I love to support indie developers, and so I pick up a lot of their games. Moustache Mountain is an example of this, and I tried really hard to like it. I really did. But even at a low price, the flaws in this game far outweigh the positives.

Now, let me be fair up front and say that I'm not a big platformer guy. I know, that spells bias right there, but I can get on board if there are some interesting mechanics. And that's the problem here -- the mechanics are just boring. One can argue that this is intended to be an NES-throwback, retro experience, but I more get the feel that the game is being limited by either the developer's experience level or a game builder platform used to create it. In any case, while the levels are "randomized" (they're not randomly generated, but merely picked at random from a pre-selected set), none of them are very interesting, and you beat the game if you get past level 15. I found a lot of the challenges to be cheaply frustrating, like having to jump around a ledge/overhang while you're trying to bounce up the wall. Maybe my lack of platforming prowess is what was holding me back, but I usually had to try 10-12 times to complete this manuever, only to die on some spike once I got past it, and then start over from the beginning of the level again.

The graphics are fairly dull, and the sound loop gets old in a heartbeat. Rather than practice this game to get good enough to beat it, I decided to move on to another more interesting title in my collection of 600+ (and let's face it, that means there are a lot I haven't played yet, so if a game doesn't get interesting fairly quickly, it's time to switch gears). I do plan leave it open over night to collect the trading cards, which I can at least use for leverage for other ones I'm trying to collect. So, kudos to the dev for at least creating achievements and trading cards. I just wish he'd invested as much time in the graphics, sound, and gameplay of this game.

At least I got this as part of a bundle, so I don't feel like I need to return it or anything. I'd encourage the dev to keep trying, but to spend a lot more time focusing on concepts and mechanics that will make the game interesting and differentiate it from the hundreds of others available on Steam. In the meantime, I can't recommend this one.

Lovely artwork, something just feels a bit off. It's especially noticeable with overhanging ledges. It's like you can't get the analog (or dpad) to respond fast enough to jump out and back. Is there a deadzone issue? I'm not sure but I can't recommend it, as sad as that makes me. For a game like this, controls are make or break. It's almost there, but the overhangs are a real problem.

I have to say, if you are a fan of pixel art, this is damn well done. You can learn a lot from looking at how the artwork was done.

I'm sure the rest of you thirty-plussers know just how it is: the 9-to-5 grinds away at your adrenal glands, animals and family set you to running at home, and quieter hobbies (books, writing, TV) call out to you during your tired evenings. That's my situation; I can't muster up the interest in more than two or three large games a year, if that. Aging sucks, huh?

But you know what I'm always hungry for? A cheap, short, medium-hard indie that, as Mellencamp sings, will "thrill me, and then go away." This here is the very definition, dear friends! It's nice to look at, it's challenging, and the gameplay is as smooth as Kentucky creek rock. And did I say it was cheap? So very cheap?

A little shot of something strong to keep the harried tricenarians among us going!

Pro:
The art style is pretty awesome.

Con:
Everything else.

It takes what makes other hardcore-wall-jumping platformers great and removes it. Take super meat boy, remove 95% of the content, and give the player 3 lives to complete the game and you have Moustache Mountain. I wanted to like this game so bad. It is just that the charm of the game is purely in its visuals... also it has "Moustache" in the title. I guess it is impressive for the sale price of $0.49 that I picked it up for, but I just had such high hopes.

Baffo: The Game

Super Moustache Man and the quest for the magical moustache gel

TL;DR: Moustache Mountain is a short but challenging platformer.

In Moustache Mountain you play as a jumpy, athletic guy who has a moustache (that sound oddly familiar?) and a simple quest: go onward and reach the top of the mountain. Graphics are indie-minimalistic but fine at that, and the funky 8-bit-like music fits the game like Super to Mario.

Gameplay is simple enough. Each level is just one screen and your job is to reach the right side of it. To do this you may run (with a constant pace as there is no boost), jump, climb and wall-jump all the while avoiding traps. Initially I thought there might be some secret areas or collectables in the hard-to-reach parts of the levels, but alas, it really boils down to reaching the other side of the level.

