Having beaten around 35 runs so far, I can safely say that this is one of the most creative and enabling immersive sims, single-screen platformers, and roguelikes that I have played.
An incredibly easy-to-understand ruleset that allows for some incredible experimentation, Mosa Lina enables me to recognize my own genius (or, more often, stumble into it). By providing a multitude of "verbs" in the form of its 21 tools and 1330 tool combinations, Mosa Lina continually forces me to be creative, discover new interactions, and either reap the rewards or laugh at my failures. The brilliantly simple level design allows the player's actions to decide the fate of the world around them, a staple of immersive sims but a rarity in platformers. The platforming is equally solid, with the tight controls necessary to quickly respond to the unintended consequences of my own actions.
All of this variety and interaction could be hampered by getting stuck on a level or having to restart an hours-long run, but Mosa Lina avoids the roguelike grind that plagues the genre. The level switch mechanic diverts any mounting frustration into solving a different level with a new set of items, and, in the dozens of hours I've spent with the game, I have never gotten angry with the outcomes of a level. The short runs make restarting feel like a new opportunity rather than a burden or a setback, and I never feel cheated when I choose to give up on a run. Instead, I just get excited to see what batshit ideas I come up with next.
The only other addition Stuffed Wombat could have made to encourage more creativity would have been to give us a level editor. So, of course, they are currently developing one (it's availabe in the Beta branch). Hundreds of new user-generated levels have already been created and are available to download and play, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of new weapon-stage combinations to try in a given run. From vanilla-style levels to spike-and-mushroom-covered hellscapes to mini campaigns with thematic coherence, there is no end to what has been and can be created in this game. This is just the start for Mosa Lina, and, with new tools and developer stages also in development, I cannot wait to be along for the ride.
An incredibly easy-to-understand ruleset that allows for some incredible experimentation, Mosa Lina enables me to recognize my own genius (or, more often, stumble into it). By providing a multitude of "verbs" in the form of its 21 tools and 1330 tool combinations, Mosa Lina continually forces me to be creative, discover new interactions, and either reap the rewards or laugh at my failures. The brilliantly simple level design allows the player's actions to decide the fate of the world around them, a staple of immersive sims but a rarity in platformers. The platforming is equally solid, with the tight controls necessary to quickly respond to the unintended consequences of my own actions.
All of this variety and interaction could be hampered by getting stuck on a level or having to restart an hours-long run, but Mosa Lina avoids the roguelike grind that plagues the genre. The level switch mechanic diverts any mounting frustration into solving a different level with a new set of items, and, in the dozens of hours I've spent with the game, I have never gotten angry with the outcomes of a level. The short runs make restarting feel like a new opportunity rather than a burden or a setback, and I never feel cheated when I choose to give up on a run. Instead, I just get excited to see what batshit ideas I come up with next.
The only other addition Stuffed Wombat could have made to encourage more creativity would have been to give us a level editor. So, of course, they are currently developing one (it's availabe in the Beta branch). Hundreds of new user-generated levels have already been created and are available to download and play, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of new weapon-stage combinations to try in a given run. From vanilla-style levels to spike-and-mushroom-covered hellscapes to mini campaigns with thematic coherence, there is no end to what has been and can be created in this game. This is just the start for Mosa Lina, and, with new tools and developer stages also in development, I cannot wait to be along for the ride.