Almost everything I could say has already been said. This is stunning. This leaves an impression. The critical points of the reviews are fair, once you get the map every secret is marked, it's a little on the easy side of the ledger. I would have liked a first play to reasonably take over four hours. But this is an amazing vision, an incredible achievement. I can't give it less than five orbs.
V E R T I C A L I T Y by Tundain [ Exploration],
rated by DonnyDonovan on May 02, 2024 ()
I really don't have much to contribute that hasn't been said. This is creative, original, the boss reworks are great, and it turns the traditional SM formula on it's head the way the world becomes scarier and more foreboding as you go UP, rather than down. I liked the hover item, and I thought the overcharge was interesting as well if a tad punishing as far as rate of drain. The downward sparks were awesome as were the spark deflectors, although I agree there was unused potential for puzzles where the player should have had to figure out how to angle more of them as opposed to it being automatic.
The teleporter spike things were pretty cool at times but for sure overused. There were some weird difficulty spikes even within the required path where I had to try certain puzzles and rooms multiple times to the point of frustration, where other times the game felt quite easy. Constant shaft climbing is tedious enough without the little firefly enemies that constantly pester. I definitely had a love-hate relationship with this hack at times. And I mostly hated Tourian. The outdoor rooms were quite simply not fun. They didn't feel fun. There was no sense of accomplishment in clearing them, only relief.
With all of that said, there's too much originality, atmosphere and quality here to go less than 4 orbs. Since you seem to be listening to feedback I'll probably even play 1.2 eventually. Congratulations on this!
Global Warming by Noxus [ Vanilla+],
rated by DonnyDonovan on Sep 01, 2021 ()
This surprised me. At first I thought it was nothing more than "half hack with water," and in some ways that's true, but there's enough here to keep things interesting. The item progression often surprised me with what I thought I was about to obtain not being correct. Very few items are where they were in Vanilla. The use of the flood gimmick to keep things fresh is well-executed. I had fun. It's not hard but there's one trick you HAVE to know and a really firm knowledge of the basic game and how things work is super helpful. Even if you hate suitless underwater as a general principle (and who doesn't?), this is worth a play.
Exploration],
rated by DonnyDonovan on Aug 27, 2023 (
