Attention! I have stopped playing this game solely because I'm having weird slowdown issues when I move too fast or are in certain areas in the game. I'm totally sure it's not my PC, and I cannot find ways to monkey with the .exe of this to make it run in a more efficient way. If this has happened to anyone else & you fixed it let me know how, I generally really really enjoy this game but at this point the slowdowns are too much of a hinderance to ignore.

Other than that issue, what a charming & addictive little game. The art style is stellar; with this bouncy pixel look that's just detailed enough to have more style but still keeps every graphical element readable & easy to comprehend quickly on a scan. While I think at some points the movement is a little too slippery for precision platforming, I do like the grapple mechanics a lot & the bouncing mechanics brought in later give you this great sense of momentum. The music is boppin', the dialogue is funny without being overly quirked up; just generally this has a really appealing vibe & gamefeel. If I can ever get this issue resolved (or get it on another platform), I'd love to see it through. Hopefully the sequel addresses all the issues!

Un juego con gancho. De esos que te mantiene enganchado frente la pantalla. Que te engancha de abajo cuando crees que va todo bien. El videojuego favorito del SEO de Google.

…bien, ya hemos gastado el cupo de chistes baratos con gancho. Al lío.

En ‘Grapple Dog’ manejamos al perrito piloto Pablo y su extraordinario artilugio para agarrarse a las superficies, a través de 5 mundos repletos de cachivaches, gemas secretas y naranjas desparramadas a recolectar, en sentido homenaje a Ciudadanos. La propuesta en sí no esconde misterio, pero si logra conectar desde el primer momento es gracias a su adorable presentación y al gran mimo que tuvo su creador, Joseph Gribbin, a la hora de diseñar sus niveles y exprimir su mecánica distintiva para desplazarse de maneras creativas. Vean el arte de balancearse con el gancho como si fuese salto con pértiga: un ejercicio matemático difícil de visualizar en principio y que requiere de mucha técnica para ejecutarlo correctamente. Sin embargo, los centímetros suben con cada obstáculo que dejas atrás, muy poquito a poco, con cada nivel introduciendo un nuevo elemento de escenario para poner el listón más alto. Las retahílas de obstáculos en ‘Grapple Dog’ parecen perfectamente calculadas para ir elevando el nivel de esfuerzo progresivamente, y siempre buscando moverse con el estilo y gracia de un arlequín, aunque Pablo lleve una impermeneable cara de empanao todo el rato. Y al final de todo, ‘Grapple Dog’ consigue liberar el estrés acumulado de la misma manera que otros plataformas 2D exigentes como ‘Celeste’, aunque nunca se percibe como un juego tan difícil como tal, ni lo es. Ni sus trabas resultan injustas o muy rebuscadas.

Como resultado queda un plataformas 2D muy fluido, ágil y realmente versátil por el minucioso control que podemos ejercer sobre Pablo (cancelar movimientos sobre la marcha, deslizarse más rápido por las paredes, lanzar el gancho constantemente para caer más lentamente, etc.). Pero si algo destaca a botepronto de la obra de Gribbin es la deliciosa presentación que hizo realidad: empleando un pixel-art delimitado con amplios bordes que hacen claramente distinguible cualquier elemento en pantalla. Ocasionalmente emulando elementos 3D de la misma manera que hicieron grandes clásicos en los 90s como ‘Gunstar Heroes’. Con una gama de colores fogosos pero planos, que no le han impedido dotar de una gestualidad excelente a todas las criaturas que encontremos en el viaje. Incluso las pequeñas conversaciones con estas resultan enternecedoras, graciosas, épicas o simplemente agradables.

