For my abridged thoughts from when I first completed Teslagrad, please see: https://backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/1060056/
Six years since beating it, Teslagrad remains one of the most unique platformers I’ve ever experienced in gaming. As such, I figured it deserved a proper review to better articulate its strengths and weaknesses for modern audiences.
We’ll start with the gameplay as, like most members of the genre, Teslagrad rests its laurels on a gimmick, the main course here being electric charges. Through progressively-acquired gear, your unnamed protagonist develops methods of circumventing the world around him via positive/negative forces, these facets beginning with a pair of power gloves and ending with a freakin ray gun. You’ll need all of them to circumvent the Metroidvania-esque world your boy has found himself in, its rooms chock-full of increasingly complex puzzles that showcase some genuine creativity.
Rest assured, you won’t be thrown in the deep end as one of Teslagrad’s greatest feats is its genius tutorial structure: taking a page out of World 1-1, you aren’t provided any explanatory text boxes but instead basic gameplay to adhere to -- follow them, and you’ll successfully glean how to overcome whatever new contraption Rain Games has concocted: fail, on the other hand, and you’ll suffer a quick death. It’s a simple formula that works with these simpler games because it’s nothing more than barebones trial & error -- that Teslagrad turns it into a group of fun levels is a testament to the developers’ intellect.
Unfortunately, where they massively dropped the ball was in the boss fights, which are rendered difficult in the laziest way possible: one-hit KOs. That’s right, your boy cannot be touched at all lest he crumble instantaneously, and while this was a common feature amongst classic platformers like DKC and Mario, there’s a reason companies largely abandoned the format in succeeding generations - it’s more frustrating than fun. On the outset, Teslagrad’s bosses are relatively fine, occupying the “One Trick Pony who gets incrementally faster the more you damage them” schtick; however, in leaving the player no room for error, they quickly turn into grueling exercises that drain any enjoyment garnered from the surrounding levels (the final fight, in particular, being the stuff of nightmares).
Graphically, Teslagrad is often associated with the steampunk genre, but upon replaying it I don’t think I’d actually call it that - yes, a number of the objects you come across are effaced with gears and springs and copper beams, but, as the name more than implies, the mechanics here are primarily built around magnetism and galvanics, not steam-power. No, instead I’d label it something like Gothic Revivalism with a layer of, well, shall we say Teslapunk? That is to say you’ve got a medieval-esque setting wrapped-in voltaic technology inspired by the famed inventor.
In my original write-up, I compared the visuals to early-Newgrounds projects that ran off Flash, and while the example was, in retrospect, silly, what I was trying to convey was the dynamic flow I saw in the animations. Rethinking it, a better analogy would definitely be to those old Disney platformers released on the SNES back in the day -- games that beautifully recreated the 25 images/second format pioneered by the 2D Renaissance era both within and outside the eponymous company. What I mean is there’s a noticeable flow to both the facial & body animations that lavish transitions with an eerie-naturality: whether it’s pushing against a wall, looking-up, falling down, climbing rungs, or utilizing an item, the way your Boy moves absolutely brings to mind the best of Don Bluth or Glen Keane. It’s the kind of production value that unfortunately goes undervalued by general gamers because it’s not as visceral as AAA graphics or fancy art assets, yet deserves as much acclaim all the same.
Sound is interesting in that Teslagrad is the first game I played to divvy-up its SFX into two different spheres, ambient noises & general dins, a feature I really enjoyed as, too often, many games mix aspects like shooting & monster growls to a significantly-higher decibel than their accompanying echoes, occlusions, and distant atmospheres. Because of this, I was able to set-up my game so that certain aural treats like the humming of machinery, crackling of electricity, and buzzing of magnets were highlighted throughout my playthrough, which contributed to the dour atmosphere imagined by Rain Games. Sadly, though, they’re partially offset by muted footsteps, quiet jumps, as well as a strange crunching noise the developers coded for vine grasping.
That said, even those cons are miles above the score by Bear & Cat Production, who not only failed at crafting an OST in-line with the setting, but implemented tunes outright at odds with the respective story beat. The opening scene, for example, involves the Boy escaping from goons trying to murder him, yet listening to the plucky strings and elongated violin bows, you’d think you were going trick-or-treating on a warm summer night; one of the later boss fights entails a foe launching surges of electricity at you, yet the blurty tuba notes bring to mind sneaking around a shaky abode.
