I've never played any runner game after my early teens when touch screen phones were all the new rage. So imagine my surprise when I fired up EarthNight and saw it was a runner. Still, it's not a typical endless runner like those simple mobile games. There is an end goal - slay the EarthNight dragon.

The story is vague, but not in a good way. You have a short cutscene that acts as an introduction, raising more questions than answering. There are two endings tho, so that's nice. But, honestly, the story isn't even that noteworthy once you do "unlock" it, nor will it be the reason you'll be playing this game. That be the gameplay.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3395475520
As with every runner, your character is always, well, running. And as I already said, it isn't endless. Each stage has you try and get to the dragons head and stab it to death. But it won't be easy. Between you and that goal stand a lot of enemies. At first, you don't really have many means of dealing with them; Just a bonk on the head with your foot. Sadly, there are only a select few enemies you can actually bonk and kill, the rest damage you if you touch them. But don't worry, you can get that health back by chaining bonks together. The only way to deal with enemies resistant to the normal bonk is...You guessed it - with a Super-Ultra-Mega-Giga bonk! It requires you to climb very high up and then drop down to the ground, turning all enemies in your immediate vicinity into weird jellybeans.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2713197776

Besides the bonk, each character has some unique gameplay playstyle to consider; Stanley, due to his lush beard, has a higher jumping vertical than Sydney, but she can double jump and lunge forward or downward. Thus, I found Sydney better at the running part, but the dragon killing is where Stan is the man. His attack is easier to properly execute since some dragons require you to watch the animation and click at the right moment to maximize damage. I say some because each dragon has a specific manner in which you must attack the head to kill it. Otherwise, you'll simply fail. And what good is a dragon-slaying champion who doesn't slay dragons, I ask you? So if you don't want to be sent to the gulag, pay attention to the visual cues each dragon "boss fight" offers.

As for the levels, the game is separated into 5 levels, or rather, 5 layers of Earths atmosphere. Each is host to different dragons, with unique enemies and level designs. You can skip some layers with fancy skydiving manoeuvres, but two are mandatory - the 3rd and 5th layer. Regardless, I strongly advise against skipping, well, the game. You'll miss out on many dragon ingredients you need for powerups and upgrades. The levels also hold plenty of secrets, mainly Dragon Eggs you'll need to upgrade or unlock powerups. Since levels are procedurally generated, the location of these secrets may elude you, but it's always gonna be high up in the sky. So trying to climb up by bonking enemies heads and jumping off of them will take some time to master. It's also considerably easier when you do unlock some powerups, like the double jump for example.

With that, we segway into the last part - powerups. At first, you have none, so the game can feel a tad dull and bland. But once you start accumulating more scrap that turns into water, the game's currency, and unlock a few of these bad boys, the game feels and plays totally differently, getting a second wind. The gameplay is more fluid, traversing the levels is extremely fun, and the feeling of dullness or tediousness is nowhere to be seen. And mixing different powerups of the same cloth creates combo powerups, that come with their own unique fun abilities of course.

And lastly, the presentation was great. The art style might not be to everyone's liking, but the abundance of colourful and quirky enemy units, all with their own weird animations, made traversing the somewhat boring procedurally generated levels a joy. And this excellent enemy design extends to the dragons as well. When you see a Clown or a Frog Dragon, you'll forget that some are just mere colour reskins. During this whole dragon-slaying ordeal, weird upbeat chiptune music plays. I wasn't a fan of it at first, but it grew on me, especially when combined with the games overly wacky cartoonish visual style, and it just works.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2714075323

But, I won't lie to you. While in the end, I enjoyed EarthNight, my initial impression was quite the opposite. After about 20 minutes, I vamoosed out of the game, wondering if I should continue. No powerups and limited movement were a killjoy. The game was just not fun. But I stuck with it, past its shaky and slow start, and in the end, got a delightful runner for my troubles. Just know, it needs a second or two to transition to a full sprint. But when it does, and everything clicks, that's when the fun begins.

If you enjoy this review, come and read more wisdom from the Gospel of Sv. Prolivije.

