Dandara: Trials of Fear é um metroidvania desenvolvido por um estúdio brasileiro, algo que ao ressaltar deve fazer muitas pessoas se questionarem da qualidade dele, isso porque nesses últimos anos tivemos muitas decepções vinda do mercado de jogos brasileiros, como 171, o jogo que se vende como um "GTA no Brasil" e Rio: Rised in Oblivion, um jogo que quando foi anunciado e repercutiu bastante, sendo conhecido como "O jogo de sobrevivência no Brasil". Existe uma grande culpa das desenvolvedoras por prometerem um jogo muito ambicioso ambientado nas terras tupiniquins, mas que quando foram lançados, tiveram um resultado muito abaixo do esperado.
Mas isso também acontece com Dandara?
Respondendo essa pergunta, fico muito feliz de dizer que não. Dandara pega o ponto certo de inspiração, não focado no cenário brasileiro, mas sim na Arte e na Cultura.
Não entendeu direito? Eu posso explicar melhor.
Cada país se expressa na arte da sua própria forma e o Brasil não seria diferente. A literatura, as Pinturas, o Cinema e a Música tem sua própria peculiaridade no Brasil, e Dandara se inspira no que temos de melhor. O mundo apresentado logo na introdução do jogo já apresenta muito do que ele quer falar.
O jogo abre com umas artes em pixel e um texto falando de um mundo chamado de Sal. É um mundo onde as pessoas se expressam através dos diferentes tipos de arte, seja a música ou a pintura. Esse mundo é governado por um ser chamado de "O Escritor", a vida das pessoas ali parece bem feliz, até que esse mundo é atacado por um ditador que coloca as pessoas sob opressão.
Logo quando todos perdem a esperança de serem salvos, surge uma guerreira chamada de Dandara, alguém que trará liberdade para todos daquele mundo.
Após essa descrição, notamos algumas inspirações, como a própria protagonista, Dandara é inspirada na personagem histórica Dandara dos Palmares, a esposa de Zumbi dos Palmares, essa inspiração é muito importante para o que o jogo quer nos dizer. O jogo discute muito a questão de liberdade, usando de diversas referências da época colonialista, uma luta da liberdade e da igualdade, assim como Dandara e seu marido foram responsáveis por parte da abolição da escravatura no Brasil colonial.
E voltando a falar do jogo, como eu já mencionei, ele é um Metroidvania, ou seja, seu objetivo aqui vai ser explorar cenários 2D e buscar habilidades para poder desbloquear áreas novas. Suas habilidades, normalmente, são adquiridas conversando com alguns dos personagens que estão sob a pressão da ditadura e elas são focadas em você mover coisas. A primeira habilidade que você consegue é conversando com a Tarsila — personagem inspirada na artista Tarsila do Amaral e seu visual é baseado no Abaporu —, que é uma pintora e te dá a habilidade de se mover através das plataformas verdes. Outra habilidade que você consegue logo em seguida é a do Músico, que te permite se mover pelas plataformas roxas, o visual do músico parece bastante inspirado em artístas de MPB, como Tom Jobim ou Chico Buarque.
Pode parecer meio sem criatividade as habilidades que vocês consegue, mas todas essas plataformas se movem de um jeito específico, como a habilidade que move rochas, ela costuma girar, abrir e fechar certos locais. Esse level design do jogo é construído desse jeito justamente pela maneira que você se move pelo mapa. Como deve notar, você não anda de maneira convencional, aquele mundo sequer parece ter uma física, qualquer local pode ser um chão, mas ao menos tempo nem tudo é, você se move se transportando para qualquer um desses locais que o jogo te permitir, mas claro, há um range para se mover. E assim entramos no novo tópico que é o level design, que embora a maneira que você se mova pareça ser limitada, é bastante criativa e nada repetitiva. As áreas são construídas através de objetivos, quando você chega em uma área nova, no começo dela tem um acampamento, que é o local de checkpoint e você usa para fazer melhorias em si mesma, detalhe que essas melhorias são feitas com o dinheiro que os inimigos dropam, é possível montar algumas pseudo-builds que podem te ajudar no jogo, recomendo que pense bastante quando for upar. A partir do momento que você começa a adentrar na área, seu objetivo vai ser atravessar por ela com os recursos que você tem e no final você vai ganhar uma nova magia ou uma nova habilidade que vai ter permitir passar para uma nova área. Cada área é baseada em um uma habilidade ou em um conceito, e as vezes, o conceito pode até ser chamado de puzzle, como por exemplo o que eu gosto de chamar de Torre do Tempo, que é uma torre onde cada sala tem um relógio e quando você liga ele, você tem que atravessar a sala o mais rápido possível antes que o tempo acabe, se não a porta que é mantida aberta enquanto o relógio está ativo se fecha.