Not everything is bad of course- there are a number of quieter tracks that mesh well with the ambience, as well as some decent vocal accompaniments every-now-and-then; but overall, it’s a score you ain’t going to remember for the right reasons: it’s not steampunk, it’s not Gothic, it’s not Dark Age, it’s….a homage to something I don’t quite know.
Storywise, Teslagrad’s often been compared to Limbo in view of their shared silent lads and moody visuals; however, I’ve always felt that was a bit of a misnomer due to Teslagrad actually telling a direct tale. During certain sections of the game, you’re made to watch a puppet show off in the background, which, while lacking dialogue, conveys its narrative well enough regarding a mad King and his launch of a demented pogrom. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and certainly lends your quest more weight, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little too standard good vs. evil.
I mentioned earlier that Teslagrad has a Metroidvania-type world, and that primarily entails the ability to revisit previous areas with new tools for puzzle circumvention. It’s all-well-and-good, but the problem is the game unfortunately takes a page out of the first Metroid ala not having a map system, meaning you’ll potentially be wasting a lot of time running around trying to find the one place you forgot to search. Not that I’d recommend doing so anyway as the only reward awaiting such exploratory initiatives are illuminated manuscripts that, while beautiful, don’t hold much intrinsic value.
In the end, Teslagrad’s pros definitely outweigh its cons. If you can get past the short, yet frustrating, boss fights, and focus exclusively on advancing the story, you’ll find yourself enjoying a nice indie gem boasting one of the most unique premises in recent years.
NOTES
-Plantlife is a core part of the setting, though I’d be hardpressed to tell you where it came from or what the purpose of it was beyond adding environmental diversity (not a critique, just an observation).
-On that note, I hated that you couldn’t vertically leap while climbing vines - made certain ascensions unnecessarily long.
-Backdrops are really well done, always accentuating the foreground through subtle motions, gorgeous building material, or some looming simulacra.
Six years since beating it, Teslagrad remains one of the most unique platformers I’ve ever experienced in gaming. As such, I figured it deserved a proper review to better articulate its strengths and weaknesses for modern audiences.
We’ll start with the gameplay as, like most members of the genre, Teslagrad rests its laurels on a gimmick, the main course here being electric charges. Through progressively-acquired gear, your unnamed protagonist develops methods of circumventing the world around him via positive/negative forces, these facets beginning with a pair of power gloves and ending with a freakin ray gun. You’ll need all of them to circumvent the Metroidvania-esque world your boy has found himself in, its rooms chock-full of increasingly complex puzzles that showcase some genuine creativity.
Rest assured, you won’t be thrown in the deep end as one of Teslagrad’s greatest feats is its genius tutorial structure: taking a page out of World 1-1, you aren’t provided any explanatory text boxes but instead basic gameplay to adhere to -- follow them, and you’ll successfully glean how to overcome whatever new contraption Rain Games has concocted: fail, on the other hand, and you’ll suffer a quick death. It’s a simple formula that works with these simpler games because it’s nothing more than barebones trial & error -- that Teslagrad turns it into a group of fun levels is a testament to the developers’ intellect.
Unfortunately, where they massively dropped the ball was in the boss fights, which are rendered difficult in the laziest way possible: one-hit KOs. That’s right, your boy cannot be touched at all lest he crumble instantaneously, and while this was a common feature amongst classic platformers like DKC and Mario, there’s a reason companies largely abandoned the format in succeeding generations - it’s more frustrating than fun. On the outset, Teslagrad’s bosses are relatively fine, occupying the “One Trick Pony who gets incrementally faster the more you damage them” schtick; however, in leaving the player no room for error, they quickly turn into grueling exercises that drain any enjoyment garnered from the surrounding levels (the final fight, in particular, being the stuff of nightmares).
Graphically, Teslagrad is often associated with the steampunk genre, but upon replaying it I don’t think I’d actually call it that - yes, a number of the objects you come across are effaced with gears and springs and copper beams, but, as the name more than implies, the mechanics here are primarily built around magnetism and galvanics, not steam-power. No, instead I’d label it something like Gothic Revivalism with a layer of, well, shall we say Teslapunk? That is to say you’ve got a medieval-esque setting wrapped-in voltaic technology inspired by the famed inventor.
