Alright, guys, I can't add it to IGDB due to their rules, but I just played the griffpatch Scratch demake/remake of this game, and, holy shit, it's like if this game was actually good.

This is probably one of my wildest takes yet, but hear me out. Switching back and forth between the Scratch remake and the actual game it's imitating is night and day.

The Griffpatch remake feels so much better to control while still asking a lot of dexterity from the player (much more friction, and hammer movement doesn't have a noticeable delay), with the bonus of feeling a whole lot less cynical and combative. The narration is largely about the creation of the game itself and fighting with the Scratch engine, which is a lot more directed and triumphant than the bitter and dour free-association rambling of this. Another really striking difference is the usage of bright Scratch assets instead of assets reminiscent of Unity asset store shovelware, which does a lot in terms of invoking a sort of hopeful and optimistic naive creativity, rather than the unfeeling and gloomy energy exuded here.

I played a bit of the Scratch version and thought "oh this is actually pretty good, maybe I should reappraise the original", so I booted it up, and I'm sorry, it's just absolute dogshit to control. Weird mouse acceleration settings, the hammer slips around on literally everything, and you can accidentally launch yourself with nothing more than a sneeze. I mean, I guess that's the modus operandi here, but I just never could get over that initial frustration, even as I had climbed higher. I just never really felt like my mistakes were my fault (which is the intended result), whereas there it was much easier to understand what I did wrong and what I could avoid next time.

Highly recommended if you want a version of this without hate or malice in its heart.