El espíritu alegre de ‘Grapple Dog’ eleva la experiencia de juego a otro nivel, pero es cierto que también pueden verse algunas limitaciones del Game Maker Studio 2 que utilizó Gribbin como motor gráfico. Al menos en la versión de Switch posee bajadas de rendimiento, tiempos de carga largos, pop-in e incluso alguna pantalla congelada que difícilmente pueden explicarse por cuestiones de potencia o falta de la misma. Cuya única forma de solucionarse pasa por desactivar algunos efectos visuales de feedback o parallax de escenario (que está bien incluir estas opciones, pero los mejores settings gráficos son los que no necesitan ser configurados). Los combates contra jefes son quizá el apartado más flojo del juego, no tanto por la falta de ambición de los mismos, pero por la enorme exigencia que exigen y la acumulación de esfuerzos necesaria para acometer un simple golpe (y la escasez de galletitas para recuperarse). Ya si tienen la mala suerte de un servidor, que justo al vencer al jefe final el juego hizo crash y perdió todo el progreso realizado…

Pese a ello, ‘Grapple Dog’ también cuenta con numerosas opciones de accesibilidad para hacer la partida más llevadera, incluyendo saltos y vida ilimitada sin que conlleve penalización. Es una obra cuasi redonda puesto todo sobre contexto, y afortunadamente con una secuela en el horizonte, tiene espacio para mejorar aún más y seguir estresándonos mientras machacamos la cruceta de control. Pero de buen rollo.

I really, really wanted to love this game. Every character is so funny, and cute, and charming, the visuals are stunning, and there are unquestionably moments of brilliance throughout. Unfortunately, the flaws of this game are too persistent to overlook.

This game probably has the worst character handling I've ever experienced; it's loose, like you never really feel in control. The titular grappling hook will often grab onto nothing instead of what you're aiming for, and the performance hitches/skips when you take damage means that you're consistently taking additional punishment in the form of missed jumps.

After the first few worlds, I was truly invested in this game, and was looking forward to every opportunity I had to pick up and play. This is why I was so disappointed to find that as the game went on, the cracks started to show.

It's still not terrible, but I think that with some fine-tuning, the upcoming sequel could be a thing of greatness, and I am eagerly anticipating it.

Always a looker with it having a gorgeous presentation, adorable characters, and at times some expert level design that feels perfect for the grapple mechanic. I found the villain amusing, our protagonist great and you know I got hit with a burst of joy when I found out you can pet him after getting all the collectibles in a level.

But those highlights didn't stop me from finding the soundtrack REALLY numbing as it loops endlessly. The specific levels that require intense precision were rather frustrating as the grapple can be stiff at times. And a few bugs (that appear exclusive to the switch version) including a hard crash that hit me right at the end forcing me to play the final level again after beating the boss.

Despite the title being more or less a mixed bag I did have a lot of fun. I will likely go back occasional and try and nab all the collectibles. I am 100% happy to hear a sequel is coming that will hopefully address my concerns.

Grapple Dog may not end up being your favorite 2-D platformer but it has enough there to make it worth a recommendation if you can accept some problems.

Very cute, adore the art style. The music is like peak 90s Sonic CD energy, it's absolutely great in small doses - unfortunately it's on a pretty short loop and the same track will be used over multiple levels, meaning it gets old fast.

I have two complaints about the gameplay that made me put it down. The first is... it's Grapple Dog, but it doesn't seem to be sufficiently about using the grappling hook? There are long platforming sections about wall jumping, or swimming, or whatever, where you can't use the hook at all. It is only compatible with specially designated blue blocks. It's like a Spider-Man game where you spend more than half your time running at ground level.

The other issue was, I just found it frustrating when the difficulty ramped up. I repeated sections multiple times, trying to loop around for the purple gems and scoop up 100% of the fruit, but getting nicked on spikes and death pits, and it just had that feeling of "I can't believe I have to do this huge diversion to get the gem AGAIN". Contrasts poorly for me with Pizza Tower which also incentivises you to zoom through the level collecting all the stuff ASAP but is much more generous with player durability.