I've never played any runner game after my early teens when touch screen phones were all the new rage. So imagine my surprise when I fired up [i]EarthNight[/i] and saw it was a runner. Still, it's not a typical endless runner like those simple mobile games. There is an end goal - [b][i]slay the EarthNight dragon.[/i][/b] [h3][b][i]Taste the Dragon![/i][/b][/h3] The story is vague, but not in a good way. You have a short cutscene that acts as an introduction, raising more questions than answering. There are two endings tho, so that's nice. But, honestly, the story isn't even that noteworthy once you do [i]"unlock"[/i] it, nor will it be the reason you'll be playing this game. That be the gameplay. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3395475520 As with every runner, your character is always, well, running. And as I already said, it isn't endless. Each stage has you try and [b][i]get to the dragons head and stab it to death[/i][/b]. But it won't be easy. Between you and that goal stand a lot of enemies. At first, you don't really have many means of dealing with them; Just a bonk on the head with your foot. Sadly, there are only a select few enemies you can actually bonk and kill, the rest damage you if you touch them. But don't worry, you can get that health back by chaining bonks together. The only way to deal with enemies resistant to the normal bonk is...You guessed it - with a [b][i]Super-Ultra-Mega-Giga bonk![/i][/b] It requires you to climb very high up and then drop down to the ground, turning all enemies in your immediate vicinity into weird jellybeans. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2713197776 Besides the bonk, each character has some unique gameplay playstyle to consider; Stanley, due to his lush beard, has a higher jumping vertical than Sydney, but she can double jump and lunge forward or downward. Thus, I found Sydney better at the running part, but the dragon killing is where Stan is the man. His attack is easier to properly execute since some dragons require you to watch the animation and click at the right moment to maximize damage. I say [i]some[/i] because each dragon has a specific manner in which you must attack the head to kill it. Otherwise, you'll simply fail. And what good is a dragon-slaying champion who doesn't slay dragons, I ask you? So if you don't want to be sent to the gulag, pay attention to the visual cues each dragon "boss fight" offers. As for the levels, the game is separated into 5 levels, or rather, [b][i]5 layers of Earths atmosphere[/i][/b]. Each is host to different dragons, with unique enemies and level designs. You can skip some layers with fancy skydiving manoeuvres, but two are mandatory - the 3rd and 5th layer. Regardless, I strongly advise against skipping, well, [b][i]the game[/i][/b]. You'll miss out on many dragon ingredients you need for powerups and upgrades. The levels also hold plenty of secrets, mainly Dragon Eggs you'll need to upgrade or unlock powerups. Since levels are procedurally generated, the location of these secrets may elude you, but it's always gonna be high up in the sky. So trying to climb up by bonking enemies heads and jumping off of them will take some time to master. It's also considerably easier when you do unlock some powerups, like the double jump for example. With that, we segway into the last part - [b][i]powerups[/i][/b]. At first, you have none, so the game can feel a tad dull and bland. But once you start accumulating more scrap that turns into [b][i]water[/i][/b], the game's currency, and unlock a few of these bad boys, the game feels and plays totally differently, getting a second wind. The gameplay is more fluid, traversing the levels is extremely fun, and the feeling of dullness or tediousness is nowhere to be seen. And mixing different powerups of the same cloth creates [b][i]combo powerups[/i][/b], that come with their own unique fun abilities of course. And lastly, [b][i]the presentation was great[/i][/b]. The art style might not be to everyone's liking, but the abundance of colourful and quirky enemy units, all with their own weird animations, made traversing the somewhat boring procedurally generated levels a joy. And this excellent enemy design extends to the dragons as well. When you see a [i]Clown[/i] or a [i]Frog[/i] Dragon, you'll forget that some are just mere colour reskins. During this whole dragon-slaying ordeal, weird upbeat chiptune music plays. I wasn't a fan of it at first, but it grew on me, especially when combined with the games overly wacky cartoonish visual style, and it just works. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2714075323 But, I won't lie to you. While in the end, I enjoyed [i]EarthNight[/i], my initial impression was quite the opposite. After about 20 minutes, I vamoosed out of the game, wondering if I should continue. No powerups and limited movement were a killjoy. The game was just not fun. But I stuck with it, past its shaky and slow start, and in the end, got a delightful runner for my troubles. Just know, it needs a second or two to transition to a full sprint. But when it does, and everything clicks, [i]that's when the fun begins.[/i] [quote]If you enjoy this review, come and read more wisdom from the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40407656-Gospel-of-Sv.-Prolivije/]Gospel of Sv. Prolivije[/url].