Bowsori
BACKER
Cool game, compared to Valfaris I think the shmup formula works better for the kind of atmosphere they're trying to sell. I still feel like it lacks ambition, it's not really pushing boundaries on difficulty, spectacle (too many reused animations, enemies and patterns, not enough environmental effects despite the really cool art style) or lore (the idea of the world is cool but it's not really going in any depth about it) so it probably won't end up as too memorable. Still it's fun to play at the end of the day and they managed to make melee not feel awful in a shoot'em up so I'd recommend it if the premise sounds appealing to you.
2022
This is one of those rare games that I couldn't really enjoy but still like.
I'm not sure exactly what it is, maybe it's the entire concept of reverse platformer, or just this particular implementation of it in real time that makes it extremely chaotic and surprisingly reflex-based even with the time stop that makes it hard to have fun with.
However Pompom really goes hard on its concept, every level is a goldmine of a new ways to explore it and this combined with the challenging difficulty means the game is never boring, but it can easily get frustrating.
Ultimately I'm a bit on the fence about recommending it, I think if you're going in you need to do it with an explorative mindset (like you could do in a museum), it's worth seeing all the different twists it has on its own concept, even if the gameplay itself isn't perfect.
I'm not sure exactly what it is, maybe it's the entire concept of reverse platformer, or just this particular implementation of it in real time that makes it extremely chaotic and surprisingly reflex-based even with the time stop that makes it hard to have fun with.
However Pompom really goes hard on its concept, every level is a goldmine of a new ways to explore it and this combined with the challenging difficulty means the game is never boring, but it can easily get frustrating.
Ultimately I'm a bit on the fence about recommending it, I think if you're going in you need to do it with an explorative mindset (like you could do in a museum), it's worth seeing all the different twists it has on its own concept, even if the gameplay itself isn't perfect.
Really good game despite the abysmal production value.
The star of the show really is the writing here, the humor felt on point and got a nice amount of laughs out of me and I thought it was very reminiscent of Undertale on that side. Story-wise it had some decent plot points as well, I think overall the setting is interesting and unique, but at times it can read a bit like tumblr fan-fiction (which depending on the person doesn't have to be a bad thing, personally I do think it's cute).
Gameplay-wise it's not great but I definitely wouldn't call it bad either, it plays slightly different from most plaftormers by having a bunch of rechargeable jumps and floaty physics on top of a good amount of combat, it's certainly not boring but at times it can feel a little out of control.
Ultimately still had a really enjoyable time with it, I wish the sequel will happen eventually because this is just really sweet and fun.
The star of the show really is the writing here, the humor felt on point and got a nice amount of laughs out of me and I thought it was very reminiscent of Undertale on that side. Story-wise it had some decent plot points as well, I think overall the setting is interesting and unique, but at times it can read a bit like tumblr fan-fiction (which depending on the person doesn't have to be a bad thing, personally I do think it's cute).
Gameplay-wise it's not great but I definitely wouldn't call it bad either, it plays slightly different from most plaftormers by having a bunch of rechargeable jumps and floaty physics on top of a good amount of combat, it's certainly not boring but at times it can feel a little out of control.
Ultimately still had a really enjoyable time with it, I wish the sequel will happen eventually because this is just really sweet and fun.