Expectation: 7
Score: 8.5

I went into this one expecting a precision platformer like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, so after playing the first level I was kinda disappointed when it seemed more like a traditional, level-based, mario-esque 2d platformer so I
was pretty disappointed at first. But then after playing further, I found this to actually be a somewhat unique blend between the two sub-genres. It actually does feel like a precision platformer, but with longer level design and a health bar.

Beyond that, the game is pretty solid. While the grappling controls are a bit awkard at first, once you get used to them it feels good to play. Level design is well done, graphics and music are well done, story and writing is solid.

All around I would definitely recommend this as a weird in-between of Mario and Celeste, and while it's not quite as good as either one, still def worth a play

+ Fun grapple mechanic
+ Lots of content
+ Satisfying 100% requirements
+ Good difficulty curve

- Repetitive music
- Unable to backtrack after certain checkpoints
- Most bosses felt like formalities
- Some audio & stuttering bugs

do not get the wrong impression : Grapple Dog is extremely charming, cuz of its presentation and gameplay. I love the artstyle, the writing is really cute and the game just is a mood I find myself really vibing with (the soundtrack is really, just wish the tracks were a bit longer).
I like how the grapple is exploited as a main mechanic cause you can clearly see all the thought and process that went into making up so many scenarios and gimmicks for the movement to feel fun and fluid. but I sadly can't say everything enthralled me gameplay wise : some levels were a bit unfair in their difficulty in my opinion (that fucking bird boss was annoying as heck) and, as I kept playing, I think I never fully adjusted to the game's physics, notably Pablo's jump. I found myself to feel like I was fighting with the game to control Pablo the way I wanted to and it kinda lasted throughout the whole thing. where as it could have potentially created a good difficulty curve overall keeping on my toes, it just came off as annoying and frustrating.
but I gotta reiterate : THIS IS A COOL CUTE GAME, if you like 2D platformers I'd definitely suggest you to give it a try!! (and honestly I'm prettyyyy hyped about the sequel)

Grapple Dog é feito com muito capricho em diversos aspectos, seja visualmente com sua arte estilosa e suas cutscenes dramáticas, ou com sua trilha sonora surpreendentemente boa, na sua história simples e cativante e mais importante no seu level design, já a jogabilidade deixa um pouco a desejar.

A clara inspiração do criador Joseph Gribbin em clássicos como Donkey Kong Country e seu histórico de trabalho na Nitrome com certeza o ajudaram no desenvolvimento de um jogo de plataforma sólido, desafiador e cheio de conteúdo. Porém a mecânica principal de movimentação (o gancho) e a física do jogo podem te fazer cometer erros que você não esperava, causando um pouco de frustração.

Ainda assim, Grapple Dog é bem único, cheio de personalidade e divertido de jogar.

This game just OOZES style. You're very hard pressed to find truly unique platformers nowadays, but this one definitely hits the mark in standing out among it's contemporaries for it's deceptively simple yet rewarding platforming and incredibly well thought out level design. Each stage iterates and expands on the one that came before it without feeling dull or sluggish for it's 5 world run. Maybe slightly jank physics, but nothing that can't be out maneuvered by clever play.
If I had one thing to complain about it would be the unfortunately simple and challenge-less bosses, thus why this game is only 4 stars. With a movement gimmick as free flowing as a grappling hook, the bosses were pretty underwhelming and nothing remotely ground breaking. There's a lot of room for improvement and iteration in the sequel which I will definitely be picking up!
Overall I really enjoyed my time with this one, I even completed all of the bonus stages which is something I rarely do.

One of the most efficiently designed, deceptively challenging and delightfully charming games I played in 2023.

Its central mechanic of grappling to points is implemented and elaborated constantly. It's clear how much time and effort went into making sure that each grapple feels deliberate and predictable, letting the level designers continue to ramp up the difficulty with each world, until they slowly begin to demand perfection.

The enemy design, level layouts and the brilliant music all come together to form these levels that push you into making daring choices. The game is at its best when its forcing you to stop second guessing your swings and jumps and just go for it.

