Are ya ready, kids? Met with mixed reception though it was, the 2020 remake of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom served as a much welcome return for fans of the cult classic platformer. It seems it was quite the lucrative one as well, given that we’re now staring down the barrel for the release
Let me start with an anecdote: Kandria, on both its official website and right as the first thing on its Steam page, proudly boasts that the game has zero ability gating and you can go anywhere you want right from the start of the game. The same blurb expresses glee that finally, you will be
I’d really like to be able to say that when we got the full review build for this particular title, my experience of playing through the demo for Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider had already slipped through my memory and faded into half-remembered ephemera. Because that’s exactly what this game feels like it’s emulating right down to
I forget exactly when it was I stumbled across Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial on Steam long ago, but it was at least at a point when the odds of getting new metroidvania titles seemed… not great. So it was a while ago, and it definitely predates my working here. The game launched into early access,
How do you feel about classic action games from the 16-bit era? Because that’s going to inform a lot about how you feel when it comes to Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. The 16-bit era of console gaming had a slightly disjointed start, with the Sega Genesis having launched a solid two years before the Super Nintendo
If there was any sort of competition for the most re-releases in popular media in comparison to the original Star Wars trilogy, the Genesis-era Sonic games are definitely up there. Hell, the fact that there have been multiple compilations since then signals to most gamers and even passing fans that SEGA knows how timeless the
You know what series is deceptively difficult to make work? Mega Man. The thing about the Mega Man franchise and its derivations is that all of them are based upon a rather simple template. You go around and fight a few bosses, acquiring weapons from each of them, then you go through a fortress stage
For a genre that has given rise to the creation of so many great games, it can often be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the puzzle platformer. This is doubly true when games under its umbrella are heavily evocative of one another in certain visual or mechanical elements,
Okay, I’m just going to put it out there and straight up admit that I have quite the affinity for platformers of many kinds. It was basically the genre that pulled me into video games proper, and I will still happily devour what I can get my hands on if the experience is enjoyable in
It’s always refreshing to review a game that isn’t trying to be anything other than itself. There’s more to discuss when it comes to Olija, of course, but one of the things that struck me early on was the fact that, unlike all too many games that are attempting a spin on X formula or
A game like Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin feels like an eventual inevitability. I’ve noted before that Demon’s Souls is a game that’s spawned a lot of imitations, largely because… well, it has. But it seems like Stardew Valley has also spawned a number of imitators in a similar vein, and it’s honestly not surprising
There’s something to be said for expectations in a game. When I was approached to review Skully, I had been expecting something along the lines of your usual kid-friendly colorful platformer. Explore a variety of themed worlds, use abilities in different ways to traverse the levels, beat some baddies and do some light platforming. A
Some game concepts do not weather a format shift very well. Enter the Gungeon was something of a darling with reviewers when it arrived; it was a top-down dungeon bullet-hell roguelike, a potent blend of different ideas that sounds like it should have been a shambling, mismatched mess but wound up being a clean and
Ori and the Blind Forest was one of my favorite games in recent memory. One of the few long, exploration-focused games I committed to beating a second time. The melancholy world that focused on themes such as loss and rebirth really spoke to me. And of course the main character was positively adorable.
It’s not anything new in media in general, but you do have to admit that it’s kind of satisfying to see something merged together in a result that is enjoyable in some way. One mashup that comes to mind to me pretty quickly are the music stages from Rayman Legends and how it seamlessly combined
There is something to be said about a game without dialogue, narration, or text of any kind. It’s a tall task, one that not many games have been able to master. But Stela from SkyBox Labs is the perfect example of a game that can tell a story and pull you into its world, all
Kickstarter has become a mainstay in recent years to launch development of new games, but many often forget just how long that development can take. Most of the time a project goes up on Kickstarter, work on the game is just beginning. It will likely take years before the fruits of one’s donation to the
Sexual fanservice in games is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing for many gamers. I'm personally not a huge fan of it, but I can overlook it so long as the game itself is solid.
When I was a kid, I was really in to video games, and I used to spend a lot of time doodling out ideas for what I thought would be cool games (I was a nerd, don't judge me). One idea I remember clearly having was a cross between a JRPG and a side-scroller. The closest I've found in recent memory was the game Exist Archive, but my idea was one that had full platformer elements as well.
These days, modern day and retro-styled platformers have seen quite a bit of a comeback. In between modern remakes and reimaginings of established franchises, indie titles that have made a serious impression on me (looking at you Cuphead), and new titles that feel comfortable in their own skin, I was feeling pretty good about the direction this genre is going.
