Grapple Dog is a surprisingly meaty, witty, and fun little 2D platformer that I picked up after finding it in my Steam Discovery Queue. While it's a little rough in parts, it has just enough good stuff to hold through till the end.
The best part of the game by far its atmosphere, which is equally goofy and beautiful for a pixel art game. It also has a lot of great humor, such as flipping over a crab to create a jump pad to progress (and said crab wanting you to do so). It's easily the most consistent part of the game, and is a major part of why I worked through till the end.
There's also quite a lot of extra content to work through, with each level having a handful of secrets to locate and collect. These unlock new levels and extra endgame levels which is a nice touch. You also only need just over half of them to hit the end, so you don't need to work too hard to complete the game.
However, it's also got a fair few issues that are at best disappointing and at worst frustrating. One of the smaller issues is the music selection which, while offering great individual tracks, is limited by song choice being limited to one per world (which encompasses about 5 levels).
The other more frustrating issue was how clunky using the grappling hook was, which is ironic given just how fluid every other part of the game is. Since the grappling hook can only be shot in three directions, there's a lot of scenarios where you'll throw out the hook and it simply won't go where you want it to. Combined with the fact that hit detection can be a little touch and go, you have a grapple that leaves a lot to be desired.
Still, for the $5 I paid for it on sale, and the 10 hours I got (without going for secrets beyond mandatory ones), I'm happy with my time with Grapple Dog. From what I hear a sequel's on the way, so I hope some of these issues are remedied.
P.S. You can pet the dog, so 0.5 point increase if Backloggd could allow it.
The best part of the game by far its atmosphere, which is equally goofy and beautiful for a pixel art game. It also has a lot of great humor, such as flipping over a crab to create a jump pad to progress (and said crab wanting you to do so). It's easily the most consistent part of the game, and is a major part of why I worked through till the end.
There's also quite a lot of extra content to work through, with each level having a handful of secrets to locate and collect. These unlock new levels and extra endgame levels which is a nice touch. You also only need just over half of them to hit the end, so you don't need to work too hard to complete the game.
However, it's also got a fair few issues that are at best disappointing and at worst frustrating. One of the smaller issues is the music selection which, while offering great individual tracks, is limited by song choice being limited to one per world (which encompasses about 5 levels).
The other more frustrating issue was how clunky using the grappling hook was, which is ironic given just how fluid every other part of the game is. Since the grappling hook can only be shot in three directions, there's a lot of scenarios where you'll throw out the hook and it simply won't go where you want it to. Combined with the fact that hit detection can be a little touch and go, you have a grapple that leaves a lot to be desired.
Still, for the $5 I paid for it on sale, and the 10 hours I got (without going for secrets beyond mandatory ones), I'm happy with my time with Grapple Dog. From what I hear a sequel's on the way, so I hope some of these issues are remedied.
P.S. You can pet the dog, so 0.5 point increase if Backloggd could allow it.