Esse é um level design simples que vai ficando cada vez mais criativo conforme você vai progredindo, mas devo dizer, que level design ordinário, hein! Alguns desafios vão te fazer quebrar muito a cabeça para solucionar eles, todos de diferentes formas.
Algo sobre o level design que gostaria de falar é que enquanto você explora, é possível encontrar almas de guerreiros que já passaram por esse mundo, mostrando como não é a primeira vez que aparecem salvadores, dando mais motivo para a perda da esperança desse mundo, há cartas, estátuas e mais um monte de coisas com descrições também apresentando um cenário deprimente e que já está em queda à tempos.
Falei tanto e esqueci de falar dos gráficos, que aqui são bem bonitos. Seu traço lembra de alguns movimentos artístico que permearam pelo Brasil, como o modernismo brasileiro, outra coisa que se encaixa muito com o tema do jogo, já que ele discute sobre a liberdade dentro de uma visão artística.
E tem as músicas, que embora não sejam ruins, não vejo elas como memoráveis. A trilha segue um estilo mais ambiental, são simples, mas parece o ponto mais desconexo dentro do jogo, gostaria muito se as notas fossem inspiradas no MPB dos anos 60, isso se encaixaria tão bem.
No fim é isso, essa é uma breve análise de um jogo indie brasileiro que se inspira muito na própria cultura para se expressar, seu tema sobre liberdade e expressão é algo bastante atual e mesmo na sua simplicidade, o jogo é bastante poético.
Mas isso também acontece com Dandara?
Respondendo essa pergunta, fico muito feliz de dizer que não. Dandara pega o ponto certo de inspiração, não focado no cenário brasileiro, mas sim na Arte e na Cultura.
Não entendeu direito? Eu posso explicar melhor.
Cada país se expressa na arte da sua própria forma e o Brasil não seria diferente. A literatura, as Pinturas, o Cinema e a Música tem sua própria peculiaridade no Brasil, e Dandara se inspira no que temos de melhor. O mundo apresentado logo na introdução do jogo já apresenta muito do que ele quer falar.
O jogo abre com umas artes em pixel e um texto falando de um mundo chamado de Sal. É um mundo onde as pessoas se expressam através dos diferentes tipos de arte, seja a música ou a pintura. Esse mundo é governado por um ser chamado de "O Escritor", a vida das pessoas ali parece bem feliz, até que esse mundo é atacado por um ditador que coloca as pessoas sob opressão.
Logo quando todos perdem a esperança de serem salvos, surge uma guerreira chamada de Dandara, alguém que trará liberdade para todos daquele mundo.
Após essa descrição, notamos algumas inspirações, como a própria protagonista, Dandara é inspirada na personagem histórica Dandara dos Palmares, a esposa de Zumbi dos Palmares, essa inspiração é muito importante para o que o jogo quer nos dizer. O jogo discute muito a questão de liberdade, usando de diversas referências da época colonialista, uma luta da liberdade e da igualdade, assim como Dandara e seu marido foram responsáveis por parte da abolição da escravatura no Brasil colonial.
E voltando a falar do jogo, como eu já mencionei, ele é um Metroidvania, ou seja, seu objetivo aqui vai ser explorar cenários 2D e buscar habilidades para poder desbloquear áreas novas. Suas habilidades, normalmente, são adquiridas conversando com alguns dos personagens que estão sob a pressão da ditadura e elas são focadas em você mover coisas. A primeira habilidade que você consegue é conversando com a Tarsila — personagem inspirada na artista Tarsila do Amaral e seu visual é baseado no Abaporu —, que é uma pintora e te dá a habilidade de se mover através das plataformas verdes. Outra habilidade que você consegue logo em seguida é a do Músico, que te permite se mover pelas plataformas roxas, o visual do músico parece bastante inspirado em artístas de MPB, como Tom Jobim ou Chico Buarque.
