I have to start this off by saying: Josef if you're reading this, i'm sorry i couldn't help you but i missclicked and couldn't find you again, but i'm rooting for you.

Now then
This game is the most unique souls-like game i have played and i loved every single moment of it.
People might say that the multiplayer is bad or laggy but its the most fun multiplayer i have ever seen in a game.
The interactions you will have with other players are sometimes hilarious as you miss a jump and think you're bad at the game, but then see the other two people you have been running with splatter on the ground next to you.
Sometimes you are encouraged by other people as they wait for you in front of a boss door, ready to go again, and sometimes they show you a new way to make a jump you've been struggling with.

The game has improved immensely since the early access version and is a 10/10 in my books.

Jump King Quest might be the biggest surprise of the year for me so far. I knew the og game was a tough precision platformer where chunks of progress could be lost by falling Bennet Foddy style. That sort of game isn't my bag so I almost passed over this one the way I did the first. That would have been a mistake.

JKQ is an action rpg heavily inspired by Dark Souls, married to the jumping mechanics and sometimes punishing level design of the original Jump King. It has a large interconnected world, lots of secrets, npcs, quests, bosses, merchants, weapons and gear. I've heard some call it a metroidvania, and while I wouldn't push back too hard on that classification, it doesn't meet the requirements for me. I'd call it a 2D soulslike platformer.

It has a goofy charm all of its own, the visuals won't blow you away but I found them very pleasing. The story is silly yet delivered with sincerity which I appreciate. It also has a seamless coop mode that you can play with friends, which can also have you cross paths with other players at any time in your journey. Other players may cooperate or try to hinder you, and friendly fire is always on so you have to be careful around your buddies too. The coop is a little unstable, we had around 3 disconnects and 2 crashes in the last session, but because the game is always saving you never really lose any progress.

So if you like challenging platforming, fun combat and exploration, give this one a go. It's awesome.

Jump King Quest is one of the best Souls-likes I've played and easily among the most unique out there that I've seen.


PROS:

- It features an interesting take on the attribute system where there's 8 attributes in total but you can only have 4 attributes at once and having more than one attribute of the same color lowers your 'Humoral Balance' which affects your total health, thus incentivizing you level-up the other colors so that you bring your Humoral Balance closer to a balanced state so you can have more health.

- The game has LOTS of weapons and armor. Additionally, the idea to implement motion/directional inputs to some weapons to give them a larger moveset is brilliant.

- The combat is methodical and pretty unique; no i-frames, just a whole lot of positioning-based combat and jumping. In the genre of 'Souls-like' it's common to see high-speed reflex-focused combat, so combat like the one Jump King Quest sports is a breath of fresh air for me personally!

- The main multiplayer feature the game has is the ability to encounter players during your journey. I found this to work very well! Encountering people during my journey has brought me plenty of memorable moments despite there being no chat system (however there ARE emotes!). It feels great to randomly encounter people and explore the locations with them, fight alongside them, and do runbacks together whenever we fail at defeating a boss. The fact that we don't disappear after beating a boss and can continue playing together normally is already a step ahead of any Dark Souls game in the co-op aspect.

- There's also PvP arenas in the game's hub area where people can duel using the dueling mode- it can be triggered if both players do the combat stance emote; in this mode any resources spent are regained immediately upon the conclusion of the duel- I love this because it means we both can go all-out without worrying about spending more currency on ammo and such afterward.

- Lots of locations to explore! I was actually surprised at how large the game was.

- This game's soundtrack has SO many bangers! I thought each location's theme was sufficiently atmospheric, and I ended up liking nearly every boss theme too! Among my many favorites is definitely Robb Ghillieman's theme.

- The platforming although pretty easy at the beginning, becomes a lot harder the further you progress into the game! This, in my opinion, makes up the majority of the game's challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed the platforming even if some of them felt aggravating due to my own skill issue.


CONS:

- Story-related loose ends. I want to first make it clear that the game DOES have an ending cutscene, which I found to be pretty conclusive to the current journey. However it became clear by the time I beat the game that there are multiple intentional loose ends and that the main story is not yet done and this is because the game as it is right now is actually "Act 1" of a larger story- this has, personally, left me feeling a little dissatisfied because there's so much buildup for two particular characters which-I-will-not-name and then nothing happens with it. The game apparently was originally going to include three Acts but the game had to come out sooner due to budget concerns. I believe I recall the devs stating that they'd be down to make more Acts if the game generated enough profit to fund the development of later Acts, so if you're reading this- please consider buying this game to support the devs or spread the word about this game! I'd really like to see more of the story and this game!!!



Final Thoughts:

Overall this has been an excellent game. Easily among the most memorable Souls-likes I've played.

Probably the aspect of the game that's most likely to turn away anyone thinking of trying out the game is the platforming- the first half of the game is fine but the second half is where it becomes noticeably more difficult. I hope the devs don't nerf the platforming though; if people got used to and even came to love the platforming of the original Jump King, then I don't think that this game's difficulty in that aspect is anything to fear.

I HIGHLY recommend this game if you enjoy Souls-likes and are ok with tackling Jump King-like platforming with combat!