So... the story in Sheepy is an absolute trainwreck. At times it almost feels like it was written by AI; all the tropes of a classic 'cute character in a scary world' Metroidvania are here, but nothing seems to really fit together. The game puts you in one of the traditional locations for this genre (abandoned factory, ancient ruins, etc) and scatters tapes all around for you to listen to to get you interested in the lore and the world, but then just moves on to the next set piece location before anything is resolved or explained. Aside from the most basic of elemental story beats, I pretty much had no clue what was going on in the story here and I'm fairly sure no coherent story exists.

In every other way though... Sheepy is nearly perfect. The atmosphere is great throughout, the visuals and sound design are absolutely fantastic and the gameplay, while simplistic, strikes a near perfect balance between challenge and frustration. I did find the first two bosses a little bit lacklustre, but the game more than paid off for these with its final boss which was just epic in terms of scope and spectacle.

But in general yes, this game has everything you'd want from something like this. It's got a good variety of Metroidvania-style powers, hidden collectables, timed challenges, speed challenges... all within a game with a run time of ~1 hour at most. I think if the game had been longer there would have been more time to flesh out the plot and setting in a more sensical way, but aside from that it's remarkable how the game manages to cram in all its content into such a short time without feeling overcrowded. That short runtime has led to a game where everything has clearly been meticulously hand-crafted down to the pixel, and it's all just fantastic.

So yes, hearty recommend from me on this one; this is almost certainly the best free game I've ever played, and frankly I'm baffled that it is free in the first place. It is a shame about the underdeveloped setting, because in my opinion that is all that stands between this and a bite-sized Hollow Knight. But worldbuilding and lore is a big part of why I play games like this so I do have to dock some marks on that front. Still, otherwise an all-round excellent and well-polished little game, and would probably score up in my top 10 or so games in its genre.

A masterpiece. It’s been a long time since a game has made be feel so absolutely enthralled all the way through. Now admittedly, it is only a hour long. But I believe this is one of those short indies that really are as close to a perfect video game experience as possible.

There were multiple moments here that gave my whole body chills, especially one particular moment in the middle of the game.

With this game being made by MrSuicideSheep, of course I expected the score to be phenomenal. But wow they went absolutely all fuckin out with the sound design. Genuinely industry leading. And the art direction to go with it is absolutely off the charts.

The gameplay is perfectly paced with a beautifully simple progression of platforming abilities. Nothing ever felt too impossible, poorly designed or balanced, or overindulgent.

I guess at this point, my only complaint is I wish it was longer? It’s really a perfect experience, but the platforming mechanics they have crafted here feel so good that I could easily go for another hour or two to be honest.

This game absolutely fucking ruled and is a perfect example of how much of a beautifully crafted piece of art video games can be.

pretty short, but a free and overall enjoyable hour.

the visuals and sound are by far the best part of the game. the gameplay and 'story' didn't really do much for me, but i appreciate its unique qualities. the controls seem like they worked perfectly fine for most of the game, but once i got near the end, i began to have some problems (that im assuming are most likely rare).

the game explicitly told me that it was better with a controller, and i like using a controller for games when i can already, so i had no issues there. however, every popup tutorial for a new ability seemed to think i was using a controller (which i wasn't) and i use this x-input controller for everything with no problems. in the final area when the game bugged out and left me in the flight state for a bizarrely long time going straight upwards. i thought it was just a particularly lengthy cutscene segment, but nope! the visuals eventually began to get buggy so i started fucking with the controller and accidentally moved the control stick. apparently you can change direction mid air with the stick but not with the d-pad, which is just kinda annoying. i can understand wanting 360 degree movement for a mechanic, but not telling me and not even letting me do 8-directional movement with the d-pad with one specific mechanic is a little annoying. overall, the game is visually polished, but not very mechanically polished.

to be perfectly clear, this is a very minor issue, and i'm assuming i experienced a rare bug with the infinite flight. regardless of this experience, i would still consider this to be a 3/5 game. it's pretty, moderately fun, only an hour, and free.

Well... who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?
I do! I do!
So, go up and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy
Hi there! Hi there!
So march, march, march around the daisies,
Don't, don't, don't you forget about the ba-by!

Sure...?? There's really no reason to not play it if you're even vaguely interested. It's free, under an hour, and derivative enough that you'll have forgotten about it before it even finished installing. I don't mean that as a criticism. I like playing games that I'll never think about again.

My only criticism is that there were too many achievements that were trying to get cute with me. As someone who has no investment in collecting achievements, this game diminishes the value of achievements. The more I write about this game, the more I'm convincing myself I disliked it.