LOVE ETERNAL

There's being blindsided, and then there's this. Wow. I fired this up because I saw some streamers playing it and thought it looked fun. The only precision platformers I'd played prior were VVVVVVVVV (a long time ago mind) which I enjoyed, and The End is Nigh, which was enjoyable to a point but did get pretty tedious and I dropped it partway through. Well, and Geometry Dash if you count it (different skillset though). And I was right, this is fun. There's only a small handful of stages I found genuinely brutal so it was actually pretty well-balanced in difficulty, and the physics are on point. The movements in this game feel SO good. Outside of one stage which was overly confusing (the one with the two rotating blocks and the gap in the middle), I never got frustrated at the level design here, it's incredibly rewarding, and quite aesthetically pleasing too. As far as enjoyably difficult games go this might strike the best balance of difficulty and fun I've come across outside of some GD levels. The following are mild spoilers; I'm talking in broad strokes, but this game is best experienced blind. I was woefully unprepared for what happened in the second half, where it [spoiler]g…

I got this game on quite a large sale, I generally like platformers and have played a lot of celeste for example. I thought the story was quite interesting and unnerving, although I was missing a feeling like anything was progressing. The platforming was not very fun, all of the harder rooms are essentially just a challenge of timing the gravity flip well a dozen times in a row. In a way this frustration also builds tension which fits with the vibe of the game, but I just felt like the harder screens were too long (and again, you just do the same move but slightly differently 10 times in a row with oddly precise timing). The game is a decent 6 or 7 out of 10 for the price I got it, full price is way too much in my opinion so that's what I'm basing the review on.

A gravity-swapping precision platformer with strong atmosphere and a genuinely shocking twist at the end. Not even a narrative twist. A twist in how the game presents itself. You'll understand when you get there.

Recommended. A VVVVVV-style flip-gravity platformer wrapped in creeping unease, where a lonely girl's rescue plays out across sinister acts of friendship, and the discomfort is the point. The trial-and-error rooms (single mid-air flip, red stones to regain it) come with checkpoints on nearly every screen, the forced friendliness and unsettling character designs (dog-bowl breakfasts, bone-shaped nameplates, an eye behind the manga) curdle beautifully, and the jump sound alone is endlessly satisfying. Momentum-based difficulty spikes keep the pixel-tight timing honest. Inconsistent momentum turns some rooms frustrating rather than challenging, the red-stone tutorial arrives long after the mechanic matters, and the mid-game 4:3 aspect-ratio shifts disorient. A blocked right-hand path teases curiosity forever. Two to three hours, one sitting, and the restraint earns it.

The platforming was pretty fun, and the graphics and atmosphere were pretty.. A very significant of the game's runtime is story, which would be cool, but it involves a lot of waiting for slow scene transitions and animations, and despite really trying to understand this story, I still have less than 0 clue what anything meant - which makes it hard to feel connected with / invested in. (Major spoilers ahead) a few times it seems like you're given some understanding, but it's always thrown back at you. Theorizing is interesting, but there's just not enough information, and all of it conflicts. The game suddenly switches to a visual novel, and this part includes memes and jokes as significant plot(?) points(?). You can't even really make choices in the VN part; most of the options don't work, and the ones that do go to the same place. It's not what I went into this game expecting or wanting.

So fun + really funny when it wants to be. Beat it twice