In my original write-up, I compared the visuals to early-Newgrounds projects that ran off Flash, and while the example was, in retrospect, silly, what I was trying to convey was the dynamic flow I saw in the animations. Rethinking it, a better analogy would definitely be to those old Disney platformers released on the SNES back in the day -- games that beautifully recreated the 25 images/second format pioneered by the 2D Renaissance era both within and outside the eponymous company. What I mean is there’s a noticeable flow to both the facial & body animations that lavish transitions with an eerie-naturality: whether it’s pushing against a wall, looking-up, falling down, climbing rungs, or utilizing an item, the way your Boy moves absolutely brings to mind the best of Don Bluth or Glen Keane. It’s the kind of production value that unfortunately goes undervalued by general gamers because it’s not as visceral as AAA graphics or fancy art assets, yet deserves as much acclaim all the same.
Sound is interesting in that Teslagrad is the first game I played to divvy-up its SFX into two different spheres, ambient noises & general dins, a feature I really enjoyed as, too often, many games mix aspects like shooting & monster growls to a significantly-higher decibel than their accompanying echoes, occlusions, and distant atmospheres. Because of this, I was able to set-up my game so that certain aural treats like the humming of machinery, crackling of electricity, and buzzing of magnets were highlighted throughout my playthrough, which contributed to the dour atmosphere imagined by Rain Games. Sadly, though, they’re partially offset by muted footsteps, quiet jumps, as well as a strange crunching noise the developers coded for vine grasping.
That said, even those cons are miles above the score by Bear & Cat Production, who not only failed at crafting an OST in-line with the setting, but implemented tunes outright at odds with the respective story beat. The opening scene, for example, involves the Boy escaping from goons trying to murder him, yet listening to the plucky strings and elongated violin bows, you’d think you were going trick-or-treating on a warm summer night; one of the later boss fights entails a foe launching surges of electricity at you, yet the blurty tuba notes bring to mind sneaking around a shaky abode.
Not everything is bad of course- there are a number of quieter tracks that mesh well with the ambience, as well as some decent vocal accompaniments every-now-and-then; but overall, it’s a score you ain’t going to remember for the right reasons: it’s not steampunk, it’s not Gothic, it’s not Dark Age, it’s….a homage to something I don’t quite know.
Storywise, Teslagrad’s often been compared to Limbo in view of their shared silent lads and moody visuals; however, I’ve always felt that was a bit of a misnomer due to Teslagrad actually telling a direct tale. During certain sections of the game, you’re made to watch a puppet show off in the background, which, while lacking dialogue, conveys its narrative well enough regarding a mad King and his launch of a demented pogrom. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and certainly lends your quest more weight, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little too standard good vs. evil.
I mentioned earlier that Teslagrad has a Metroidvania-type world, and that primarily entails the ability to revisit previous areas with new tools for puzzle circumvention. It’s all-well-and-good, but the problem is the game unfortunately takes a page out of the first Metroid ala not having a map system, meaning you’ll potentially be wasting a lot of time running around trying to find the one place you forgot to search. Not that I’d recommend doing so anyway as the only reward awaiting such exploratory initiatives are illuminated manuscripts that, while beautiful, don’t hold much intrinsic value.
In the end, Teslagrad’s pros definitely outweigh its cons. If you can get past the short, yet frustrating, boss fights, and focus exclusively on advancing the story, you’ll find yourself enjoying a nice indie gem boasting one of the most unique premises in recent years.
NOTES
-Plantlife is a core part of the setting, though I’d be hardpressed to tell you where it came from or what the purpose of it was beyond adding environmental diversity (not a critique, just an observation).
-On that note, I hated that you couldn’t vertically leap while climbing vines - made certain ascensions unnecessarily long.
-Backdrops are really well done, always accentuating the foreground through subtle motions, gorgeous building material, or some looming simulacra.
we should play it again and again and again for the actual ending. just like nier: automata.......
Metroidvania normalito
An interesting "metroidvania" designed with puzzles involving magnetism and polarities. Calling it a "metroidvania" it's kind of a long strech, because the game is really linear and there isn't a lot of ways for you to explore the map, and you won't be going back to previous stages unless you want to find all the scrolls to get the true ending. I'd say it's more a Puzzle-Platformer, as it doesn't have combat either. Unique enough to be worth playing though.
just a cute fun platformer. loved the occasional character animations they were cool
uma experiencia magnifica e desafiadora, ótimos puzzles, gráficos incríveis e uma mecânica simples mais muito bem trabalhada de magnetismo que conforme pega melhorias vai se tornando cada vez mais complexa, podendo ser frustrante as vezes, e no fim é uma ótima recomendação para quem quer um metroidvania para se entreter em algum fim de semana
Ainda nem finalizei, mas que jogo maravilhoso! Arte perfeita, trilha sonora linda e puzzles baseados em física eletromagnética. O único "defeito" que achei foi a demora com que o efeito de um certo item faz o personagem "voar" em algumas áreas, como o ambiente se trata de uma torre e o mapa é um pouco extenso, seria bom se o personagem se movesse mais rápido de imediato.