Pode parecer meio sem criatividade as habilidades que vocês consegue, mas todas essas plataformas se movem de um jeito específico, como a habilidade que move rochas, ela costuma girar, abrir e fechar certos locais. Esse level design do jogo é construído desse jeito justamente pela maneira que você se move pelo mapa. Como deve notar, você não anda de maneira convencional, aquele mundo sequer parece ter uma física, qualquer local pode ser um chão, mas ao menos tempo nem tudo é, você se move se transportando para qualquer um desses locais que o jogo te permitir, mas claro, há um range para se mover. E assim entramos no novo tópico que é o level design, que embora a maneira que você se mova pareça ser limitada, é bastante criativa e nada repetitiva. As áreas são construídas através de objetivos, quando você chega em uma área nova, no começo dela tem um acampamento, que é o local de checkpoint e você usa para fazer melhorias em si mesma, detalhe que essas melhorias são feitas com o dinheiro que os inimigos dropam, é possível montar algumas pseudo-builds que podem te ajudar no jogo, recomendo que pense bastante quando for upar. A partir do momento que você começa a adentrar na área, seu objetivo vai ser atravessar por ela com os recursos que você tem e no final você vai ganhar uma nova magia ou uma nova habilidade que vai ter permitir passar para uma nova área. Cada área é baseada em um uma habilidade ou em um conceito, e as vezes, o conceito pode até ser chamado de puzzle, como por exemplo o que eu gosto de chamar de Torre do Tempo, que é uma torre onde cada sala tem um relógio e quando você liga ele, você tem que atravessar a sala o mais rápido possível antes que o tempo acabe, se não a porta que é mantida aberta enquanto o relógio está ativo se fecha.
Esse é um level design simples que vai ficando cada vez mais criativo conforme você vai progredindo, mas devo dizer, que level design ordinário, hein! Alguns desafios vão te fazer quebrar muito a cabeça para solucionar eles, todos de diferentes formas.
Algo sobre o level design que gostaria de falar é que enquanto você explora, é possível encontrar almas de guerreiros que já passaram por esse mundo, mostrando como não é a primeira vez que aparecem salvadores, dando mais motivo para a perda da esperança desse mundo, há cartas, estátuas e mais um monte de coisas com descrições também apresentando um cenário deprimente e que já está em queda à tempos.
Falei tanto e esqueci de falar dos gráficos, que aqui são bem bonitos. Seu traço lembra de alguns movimentos artístico que permearam pelo Brasil, como o modernismo brasileiro, outra coisa que se encaixa muito com o tema do jogo, já que ele discute sobre a liberdade dentro de uma visão artística.
E tem as músicas, que embora não sejam ruins, não vejo elas como memoráveis. A trilha segue um estilo mais ambiental, são simples, mas parece o ponto mais desconexo dentro do jogo, gostaria muito se as notas fossem inspiradas no MPB dos anos 60, isso se encaixaria tão bem.
No fim é isso, essa é uma breve análise de um jogo indie brasileiro que se inspira muito na própria cultura para se expressar, seu tema sobre liberdade e expressão é algo bastante atual e mesmo na sua simplicidade, o jogo é bastante poético.
Great Brazillian game with innovative gameplay, amazing atmosphere, level design, and memorable boss fights!
02/09/2024 update:
After a while, I sat down to play this game again. Did my opinion change from last time? A little. Most of my criticisms remain the same, with a few more nitpicks, although now I find myself liking Dandara a bit more.
The music, the art, they elevate the game despite its glaring flaws, and I cannot say I hated the game as a whole, but I was frustrated by the lack of direction. Other Metroidvanias are more intuitive, with a general idea with where you should go, but here, the direction starts lacking once you reach the Hidden Kingdoms, and the lack of savepoints in that area still frustrates me.
