. Mason Lindroth also created Hylics, which Muldulamulom basically borrows it's entire visual identity from, which in tandem makes it have much less personality, and not even the kinda cool Commodore-esque sounds can save it. If it was the first game like this or the first game made by the creator I could pass it, but as it stands, this game just feels like it doesn't have anything to show or say. It just... exists, and what ends up dragging it completely down is the level design.

I guess you could call it a Metroidvania, but I guess you could also call Luigi ''Green Mario''. It has the skeleton and the base of a Metroidvania, but it just leaves it at that: you go left, grab and object, go right, grab an object, repeat. It doesn't seem to even try to communicate where you need to go, and while it's short duration and cool ideas like the bombs being able t break pretty much everything do help, the frustrating controls, like an unresponsive jump and a annoying way to control the flying carpet, are the final blood-stain that seals the crime-scene.

I understand why some could get enjoyment out of this, and in all honestly, I would love it if Mason Lindroth tried it again at this style of game, expanding in both duration and design, 'cause I really think he can pull an entire Metroidvania off if he wants to. For now, I can only say there was an attempt, an earnest attempt, but one that as it stands, it has too many open wounds and faults.

Your honor, I rest my case.

Cool visuals with some Oddworld/Neverhood vibes.

Mason Lindroth is mostly known for the Hylics games, which is perfectly justified since they're great. However, in this review I wanted to highlight a smaller game of his that I think deserves more attention than it gets.

Muldulamulom is a short (like 30 minute long) metriodvania esque platformer made for the Ludum Dare 40 game jam. It's made in unity and has the same sense of style that permeates across the Hylics games.

As you would probably expect, this game looks great. Mason Lindroth's signature psychedelic claymation style is absolutely killer, and there's really nothing like it out there.

While Hylics went the RPG route, Muldulamulom is instead a platformer. To my surprise, it actually plays pretty well. The movement and animation is generally really smooth, and there's a good sense of progression throughout the game. You'll unlock new items such as bombs and a flying carpet, and the way these are drip fed to the player during the game's short runtime is pretty well done.

Muldulamulom at its core is short and sweet. With its very short length and being playable in your browser, you can't go wrong with giving it a shot. If you're a fan of Hylics or Mason Lindroth's work in general, I would absolutely urge you to play it as well.

If you're interested, I'll leave a link to the game's Itch.io page down below.

https://mason-lindroth.itch.io/muldulamulom