So much trial and error. No health bar means every little mistake is an instant death. Some of the puzzles are really clever, but the physics-based mechanics are way too fiddly. It just feels like a chore to play.
Arte linda, gameplay boa, tem uma física que demora um pouco pra se acostumar, mas o jogo em si é bem feito. A história sem 1 palavra sequer, apenas expressões e ações, muito bem feita.
¡Se durmió en vivo!
Fairly average 2D adventure game that doesn't do anything good, but doesn't do anything bad either.
My favorite part of the game is the minimalist and somber story, told entirely with no words or text. Instead it employs environmental clues and occasional brief puppet theater segments. It has a great narrative arc for each of its few characters.
The idea of a metroidvania based on exploration & puzzle solving as opposed to exploration & combat is novel. The magnet based puzzles are satisfying and fun to play around with.
The puzzles can very occasionally be clumsy and the boss fights can be frustrating as any hit is insta-death, but the fights are doable. Just be prepared for some pattern recognition and execution testing.
Took me 5 hours to 100%. Highly recommend for a unique and beautiful metroidvania-esc game.
The idea of a metroidvania based on exploration & puzzle solving as opposed to exploration & combat is novel. The magnet based puzzles are satisfying and fun to play around with.
The puzzles can very occasionally be clumsy and the boss fights can be frustrating as any hit is insta-death, but the fights are doable. Just be prepared for some pattern recognition and execution testing.
Took me 5 hours to 100%. Highly recommend for a unique and beautiful metroidvania-esc game.
Honestly my favourite part of the game is the artstyle
Juego humilde que no propone nada nuevo, pero que logra ser consistente en su escasa duración, mezcla de buena manera los puzzles con las plataformas y añade conceptos del estilo "Metroidvania" sin duda su mayor fortaleza se refleja en su apartado visual que es sobresaliente.
It's a fine game, cute graphics and interesting puzzles.
A bit too short
A bit too short
Platinado em 21/12/2015
Sympa si vous êtes fan de jeux type puzzle-plateforme mais pour ma part je n'ai pas vraiment aimé l'expérience. Le jeu est très court, les énigmes sont extrêmement simple et certains passages peuvent être très frustrant. Je pense que le concept de base du jeu n'offre pas assez de possibilités pour une expérience marquante
Long before I decided to become a game reviewer, I used to jot down brief thoughts on the games I was completing in order to capture my feelings for personal archival purposes. Since then, I’ve of course evolved my craft into full-fledged write-ups, but I do think there is enough merit to some of the earlier critiques to warrant their publication, especially for titles I do not intend on replaying (in the near future at least). While I’ve thrown in some minor revisions, this is one of them.
GRAPHICS
-Art style is very unique with a pleasant color palatte. It takes the steampunk aesthetic and combines it with something I can't quite describe, like something you would find in an early Newgrounds video.
-Stutter that occurs sometimes when you're transitioning from area-to-area since there's no cut scene: it's all seamless.
-Backgrounds are beautiful whatever their aesthetic or picture (paintings, brick walls, overblown windows, drapes, clouds, etc...)
-Surprisingly good facial expressions on the main character (changes depending on whatever action you're doing: pushing an object, climbing, shooting a ray, etc...).
-Rain drops bouncing on character's head = nice feature.
GAMEPLAY
-Gameplay is good for the most part. It has unique platforming mechanics, and I liked how each new upgrade/item added a brand new mechanic to the world.
-Didn't like the Metroidvania aspect when it came to collecting the scrolls as they were not marked on the map at all, so you couldn't know which ones you had to get and where to look for them. Obviously lots of people won't mind this, but for me I like to have some sort of checklist, especially if the world is a chore to backtrack through.
-Scrolls also lacked a drive to get as a result of the poor storytelling. Doesn't help that the "true" ending for getting them isn't worth the effort.
-Bosses are a real pain in the pass. They're really short with three waves so the developers didn't include any checkpoints, which is fine except for the fact that you die in one hit. Therefore, the fights can be more tedious than fun. Particularly infuriating is the final fight with the King, where his attack patterns are random and dodging some of his moves (the crown blasts, sword shockwaves) require precise timing on the part of your blink attack.