However, after I better learned the jumping and movement, I could finally play this game better, and what I got at the end, despite all the frustrations, was truthfully worth it. I really like this game's setting and story, through and through, and that was the thing that got me to keep going to the end.
Would I still recommend it? Yeah, I would. It's certainly an unique experience, and I'm glad I played it.
(For extra context: I'm Brazilian, and this game was made in my native language and contains several references to Brazilian culture, History and folklore, which I understood.)
I have played this game for 15.5 hours.
First thing's first, there are many things I like in this game.
The music: It's fantastic, whether it's the ethereal ambience or the dramatic score for fights, it's a great feature the game has.
The graphics: I'm a lover of pixel art, and this game looks gorgeous. The backgrounds and the environment look sublime. The characters' designs look great, and they're pretty creative.
The story: It's compelling, and I like that you can piece it together through character dialogue and clues spread all around. It's a staple of Metroidvanias that I will like no matter the game.
Now, at first, on the first few hours, I really like the game, and I would have given it a higher grade if it weren't for a series of factors that piled on as the game progressed.
The gameplay. It's not bad in of itself, but then things get unbearably harsh once the enemies start popping around the clock.
You CANNOT attack while jumping. You have to stand still and then shoot, making you an easy target for enemies if you don't watch yourself. On top of this, you have to charge your attack in one second. Now this, IN OF ITSELF, isn't bad. It encourages you to think and plan your trajectory as you dodge the enemies and environmental hazards at your leisure. But then the game starts throwing fast enemies at you, and they come by the numbers. You don't have time to stop and think; you HAVE to move faster than you can think, and to the combat's detriment: You CAN'T shoot while jumping, AND you're forced to sit still for at least one second to be able to attack at all.
You can use other alternative, faster attacks, but they will drain your MP, and while you're able to replenish it, there's only an amount of times you can do so before needing to go to a save point. And the game, later on, has many difficult gauntlets and enemy-infested areas that punish you if you stop to think for one moment. You are forced to pre-plan every move you make and you still have to improvise midway through, because of several hazards and enemies the game throws at you.
The aiming system is weird. I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I'm aiming, the jumping trajectory line (highlighted in a green color) sometimes will stop if you're trying to move it from several smaller platforms, and many times I had to move my mouse back and forth to get it to move, and many times I got hurt or died because of this.
And, while the game overall has fairly even distributed save points, this one area, the Hidden Kingdoms, is way, WAY too big compared to the other areas, and it gets really tedious to navigate through it because there are very few save points. In this one massive area, on the lower part of the Hidden Kingdoms' map, there are but two solitary save points, and getting to them takes way too long. If you die in this area, you have to traverse a really far distance to reach the place you last died, making a tedious experience frustrating, especially in the Trials' area, where you have to walk a long distance to get to any of said Trials.
I found out later that you can enable "respawn at the door", which makes things much more convenient, but it's a cheat. Why is it a cheat? This wouldn't be much of a problem if this IMMENSE area had more save points. Even harder games like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and the Souls games have evenly distributed save points where you can rest and respawn without having to backtrack too much.
This huge difficulty spike is at best unwarranted, and comes across as an artificial way to increase difficulty, and it's the biggest detractor of this game. It doesn't feel challenging: It feels unfair, and unearned, and also frustrates me.
I have to say, however: I haven't finished this game. These are my thoughts after playing well over 15 hours, and most of these hours were dotted with frustration and lots of backtracking.
I may change my thoughts and thus my score later, but so far, this is my experience with the game. If you still want to play it, go ahead, I could maybe even recommend it, but be wary of these flaws; it might be more frustrating to you than it was for me.
After a while, I sat down to play this game again. Did my opinion change from last time? A little. Most of my criticisms remain the same, with a few more nitpicks, although now I find myself liking Dandara a bit more.
The music, the art, they elevate the game despite its glaring flaws, and I cannot say I hated the game as a whole, but I was frustrated by the lack of direction. Other Metroidvanias are more intuitive, with a general idea with where you should go, but here, the direction starts lacking once you reach the Hidden Kingdoms, and the lack of savepoints in that area still frustrates me.
However, after I better learned the jumping and movement, I could finally play this game better, and what I got at the end, despite all the frustrations, was truthfully worth it. I really like this game's setting and story, through and through, and that was the thing that got me to keep going to the end.