The game is also suprisingly beefy with world after world of levels that all take a while to run through. It's a game that will keep giving long after other indie games have run dry and while it can certainly feel like a marathon at some points, it represents a satisfyingly complete package.

Everything about its design, graphics, controls, music and progression harkens to the best of the GBA and for that it hits me in a special way. However, anyone looking for a cute, engaging platformer that will give you plenty of value for money will find that and more in Grapple Dog.

Grapple Dog is a surprisingly meaty, witty, and fun little 2D platformer that I picked up after finding it in my Steam Discovery Queue. While it's a little rough in parts, it has just enough good stuff to hold through till the end.

The best part of the game by far its atmosphere, which is equally goofy and beautiful for a pixel art game. It also has a lot of great humor, such as flipping over a crab to create a jump pad to progress (and said crab wanting you to do so). It's easily the most consistent part of the game, and is a major part of why I worked through till the end.

There's also quite a lot of extra content to work through, with each level having a handful of secrets to locate and collect. These unlock new levels and extra endgame levels which is a nice touch. You also only need just over half of them to hit the end, so you don't need to work too hard to complete the game.

However, it's also got a fair few issues that are at best disappointing and at worst frustrating. One of the smaller issues is the music selection which, while offering great individual tracks, is limited by song choice being limited to one per world (which encompasses about 5 levels).

The other more frustrating issue was how clunky using the grappling hook was, which is ironic given just how fluid every other part of the game is. Since the grappling hook can only be shot in three directions, there's a lot of scenarios where you'll throw out the hook and it simply won't go where you want it to. Combined with the fact that hit detection can be a little touch and go, you have a grapple that leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, for the $5 I paid for it on sale, and the 10 hours I got (without going for secrets beyond mandatory ones), I'm happy with my time with Grapple Dog. From what I hear a sequel's on the way, so I hope some of these issues are remedied.

P.S. You can pet the dog, so 0.5 point increase if Backloggd could allow it.

Really wanted to like this game... it's got a solid core but ends up being buried by challenge levels that drag out for too long, boring boss design, and collectables that are tedious to look for. Would struggle to confidently recommend this one but I'm hoping the sequel will improve on the various flaws found here.
Performance is also weirdly hiccupy on Switch??
Loading times are too long at best and completely unacceptable at worst. Areas will chug for seemingly no reason at all and the occasional crash or two wasn't uncommon throughout my time playing.

Ach, I mean. It's like almost good.
A surprisingly finnicky character controller that you spend way more time fighting with over tiny jumps left and right than you do enjoying it doing big swings. Loads of little things just don't feel right.

Some awful checkpointing in what I played. Sometimes you'd get launched through a barrier that you couldn't go back through, immediately hitting a checkpoint meaning you have to start the level over if you happen to have missed any collectibles. Later on it swings the other way and you'll be doing a big detour to collect some stuff, before dying to a silly bit of platforming, making you do the easy detour over and over.

The music is nice and funky, but the loops feel like they're about a minute long and are repeated for every stage of the world you're in, driving you to totally insanity by the second stage.

There's fun stuff in here, and it feels well crafted, so I feel bad about not liking it... but boy did I not like it.

A cute game where you play as a dog with a grapple hook… badass! He can swing on certain objects which makes you feel a bit like spider-man zooming through levels finding collectibles and going through a good variety of obstacles and new mechanics.

Unfortunately to me there are a couple major issues with the game. The locking on for the grapple hook can be extremely spotty, so you often are trying to hook onto something small but it just won’t work for whatever reason. This isn’t a huge issue early on but when the game gets harder later it becomes a frustrating experience. It’s made worse by the fact you can tell grapple dog was meant to be grappling and wall jumping, cause the other simple platforming actions just don’t feel quite right, such as controlling where you are landing or trying to do some finely tuned platforming. A slow down in progression later in the game paired along with some annoying boss fights makes this game ultimately suffer as it gets further along, but luckily there is still some fun to be had.