adam1224

Creaks

Creaks is a real Amanita Design game, that took a step aside from the other A.D. games, as it has a classic puzzle platformer gameplay, and the usual graphics - simple but colourful and detailed.

I personally really liked the game - I like puzzles, but it's hard to strike the balance for difficulty, fun and variety, and Creaks did it very well. The controls are super easy (and offer full controller support, which is pleasant) and the game mechanics are fairly simple too - buttons, levers, pressure plates and various enemies.
As the game progresses, the underground environment goes through shifts of style, keeping the visuals fresh and preventing going stale. Along with the graphics, a handful new enemies presented, with different mechanics to them, and as the game is without a real word being spoken, they are presented and introduced in action, everything is up to the player to figure out.

This mix of environmental changes, nonverbal communication, experimenting with the enemies would be for nothing if they wouldn't be balanced around a slightly short game. So many games fall into the trap of having overstretched base mechanics/enemies, and as they start combining them the game just feels endless, while not really showing new stuff. In Creaks I think a new mechanic is introduced every 5-8 levels, keeping it pretty fresh.

About the story: I liked the presentation and the puzzles themselves more - for most of the story we're just going deeper and deeper, or sometimes a bit upwards to go even deeper afterwards. The story is comprehensive (I guess?) but personally I prefer to know the direction of the story on the go, and not just stumble from one room to another, waiting to see how the story slowly being told. Honestly, I felt it to be boring.
Either this is a clever trick to show "stumbling in the dark" for a game taking place underground, or it's not even really a story being told, you're just witnessing things unfold. Either way, my highly personal opinion is that it's secondary in nature and forgettable. It's very likely that you'll enjoy it more than I did, it's perfectly okay, it was done well.

I guess it was a good game that mixed good quality of everything, there are no real weak points that I feel really, objectively weak or bad. (They even have a chapter selection option, which was useful when internet hiccups prevented some pictures to be registered)
If you like how the game looks like, try it! (Expect like 4-10 hours of gameplay of it, depending on skill, focus and tempo. )


JaffaCaffa

Nice detailed review, thanks. :)

I’ve enjoyed the 2 Amanita Design games I’ve played and loved the art style of this one, but thought the controls looked like they might be pretty clunky (slow)/annoying solving the puzzles. (Some of those early 2010 platformers either didn’t age well imo or maybe just not my style, and this gave off similar vibes based on the trailer but with a really neat aesthetic.) Will have to keep my eye on this one, may pleasantly surprise me after all.