Would I still recommend it? Yeah, I would. It's certainly an unique experience, and I'm glad I played it.
(For extra context: I'm Brazilian, and this game was made in my native language and contains several references to Brazilian culture, History and folklore, which I understood.)
I have played this game for 15.5 hours.
First thing's first, there are many things I like in this game.
The music: It's fantastic, whether it's the ethereal ambience or the dramatic score for fights, it's a great feature the game has.
The graphics: I'm a lover of pixel art, and this game looks gorgeous. The backgrounds and the environment look sublime. The characters' designs look great, and they're pretty creative.
The story: It's compelling, and I like that you can piece it together through character dialogue and clues spread all around. It's a staple of Metroidvanias that I will like no matter the game.
Now, at first, on the first few hours, I really like the game, and I would have given it a higher grade if it weren't for a series of factors that piled on as the game progressed.
The gameplay. It's not bad in of itself, but then things get unbearably harsh once the enemies start popping around the clock.
You CANNOT attack while jumping. You have to stand still and then shoot, making you an easy target for enemies if you don't watch yourself. On top of this, you have to charge your attack in one second. Now this, IN OF ITSELF, isn't bad. It encourages you to think and plan your trajectory as you dodge the enemies and environmental hazards at your leisure. But then the game starts throwing fast enemies at you, and they come by the numbers. You don't have time to stop and think; you HAVE to move faster than you can think, and to the combat's detriment: You CAN'T shoot while jumping, AND you're forced to sit still for at least one second to be able to attack at all.
You can use other alternative, faster attacks, but they will drain your MP, and while you're able to replenish it, there's only an amount of times you can do so before needing to go to a save point. And the game, later on, has many difficult gauntlets and enemy-infested areas that punish you if you stop to think for one moment. You are forced to pre-plan every move you make and you still have to improvise midway through, because of several hazards and enemies the game throws at you.
The aiming system is weird. I'm not sure if it's just me, but when I'm aiming, the jumping trajectory line (highlighted in a green color) sometimes will stop if you're trying to move it from several smaller platforms, and many times I had to move my mouse back and forth to get it to move, and many times I got hurt or died because of this.
And, while the game overall has fairly even distributed save points, this one area, the Hidden Kingdoms, is way, WAY too big compared to the other areas, and it gets really tedious to navigate through it because there are very few save points. In this one massive area, on the lower part of the Hidden Kingdoms' map, there are but two solitary save points, and getting to them takes way too long. If you die in this area, you have to traverse a really far distance to reach the place you last died, making a tedious experience frustrating, especially in the Trials' area, where you have to walk a long distance to get to any of said Trials.
I found out later that you can enable "respawn at the door", which makes things much more convenient, but it's a cheat. Why is it a cheat? This wouldn't be much of a problem if this IMMENSE area had more save points. Even harder games like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and the Souls games have evenly distributed save points where you can rest and respawn without having to backtrack too much.
This huge difficulty spike is at best unwarranted, and comes across as an artificial way to increase difficulty, and it's the biggest detractor of this game. It doesn't feel challenging: It feels unfair, and unearned, and also frustrates me.
I have to say, however: I haven't finished this game. These are my thoughts after playing well over 15 hours, and most of these hours were dotted with frustration and lots of backtracking.
I may change my thoughts and thus my score later, but so far, this is my experience with the game. If you still want to play it, go ahead, I could maybe even recommend it, but be wary of these flaws; it might be more frustrating to you than it was for me.
Pode demorar um pouco, mas com o tempo o mundo, narrativa, arte e a gameplay única que subverte a movimentação te cativam. É bem desafiador e como em qualquer metroidvania fiquei perdido muitas vezes, mas essa é uma jóia dos jogos brasileiros que merece atenção por ser único.
story is a little bit confusing but kinda cool,gameplay is unique but can get boring sometimes,liked the bosses and some of the ost was cool
Um jogo perfeito, uma mecânica única, brasileiro, e tem várias referências ao seu país de origem, um dos jogos que me introduziu na busca por mais jogos br, quero mais pq sei que tem muitas pérolas vindo, quem sabe um dia até os meus
Segundo jogo BR zerado esse ano, gostei de tudo, talvez um pouco menos de ficar perdido no mapa algumas vezes. Música foda, gráficos foda, movimentação interessante, história bacana, referências bem feitas. Foram qse 11 horas de alegria.
jogo incrivel, mas com um dos final bosses mais fdp ja existentes.
