Recent reviews by ionface

Where hookshot?

Cheaper than any board game or card game I've ever had (and it includes every board game and card game I've ever had).

Developer is refusing to give steam keys promised to bundle buyers, the people who helped this game through Greenlight.

Salt is fun.

Grab this up when it's on a discount. Active dev. Great game design.

There are many minor/cosmetic faults right now, but they don't detract from the gameplay or the atmospheric beauty.

This is a mesmerizing open world adventure, and I can't wait for more.

Knytt Underground absorbs you into a beautiful world. The music is atmospheric and changes according to your location. There's striking and interesting scenery wherever you go, and the intricate maze of platforming puzzles fits naturally in these mysterious and serene environments.

This game would be much better if there was no dialog. With rare exception, the humor is uncomfortable and embarrassing and the dramatic parts are offensive somehow. However, the often-preachy and confused writing can be ignored for the most part, as this is predominantly an excellent exploration puzzle platformer with only a nod to story.

I'd recommend a gamepad. Some parts expect quick reactions and precise timing where activating abilities mid-air is vital. There are a few puzzles involving the somewhat erratic bouncing physics which are frustrating, but when your character dies, you just restart at the last safe spot you were standing, so there's not much tedious repetition.

I don't even know what's satire anymore. I love this movie from a place of deep sincerity.

This visually pleasing puzzle platformer wastes no time in restarting you at checkpoints, as you hit your head on the various level design flaws using quirky controls.

I would have liked more playtesting done by the developers, so they could've seen where people gave up on their game. I spent 5 minutes trying to get a jump pixel-perfect, and when I couldn't, I checked a walkthrough online which gave up on exactly the same jump (they succeeded once in a dozen attempts). A positive reviewer here admits to being stuck and doing this part over a hundred times, then tweeting the developer for help.

I would have liked a toggle instead of a momentary world-shift by default. Although mapping keyboard controls to the gamepad was simple using an external program, gamepad support should have been an option. Remapping buttons (and button behavior) should be included in the game options.

The sluggish movement and bad camera design make this game tedious and frustrating.

Touring a procedurally generated island would usually be a fun thing to do, but I wouldn't exactly call this exploring. The constant wrestling with the restrictive camera angle and the stifling walking speed makes this an exercise in patience. Instead of feeling free to explore, I feel claustrophobic.

The camera cannot look up or down past a certain angle from the horizon. Looking down from a precipice or up at the tree isn't possible. Climbing up or descending steep slopes means the player can't watch where they're going, which feels very unnatural.

The environment is nice enough from a distance, but the 2D sprites can be really immersion breaking. Tree branches rotate to constantly face the camera in that eerie fashion.

The music is not good.

The day-night cycles are much too quick, and the stars in the sky look very artificial.

Some creatures just ignore collision detection.

The default mouse settings has smoothing enabled, and only 10% sensitivity.

The puzzles were lame. Most were extremely simple, though I couldn't figure out when there was supposed to be a number in "Gramophone".

The game began a story, showed me the village and the path to it, but then abruptly ended with a "thanks for playing episode 1". The entire game wasn't even a full intro, it felt more like a demo.

"No, no, no, no, Derrick, it was your day to have the access code. I'm on personal ice cream leave of absence; code 3 dot 5 dot 31 in the manual clearly states--"

(GOTY/All DLCs required)