Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is without a doubt one of the best things to come out of the great retro platformer deluge, which began somewhere around the release of Super Meat Boy. It was stunning to look at, a joy to play, and managed to feel fresh yet familiar at the same time. As with any good thing fans are bound to want more, and Black Forest Games has now delivered just that with Rise of the Owlverlord; a standalone expansion that in many ways is even better than the game which spawned it!

If you've played Twisted Dreams (and you definitely should have before jumping into Owlverlord), you should know what you're getting into here; a tightly knit platformer with a neat world shifting mechanic, that controls like a charm and features an outstanding soundtrack. Owlverlord doesn't mess with this formula at all, but reworks it into a smaller more focused experience that fixes nearly all of my complaints of the original and then some.

While I enjoyed Twisted Dreams a lot, variety was not its strong suit and I quickly found myself fatigued of it after only a few level, forcing me to space it out of many short sessions to keep it from completely wearing out its welcome. I never felt this with Owlverlord. While there are far fewer levels this time (7, if you include the boss fight at the end), the upside of this is that each is longer and more uniquely designed than those found in the original game, with some of, if not the best level designs the series has seen to date! It took me weeks to finish the original game, but I tore through Owlverlord like a starving dog who just found a box of bacon, and was left eager for more (despite previously thinking I had had more than my fill of the series after the first game).

If you enjoyed Twisted Dreams there is absolutely no reason you should hesitate to pick up Rise of the Owlverlord! It's a shorter game, but a better one in every regard (which is saying something as the original was fantastic as well) that heightens the challenge, fine tunes the gameplay, and somehow manages to deliver and even more ridiculously awesome soundtrack than last time (Machinae Supremacy has completely outdone themselves yet again)! If you have yet to play Twisted Dreams you are missing out on one the best modern platformers we have, a fact Owlverlord only further solidifies. Black Forest Games have continued to impress me more than I would have expected from such humble Kickstarter beginnings, and now have me wishfully hoping a true Giana Sisters 2 is on the horizon.

Don't delay, there's an Owlverlord to topple!

You can read more of my writing on Kritiqal[kritiqal.com].

I'd not say it's a must-buy, but Rise of the Owlverlord is definately a good purchase, if you don't mind difficult games. With plenty of replayability and a great soundtrack, I've found this to be a great addition to my library.

After completing literally everything this game has to offer, Hard difficulty,Hardcore Mode, Über Hardcore Mode, Time Attack, Score Attack and all Achievements I can safely say that this is a really fun platformer.

This is a stand-alone expansion / DLC that adds 7 levels and does not require the base game to be able to play.

I would really recommend starting off on hard difficulty, normal mode just makes the levels so much easier that it's barely a challenge. Completing hard difficulty took me around 3-4 hours the first time playing, so the game is fairly short if you don't give all the other game modes a try (took me around 15~ hours to complete the game 100%)

The controls are solid for this game, I didn't mess up once because of bad controls or anything like that, Giana moved where I wanted her to, worth noting that I used an Xbox 360 controller to play through the game, can't say how the keyboard controls are as I didn't try them.

Now the soundtrack for this game, and the base game is fantastic. The Cute / Punk version of every song blends together perfectly when you switch between the two different versions of Giana.

This is NOT an easy game, you're gonna have to restart over and over again, be prepared.

No disrespect to those that have played and loved the lineage of the games, it is upon those recommendations that I made the purchase.

However as a new initiate to this game, the characters, and the intended play style it is just too much for me and frankly, far too difficult to give me the enjoyment I want out of a platformer.

I have always considered myself a good platformer, going right back to the NES days and even well before that on PC and I have played a wide range, so I don't feel my criticisms are all that out of line.

My real objection to this game is that it really requires absolute precision in every input throughout every level. Memorization is absolutely essential and I found myself completely dazzled and unable to immediately asses each new situation until dying several times every screen. The graphics are lovely but they do the player no favors in helping quickly figure out what is going on and where you are allowed to go.

After about 30 minutes I realized that I don't want to play a memorization game and a completely unforgiving platformer where there are spikes and other hazards on pretty much every single surface. I knew right from the get-go that I was in for a rough ride when the first level was a race against time and I died 30 times just acquainting myself with the controls.

I can only go on my personal experience, and I would think that unless you have a history of enjoying the other games in the series take a pass, because it's hard AF and frankly not a forgiving game in any way which for me amounted to mostly frustration.

Personal rating: 8/10

This is the standalone expansion to Giana Sisters - Twisted Dreams.

Much like its core game, the Rise of the Owlverlord is fun, creative and difficult. The game forces the player to shift between "cute" and "punk" Giana constantly in order to make progress or survive traps even more than the original game. Traps are always there making the player balance out cleverness and reflexes, and enemies are strategically put most of times to aid reaching a secret area or merely to pose an extra challenge.

Swapping between cute and punk Giana is a must here and the game will never let you forget about this even once. Swapping can be done between a specific key assigned to it or by using the Fireball Roll (which automatically swaps to punk Giana) or twirling (which swaps to cute Giana). At first it may seem simple, but the game will have creative ways to spice up things as levels goes by.

Running and jumping is very precise as you'd expect (and want) in a platformer, the controls feels great and runs smoothly at all times.

Unlike the core game Rise of the Owlverlord holds no punches and throws everything it can as soon you decide to play. Mercifully there is a "Normal" mode which considerably ramps down the difficulty inserting safe places between death traps and removing certain gimmicks that would require split second reaction to bypass.

However as soon you decide to pick "Hard" mode you're in for a rough ride as the game will not hold your hand even for the first second of the first level, but playing at hard difficulty will allow you to earn rank stars and will unlock the finished level for Time Attack and Score Attack mode.

For those seeking for more challenge the game still have the Hardcore difficulty (which removes every checkpoint) and the Über Hardcore (which gives you one, single life for the entire game).

Rise of the Owlverlord follows just as well the core game and is more than a "more of the same" expansion, it is a fine platformer with beautiful graphics, amazing controls and brutally difficult if you are not used to platformers.

Good game!

Nice platformer, just as good as the first one. With slightly better feeling power ups.

This is the game to buy if you want to try GTSD, but aren't keen on shelling out a whole $15. It's a shorter game, you can complete the easiest setting in just an hour, but Black Forest Games put more effort into the level design this time around, so there's enough here to whet your appetite.

Another short but sweet action platformer with tight controls and solid mechanics. Has a world shifting mechanics to make things even more interesting. The stages are well designed and provide a fun challenge. The art style is nice and the music is pretty chill. Great level of quality especially for a cheap $5 game!

I completed this game in 3 hours, so it's fairly short. If you can get it for like 2 dollars however like i did, i would say its worth.