Metroidvania BR!!!!!! Mó bom e gostosinho de jogar, gostei da mecanica de movimentação
Arte linda, referências muito legais à cultura brasileira, mas larguei pois que plataformas confusas. Chato de se mover no jogo.
BRASIL!!!!
Inventive movement and traversal makes this game a blast to play. The developers are probably a little overconfident in how much I care about the world and story, but the lore is cool enough that I wish I understood it.
I bought this game years ago and then just stopped. I started a new game as I wasn't far into it in my original save. It's a really cool concept in terms of movement and the Metroidvania aspect was enjoyable. I love the look of it and the soundtrack was decent. Even when I found a groove with the movement, it was exploring the later portions of the game that became tedious. I liked it, didn't love it.
A lovely surprise, I tried it after a recommendation and I'm not disappointed, beautiful graphics and awesome OST, innovative platforming mechanics that I thought worked well and gave it its personal touch, that's a prove right here that my country Brazil has a lot of potential in the game developing scene.
before i start this review i only played about 4 hours of this game
i personally think this is a good game that i really want to love but i just cant work my head around the controls. nearly every single time i died i felt like it wasn't my fault. i love a lot of what this game does. the pixel art looks great the areas are well designed and the atmosphere and music are pretty top notch. i just couldn't really get into the games main gimmick being that you jump from wall to wall. if you are interested in this game i implore you to try it as im sure im one of the outliers here
i personally think this is a good game that i really want to love but i just cant work my head around the controls. nearly every single time i died i felt like it wasn't my fault. i love a lot of what this game does. the pixel art looks great the areas are well designed and the atmosphere and music are pretty top notch. i just couldn't really get into the games main gimmick being that you jump from wall to wall. if you are interested in this game i implore you to try it as im sure im one of the outliers here
A really fun game, full of Brazilian tributes and references, has a certain difficulty that is on spot and even a nice story, I think maybe the game could've developed a little more in the story part but that's it.
The game started very well, I liked the first parts but as some mechanics were presented to me in frustrating ways and in my point of view the level design that started well was horrible, having to go through parts that in my view I shouldn't have at the time to continuing with the story clearly messed up my gameplay and deviated from what I expected from a good metroidvania.
Apart from that the fighting mechanics are either simple and a little cool or very frustrating, not having a map that shows the chests already seen is also something I didn't like.
I finished the game without having fully explored the map, which makes me wonder if exploring like I did was really necessary. And it seems to me I also ended up finishing the game without getting all the items and powers.
The story can captivate some people, the references are also nice, the rest is a very simple game, with systems that could be introduced in a more didactic and legal way.
I expected to have more fun since the jumping mechanic is such a creative thing.
Apart from that the fighting mechanics are either simple and a little cool or very frustrating, not having a map that shows the chests already seen is also something I didn't like.
I finished the game without having fully explored the map, which makes me wonder if exploring like I did was really necessary. And it seems to me I also ended up finishing the game without getting all the items and powers.
The story can captivate some people, the references are also nice, the rest is a very simple game, with systems that could be introduced in a more didactic and legal way.
I expected to have more fun since the jumping mechanic is such a creative thing.
divertido, tiene diseño de niveles chulo y musiquita guapa.
lo que añade esta version me pareció un rollo, vi que era necesario para sacarse el true ending pero me dió tremendisima pereza hacerlo. el juego principal esta muy chulo (y se nota cuando lo juegas lo que es parte del DLC y lo que es del juego principal)
lo que añade esta version me pareció un rollo, vi que era necesario para sacarse el true ending pero me dió tremendisima pereza hacerlo. el juego principal esta muy chulo (y se nota cuando lo juegas lo que es parte del DLC y lo que es del juego principal)
Very fun movement mechanic, and tough combat, but sometimes too tough.