-Also, for a final boss, it didn't really involve the use of all your abilities like it should have (i.e. like Metroid prime in Metroid Prime).
-Also didn't like how childish it was (frying the guy's ass) given that the game has a dark feel overall.
-I can't deny that there's an element of Dark Souls to these games in terms of the trial-and-error combat, but I feel it's pointless in a platformer.
-Clear Donkey Kong Country influence (King final boss, using crown as weapon, some platforming, etc...).
STORY
-The story is told without words, which ultimately works against it. It's a simple story, but the deeper parts of it like the fighting faction names (revealed via a readthrough on Wikipedia) are lost as a result, and make the final battle lack weight.
VERDICT
-Overall I would recommend Teslagrad since it provides enough content for its price (took me 7-8 hours to beat at $10.00, though I think I even got it on discount for $0.99). It's a unique game with a cool look hampered by bad boss fight design and unnecessary Metroidvania gameplay for the sole collectable.
GRAPHICS
-Art style is very unique with a pleasant color palatte. It takes the steampunk aesthetic and combines it with something I can't quite describe, like something you would find in an early Newgrounds video.
-Stutter that occurs sometimes when you're transitioning from area-to-area since there's no cut scene: it's all seamless.
-Backgrounds are beautiful whatever their aesthetic or picture (paintings, brick walls, overblown windows, drapes, clouds, etc...)
-Surprisingly good facial expressions on the main character (changes depending on whatever action you're doing: pushing an object, climbing, shooting a ray, etc...).
-Rain drops bouncing on character's head = nice feature.
GAMEPLAY
-Gameplay is good for the most part. It has unique platforming mechanics, and I liked how each new upgrade/item added a brand new mechanic to the world.
-Didn't like the Metroidvania aspect when it came to collecting the scrolls as they were not marked on the map at all, so you couldn't know which ones you had to get and where to look for them. Obviously lots of people won't mind this, but for me I like to have some sort of checklist, especially if the world is a chore to backtrack through.
-Scrolls also lacked a drive to get as a result of the poor storytelling. Doesn't help that the "true" ending for getting them isn't worth the effort.
-Bosses are a real pain in the pass. They're really short with three waves so the developers didn't include any checkpoints, which is fine except for the fact that you die in one hit. Therefore, the fights can be more tedious than fun. Particularly infuriating is the final fight with the King, where his attack patterns are random and dodging some of his moves (the crown blasts, sword shockwaves) require precise timing on the part of your blink attack.
-Also, for a final boss, it didn't really involve the use of all your abilities like it should have (i.e. like Metroid prime in Metroid Prime).
-Also didn't like how childish it was (frying the guy's ass) given that the game has a dark feel overall.
-I can't deny that there's an element of Dark Souls to these games in terms of the trial-and-error combat, but I feel it's pointless in a platformer.
-Clear Donkey Kong Country influence (King final boss, using crown as weapon, some platforming, etc...).
STORY
-The story is told without words, which ultimately works against it. It's a simple story, but the deeper parts of it like the fighting faction names (revealed via a readthrough on Wikipedia) are lost as a result, and make the final battle lack weight.
VERDICT
-Overall I would recommend Teslagrad since it provides enough content for its price (took me 7-8 hours to beat at $10.00, though I think I even got it on discount for $0.99). It's a unique game with a cool look hampered by bad boss fight design and unnecessary Metroidvania gameplay for the sole collectable.
sick lil game
A puzzle and platforming focused title with some action elements and a great art style. The gameplay involves you changing the color of objects to make them repel or attract each other, or to push or pull you away from or towards them. Items can be found that give you new powers, such as the ability to teleport forward. Most of the puzzles are fairly easy to solve which can make sudden increases in difficulty can be frustrating, there is no real gradual increase in difficulty only certain puzzles that are much more challenging than the others either because of the thought needed to get through, the precise controls needed, or just needing the physics of the game to work properly.
The story is told without words or dialogue, instead using puppet theaters to explain the backstory of your family and of the people you are fighting against. While finding where to go for the story is easy, the map and having no quick way to get to certain areas can make going back to look for collectibles can be tedious. The game requires you to find a certain number of hidden collectibles to get to the end and final boss but the amount needed is not too high and many of them aren't that well hidden, which should make things easier for people that just wanted to see the end of the story without spending time hunting down every item. I would have liked exploring the city more than being in the tower the entire time after the opening of the game had such a beautiful background and how enjoyable it was running along the rooftops.
