Just realized that when I said “not bad, I recommend” in my last post, it could easily be misread as “not recommended” for those who just skim the post, so I’ll try to avoid that word-choice in the future.
Anyway, I gave Phaser a chance, but for how quick the platforming makes you (re)act and how long the game can make you go without a checkpoint, having to remember FOUR different color-toggling buttons just isn’t intuitive. The arrow-indicators needed to be on more than just the dotted tiles, at least. After finally reaching the bottom of the left shaft in 2-9, I died just two jumps from the goal and had to start the whole level over again, so I quit instead.
Also, I beat 🔴 Circles, but that game ended up just being a series of riddles, where you have to figure out which arbitrary mouse motion opens the way to the goal this time. I didn’t play any of the bottom-circle levels because they’re the same ones as the regular levels, but with an additional gimmick like “now the level rotates!” or “now you can only move so far before you die!” Definitely not my type of game.
I gave Gloomhaven a chance as well, but while I liked that the game doesn’t shuffle your “cards,” I didn’t like how attack modifiers can randomly decide you deal zero damage. You have the option to swap x0 for -2, but that doesn’t matter when your attack only deals 2 damage in the first place. Why can’t there be a house rule where there are no attack modifiers except fixed ones on Advantage/Disadvantage?
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Aurora
21 minutes playtime
8 of 11 achievements
Platformer. You start with just left/right movement and jump, but the game regularly gives you more abilities as you progress, like dash, double-jump, double-dash, etc.
Wall jumping is kinda awkward because it doesn’t happen by hitting the jump button; it happens when you push the movement direction opposite of the wall. Aside from that, controls are fine.
Level design is okay. The game’s length is too short for it to do anything especially interesting, but by that same token, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, either. The final area introduces orbs that push you away, and I could see them getting really annoying if they weren’t as underutilized as they are. The game tries to double its length by having an “inverse” mode, where you start at the last screen and work your way backwards to the start, but besides the final area, the levels aren’t that different going the other way, and it does get a touch boring (especially since you have all the powerups throughout the entire mode).
Overall, it’s okay. I can recommend it since it’s free.