Solid metroidvania with unique and satisfying movement mechanics and some light Souls-like progression, but often easy to get lost in between the unclear objectives and rotating environments/map. Definitely worth a look if you want more of a challenge and less hand-holding out of the genre!
Metroidvanias are not my forte and I didn't play this enough to merit a score.
It's pretty and the mechanics are unique, however it's too punishing for me - you have like three hp and enemies appear and attack you in a way that don't mesh well with the game's traversal system.
I have a hunch it'll play better with a controller
It's pretty and the mechanics are unique, however it's too punishing for me - you have like three hp and enemies appear and attack you in a way that don't mesh well with the game's traversal system.
I have a hunch it'll play better with a controller
This game has a very unique style of movement and, on top of that, is a Metroidvania! All set up to be something I adored, and yet something was... wrong.
It's all so well put together, great looking pixel art and an ASTONISHING soundtrack. The movement is incredibly fluid and never got in the way of things I wanted to do. Still, there was a nagging feeling that something just wasn't clicking. I was never hooked, even if I was having fun throughout. It's hard to point out too many concrete issues with it, though there is one thing that bothered me immensely; the map is pretty terrible.
After playing Teslagrad 2, I feel as if a lot of Metroidvanias are going to struggle to match its brilliant map design, but I'd argue Dandara's was outright bad at times. I was getting lost frequently, following paths for ages that eventually reached dead ends that I lacked the abilities to clear, meaning there was tons of backtracking. This is usually alleviated in other games by good shortcuts or providing SOME sort of reward for going out of your way early, but oftentimes I was lead along for far too long just to feel like an idiot when I was stopped abruptly. It was so frustrating and not an issue I generally have within the genre.
Ability-wise, I didn't think anything was all too interesting. The game's general "feel" as well as the occasional fantastic area and boss were able to bring up my opinion on this greatly, it's just a shame then that it could have been outstanding.
It's all so well put together, great looking pixel art and an ASTONISHING soundtrack. The movement is incredibly fluid and never got in the way of things I wanted to do. Still, there was a nagging feeling that something just wasn't clicking. I was never hooked, even if I was having fun throughout. It's hard to point out too many concrete issues with it, though there is one thing that bothered me immensely; the map is pretty terrible.
After playing Teslagrad 2, I feel as if a lot of Metroidvanias are going to struggle to match its brilliant map design, but I'd argue Dandara's was outright bad at times. I was getting lost frequently, following paths for ages that eventually reached dead ends that I lacked the abilities to clear, meaning there was tons of backtracking. This is usually alleviated in other games by good shortcuts or providing SOME sort of reward for going out of your way early, but oftentimes I was lead along for far too long just to feel like an idiot when I was stopped abruptly. It was so frustrating and not an issue I generally have within the genre.
Ability-wise, I didn't think anything was all too interesting. The game's general "feel" as well as the occasional fantastic area and boss were able to bring up my opinion on this greatly, it's just a shame then that it could have been outstanding.
Dandara is incredibly fun, with a unique movement system that keeps pushing its boundaries. Unfortunately, I got just about to the end of Dandara when it crashed, corrupting my save and rendering the game entirely unplayable. Thankfully, I had a cloud save... from three hours before the crash. I don't feel like retreading that lost progress at the moment. Maybe sometime in the future, but not now. I wish I had the motivation to actually finish this game after that mishap.
Underappreciated lil' metroidvania. Immediatley stands out from the rest with it's movement mechanics where you won't be using your legs to walk but instead to leap, as wall jumping is the only way you can move around the world. It's more than just a gimmick though, moving around can feel great and overall it adds a fast and kinetic feel to the game purely from basic movement and exploring. Later on the game starts to add some real bullet hell rooms/bosses where you're forced to use your movement skills and eyeballs efficiently and it's a keen challenge! Some of them can get a little too much but overall the game does a good job of making use of your movement options and making it feel satisfying!
