I was actually gonna play Impossible Mission for the night, but since I'm too lazy and stupid to properly set up Commodore 64 emulation, I settled on buying that game's rerelease on Switch at some point (thankfully it contains the original version), and went with my initial plan of playing this via Duckstation.

The next game Eric Chahi worked on, it carries Another World's setup and fluidity, but this time packing more dialog, more people to work with, and far more presentation value, sporting two discs due to the amount of pre-rendered cutscenes available. This, though, came at a cost, having a six-year development cycle, and while I won't go too deep into it - honestly this could probably be served as a whole Youtube video - three things I will mention is that it was originally gonna be a Sega Saturn console exclusive first, with the PC release following after, Virgin Interactive dropped publishing due to taking so long, leaving the team to press onward without funding until the E3 1997 demo showcase, where Interplay took up the reigns after seeing it in action, and this whole endeavor and whirlwind of evergrowing change within the industry was so taxing Chahi, he took an extended hiatus and went on with other interest until coming back with From Dust in 2011.

If nothing else, I found the presentation to be pretty marvelous. Even in 1998 the blend of 2D pixels and 3D environments is simply gorgeous and a bit ahead of the curve, and the way it transitions from the gameplay to the cutscenes is immaculate. One of the boasts is 27 minutes worth of cutscenes, and while granted some of these could've been shaved off, which I'll get into later, I was pretty entertained regardless, both from the storytelling and voice work, as well as the animation and aesthetics working in action. Unlike AW where you're scientist Lester Chaykin, you're playing as Andy, a young kid in elementary years as he travels in a far off land to rescue his dog Whiskey, after he... got transported there from a solar eclipse? Whatever the case, the theming and overall mood has the oppression be downplayed by a good margin, this time focusing more on the mystique and eeriness of this newfound world you're going through as you see familiar landscapes inhabited by dangerous wildlife and shadow specters. I'd be remissed if I didn't mention one of the game's (in)famous features of the creative, expressive, yet ultimately morbid deaths for Andy. Rated E for everyone, trauma included.

As for the gameplay, this is actually the easiest cinematic platformer I've played thus far. There's still trial-and-error involved, but a majority of the puzzles are easy to get a grasp on and conquer - some even being REALLY good and satisfying to figure out and solve - rarely getting a moment where I was genuinely stumped on what to do next to proceed. Checkpoints are pretty lax too, with the furthest you can go back upon a death usually being about three screens behind. The controls are by far the most fluid and easy to get a grasp on too, albeit still having the same issue as Another World when it comes to combat (again, more on this later). Running, jumping, swimming, climbing, all and any sort of action had the right weight and momentum too it, and 99% of failing was on my hand. Don't get me wrong, it's still tough, and there's still a couple of bullshit on hand, but in general I was pretty surprised at the leniency on offer on Normal difficulty, if you want you can make it harder or easier in the options menu. Coupled that with more exquisite sound design, and I had a blast going through this.

On that note though, as great and enthralling as the venture is, I still got some issues that unfortunately stopped me from rating higher. Much like with AW, HoD has an issue where trying to fire green shots feels clunky, going into that "tap to standard fire, hold to charge a power shot and release" form again. Now, I don't know if it's just cause of emulation input latency, my impatience, the game itself, or some combination of the three, but I felt trying to do these shots was more cumbersome by comparison, each time I tried tapping it somehow goes into the charge state, and though it's possible to dodge out of it, more often than not I got hit and died regardless. Like last time, this is whatever if there aren't that many enemies, but since you tend to face a swarm of them, things can get hectic real fast if this lock-up happens, though thankfully enemy attacks are telegraphed more distinctly as some form of compensation. Finally, this goes on exactly 20 minutes longer than it really needed to right at the endgame, you can even tell this is the case cause you're doing the same puzzle loop three times before heading on, an anticlimactic showdown with the villain, and some of the cutscenes during this stretch being so jarring when they play and end. It really drags down the experience, unfortunately.

Still though, this is an easy recommendation all the same, especially for anyone wanting to get into this niche subgenre or 2D platformers in general. Equally grim and adventurous, it's no wonder this is pointed to as a highlight of the PS1's library.