The story is told without words or dialogue, instead using puppet theaters to explain the backstory of your family and of the people you are fighting against. While finding where to go for the story is easy, the map and having no quick way to get to certain areas can make going back to look for collectibles can be tedious. The game requires you to find a certain number of hidden collectibles to get to the end and final boss but the amount needed is not too high and many of them aren't that well hidden, which should make things easier for people that just wanted to see the end of the story without spending time hunting down every item. I would have liked exploring the city more than being in the tower the entire time after the opening of the game had such a beautiful background and how enjoyable it was running along the rooftops.
Platinum trophy earned; 36/36 scrolls collected; true ending. Teslagrad is a physics-based puzzle-platformer, tending towards a 'Metroidvania' in some respects. The game's puzzles are largely based around a magnetism mechanic and manipulation of attraction/repulsion of differently/similarly magnetised objects - including the player character himself - with a small range of tools. There are certainly some clever ideas here, but unfortunately my abiding feeling about Teslagrad is of frustration, as I found many scenarios to be very fiddly, with behaviour not readily predictable - it was a case while it became clear what was needed, actually doing that was far from easy... but not for what felt like a lack of 'skill'.
Puzzle mechanics aside, while the game takes place almost all within a single building, there's a reasonably decent variety of environments. Graphics are simple but functional and the background music, while again simple, is catchy in a positive way. Teslagrad is a short game - if you know what you're doing (and are able to pull it off!), it could be completed within a couple of hours or less, but I wouldn't see that specifically to be a negative here, especially as the games feels like it pretty much exhausts the types of puzzle scenario that the magnetism mechanic allows, without a significant shake-up.
Overall, while I wouldn't go as far as to call Teslagrad a bad game, I couldn't really rate it anywhere better than average given the feelings of frustration that it leads to.
Puzzle mechanics aside, while the game takes place almost all within a single building, there's a reasonably decent variety of environments. Graphics are simple but functional and the background music, while again simple, is catchy in a positive way. Teslagrad is a short game - if you know what you're doing (and are able to pull it off!), it could be completed within a couple of hours or less, but I wouldn't see that specifically to be a negative here, especially as the games feels like it pretty much exhausts the types of puzzle scenario that the magnetism mechanic allows, without a significant shake-up.
Overall, while I wouldn't go as far as to call Teslagrad a bad game, I couldn't really rate it anywhere better than average given the feelings of frustration that it leads to.
Los jefes son malos y la secuencia final es lenta lenta, pero los puzzles plataformeros me gustaron mucho en su tiempo
Only complaint is that it's too short - this gameplay fleshed out into a longer game would be incredible
É um jogo muito bom.
A história é contada de maneira interessante, tem itens legais e a jogabilidade é agradável.
A história é contada de maneira interessante, tem itens legais e a jogabilidade é agradável.
Teslagrad is a platformer/puzzle game centered around magnetism. Although I mostly had fun with it, the mechanics felt janky at times, generating many moments of frustration. Not that recommended to be honest.
Teslagrad uses it's physics-based level design and mechanics to its fullest to create a compelling and thought through 2D platforming experience. However, some platforming becomes a tug of war with Unity's Physics System, which just cause a lot of headaches (also some platforming is too "pixel"-perfect/tight for my taste).
I love the artstyle and the pacing is pretty good up until near the ending where the progression is blocked by reaching an arbitrary number of collectibles and results in unnecessary backtracking, which wasn't really annoying in the end, but the fact that it existed bugs me immensly, since its only there to stretch out the playtime. The bosses are just Meat Boy bosses, but just 10x worse - One Hit Death's on Bosses is not fun in a puzzle platformer!
Other than that, it is a joyous platforming experience.
I love the artstyle and the pacing is pretty good up until near the ending where the progression is blocked by reaching an arbitrary number of collectibles and results in unnecessary backtracking, which wasn't really annoying in the end, but the fact that it existed bugs me immensly, since its only there to stretch out the playtime. The bosses are just Meat Boy bosses, but just 10x worse - One Hit Death's on Bosses is not fun in a puzzle platformer!
Other than that, it is a joyous platforming experience.
I adore the magnetic puzzle-platforming and hollow ambiance but whenever this game throws a boss at you it becomes a hard 0, those fights are so awful and it's why I've never cared enough to finish this