Game also has a real look to it as well. Due to there being no "floor" to the game, it likes to play tricks with orientation and the geometry of the rooms with camera changes when entering and visual detail to the environments with some abstract looks, one of the earlier examples being a forest where trees are growing up from both sides of the screen. It really adds a cool visual look to the game and makes sure that it sticks out in your mind when it comes to metroidvania worlds, it's neat! The pixel art on characters and bosses are well done and give them an almost higher quality Sega Genesis kinda look? I can't exactly pin point it but a bunch of designs feel like they were inspired from select classic games. There's a character early on who's proportions feel off that reminds me of 80s games where character's sizes didn't mean too much and in the end you had these dudes who were unintentionally way larger or looked different in perspective, I also might be talking out my butt but I feel it!
It's got power ups although I think they made too many attack based ones that feel kinda situational, especially since selecting a specific one can be difficult by the end of the game since you have to constantly scroll through a list and in a frantic battle that can be pretty hard. There's a cool teleportation one that changes the game a bit but it's not used enough and in the end I just spammed rockets to kill everything lol.
ALSO one little thing that really impressed me was the game's use of HD Rumble in a perticular moment. There's a place where you're standing under a character that's known for singing and the controller starts to make a mechanical chirping noise using the rumble inside the controller and it's done so well that it took me off guard. A game using controller rumble as instrument with pitch changes? That's fucking cool! Honestly, games need to do more with this. Pls.
But yeah, good game! If you want a solid, not too long metroidvania that's a little bit different then by all means try this! You'll probably have a good time.
Game also has a real look to it as well. Due to there being no "floor" to the game, it likes to play tricks with orientation and the geometry of the rooms with camera changes when entering and visual detail to the environments with some abstract looks, one of the earlier examples being a forest where trees are growing up from both sides of the screen. It really adds a cool visual look to the game and makes sure that it sticks out in your mind when it comes to metroidvania worlds, it's neat! The pixel art on characters and bosses are well done and give them an almost higher quality Sega Genesis kinda look? I can't exactly pin point it but a bunch of designs feel like they were inspired from select classic games. There's a character early on who's proportions feel off that reminds me of 80s games where character's sizes didn't mean too much and in the end you had these dudes who were unintentionally way larger or looked different in perspective, I also might be talking out my butt but I feel it!
It's got power ups although I think they made too many attack based ones that feel kinda situational, especially since selecting a specific one can be difficult by the end of the game since you have to constantly scroll through a list and in a frantic battle that can be pretty hard. There's a cool teleportation one that changes the game a bit but it's not used enough and in the end I just spammed rockets to kill everything lol.
ALSO one little thing that really impressed me was the game's use of HD Rumble in a perticular moment. There's a place where you're standing under a character that's known for singing and the controller starts to make a mechanical chirping noise using the rumble inside the controller and it's done so well that it took me off guard. A game using controller rumble as instrument with pitch changes? That's fucking cool! Honestly, games need to do more with this. Pls.
But yeah, good game! If you want a solid, not too long metroidvania that's a little bit different then by all means try this! You'll probably have a good time.
Tenho que continuar, bom jogo, level design bom e movimentação diferente mas que funciona muito bem.
Jogo brasileiro com inúmeras referências.
Jogo brasileiro com inúmeras referências.
The main allure of Dandara is the gravity switching, and it was only used decently well in level design and obstructions. The direction in which you launch is guided and automated with no option to disable the line. It removed some agency of movement in my experience, but I can see how it would help newer players adjust to the esoteric mechanic. The boss fights are a good spectacle and are the best part of the pixel artstyle. The story seemed deliberately obfuscating, and frustratingly, it didn't get any clearer after 10 hours. It's at a great price for the content, I got it on sale for 3 bucks.
Not my thing. No combat and I remember it not being very fun to play.
Dandara has its moments, particularly in a desert library occupied by imperial troops. It's up to the player to explore it and unearth the spirits that literally animate it. The implementation of static platforms, and how they rumble into movement halfway through, is excellent. The level design works, the music and art compliment the setting, even the boss fight that takes place once you work your way back to the entrance/exit is inventive. Too bad the rest of the game doesn't quite measure up.
Está bueno pero llega un punto que se pone tan difícil que jugarlo en el celular es imposible, quizá pruebe con la versión de pc en algún momento
God, it's super cool looking and sounding, but even with the very generous assistance options I just don't have the fortitude for what is clearly going to be a brutally difficult game