Controls are slick and work perfectly. You can play with either keyboard or controller (I used the latter). The only shaky thing is the wall-jumping that only seems to work when moving towards the wall at the same time as you jump, which is inconvenient when you have to try and jump to an overhanging ledge but matters little when you just want to climb. In comparison the movement mechanics are almost the same as in e.g. Super Meat Boy or A Walk in the Dark.


While those games are admittedly more difficult (and longer), there's challenge in Moustache Mountain. Initial levels are just simple parkour challenges but soon enough the levels become filled with deadly spikes, dart traps and cleavers. You have only three lives and once they are spent, it's game over. At least there are no generic saw blades!

That sounds pretty bad though, right? No one has time for starting over these days. But wait, actually Moustache Mountain is really short. With only 15 levels the game can be beaten in under 3 minutes. There's even an achievement for that. And thankfully the hitboxes are quite generous so you know most your deaths will be your own fault. Isn't that conforting?

To counter the eventual repetition, Moustache Mountain has a trick to shake things up and keep it fresh: there are more levels than it initially appears. While a single run has only 15 levels of increasing difficulty, the level roster changes between runs and effectively there are something like 50 different levels. All the levels become familiar as dying is easy in any level that you haven't played before. I think this was a neat way to expand the game.

That said, I would have liked to practice specific levels more without having to play through the whole game before randomly running into them. A sort of practice mode would have been a nice addition, although after a few tries even the more difficult levels become beatable.


It's a pity that even with the rotating levels Moustache Mountain took me only something like 40 runs to complete (both without dying and under 3 minutes), amounting to about 1.5 hours. Interestingly I can see that the challenge could be too much for some people: the less you've played platformers, the longer effective playtime it offers. You can also compete on the leaderboards for the shortest runs.

By the way: There's a local co-op mode though I didn't try it. However it seems that some of the later levels might be more difficult in co-op because of the reactive traps. Hard to say whether that's a good or a bad thing though it might add some randomness and fun to the soup.

For a game that costs 2 € it has an okay amount of content. It has Steam cards too to sweeten the deal. If you like platformers go ahead and buy it to get a quick snack.

This one was surprisingly entertaining. It’s sort of a platformer rogue-lite, using rogue-lite very lightly. It uses a 3 lives system in that you have to restart if you lose them all. However, there’s only 15 levels so it is reasonable to complete. It also keeps itself from becoming overly repetitive in that each levels has various layouts that the game randomly chooses, so you usually see a new level each playthrough (though they do repeat at times, especially if you play for a long time). The difficulty curve is pretty good, though some layouts are much harder than others, I also enjoyed the fact that every few levels it introduced new traps to get used to. So, I have to say, give it a go if you can.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
- The game can be beaten in two minutes or less.
- It doesn't have randomized levels as advertised, but has badly designed levels made by the developer in a random variation.
- The gameplay consists of bland, unpolished and frustrating 2D platforming in very uninspired levels.
- In a way to artificially lengthen the game-time, you are given three lives through the whole game, which you can't replenish in any way, and you need to replay from the start.
- It's almost impossible to make an even more lifeless platformer, especially considering that you will finish it in 10 minutes and regret your purchase right after..
Verdict: Stay Away.

The ABC of masochism for newbies

Moustache Mountain is a fun little $2 time-killer. The smooth and simple platforming mechanics carry right over from Amatniek's previous game, There was a Caveman: with limited controls including movement and jumping, and bouncing off walls being about the most complex these moustaches get.

As a tiny (but burly) man with a moustache, you platform your way up 15 single-screen levels with increasing difficulty and traps. Heaps of bloody spikes, player-activated arrow traps, shifting blades and narrow platforming -- your goal is simply to make it to the right side of each screen without losing three lives.

A single, successful game should only take between three and five minutes, but it'll likely take up to an hour to get there the first time. To keep things interesting, each screen is pulled randomly from a handful of options (except level 11, which always seems to be the same).

As with Nauris' other solo projects, the music is the dreariest boops and bops of anti-music, easily making it the game's weakest aspect.

Moustache Mountain doesn't come with much, but it's a fun project easily worth the measly price tag it carries. I also recommend following the developer on Twitter / Patreon (@namatnieks), where he actively creates gorgeous pixel art and tutorials. :)~