Dark Water : Slime Invader

Dark Water: Slime Invader, developed by DEVBOX and published by DEVBOX in collaboration with HeartBeat Games, is a tightly designed 2D action-platformer that combines precision movement, projectile-based combat, and light puzzle elements into a focused and steadily escalating experience. It begins with a simple premise—a quiet village suddenly overrun by corrupted slimes—but gradually builds into something more personal, following a young archer and her grandmother as they push deeper into the source of the invasion. While the narrative remains secondary to gameplay, it provides enough emotional grounding to give context to the action and maintain a sense of purpose throughout. The core gameplay revolves around fluid platforming paired with bow-and-arrow mechanics, creating a constant interplay between movement and offense. The controls are responsive and precise, which is essential given how frequently the game demands careful timing and positioning. Players are expected to jump, dodge, and fire in quick succession, often under pressure from multiple threats or environmental hazards. The bow is not just a weapon but a versatile tool, used to trigger switches, solve environmental …

How have I never heard of Dark Water before? Addictive, unconventional and extremely fun to play, this is one of the most pleasant surprises I've every found in my years of gaming. It's not overly difficult, yet. (I'm only on level 8). But the gameplay elements blend together to make something really special. Highly recommended!

This game has no rizz.

The protagonist's village is invaded by slimes. The redhead archer girl and grandmother need to defeat the slimes, navigate loads of spike traps, and find the evil at its source to stop the slimes. The game is a puzzle platformer. In certain levels you play as a the grandmother, who can't attack, but can float. The game features boss levels, that are chase sequences, akin to the original Ori. There are a lot of extra skills to find in the hidden nooks of the map, as well as many, MANY, hidden “little stars” for the completionists. The platforming can get frustrating, and there's certainly some trial and error involved, but nothing was bad enough to make me want to quit. The story is delivered via comic panels cutscenes that make everything easy to follow. The game is essentially non-verbal, but this doesn't diminish anything. Overall, a pretty polished puzzle platformer with more than enough content. Well worth the asking price.

This is a puzzle platformer sprinkled with a little bit of combat. Combat is not the focus. The basis of the game is that you have to get grandma to the end the level, and collect enough stars to open the final door. Grandma cannot jump and move like your character which means some areas grandma will be stuck. You'll have to go forward to find a level or something similar to allow grandma to be able to progress. The graphics are simple, but look really good for this type of game. The controls are tight, movements are fluid, and there is some limited use of bullet time for the little bit of combat that there is. The sounds is not amazing, but is good enough for this type of game. The game does have some background music. Curiously, you can only turn it down so far. For this type of game, I usually keep the music going, but make it soft enough that it's still there but not dominating the game sounds. With this game, the softest background music level you can set is still louder than what I would expect. The main challenge with this game is that it will let you screw up. You can get to the end of the level, with all the needed stars but without grandma. You cannot get b…

Mixed feelings. It could be a perfect journey for me if shorter. It is an interesting platformer with bullet-time archery shooting, each stage is well crafted, the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. The gran and girl idea is very cool, just like Kratos and Atreus, Amicia and Hugo, we carry someone which seems a burden at first, but once we are ready to take care of each other, we may find they are really good companions. There are in total 46 stages, it clicked for me after 12 stages, kind of a slow beginning. It does introduce new powers and mechanisms gradually, but still slow, after 25 stages, it becomes complicated, but more importantly, it seems the develop doesn't want to miss any idea and ends up adding too much content, which inevitably makes some levels lengthy to me. For example, the throwing grandma part, the giant slimes, it is not difficult in terms of puzzle or action, just slow me down. It is a stage-based game, not metroidvania, but we sometimes have to go back to searching for stars without map, let alone there is no hint which stage has abilities. Arrow charge is slow, which requires waiting. Orb absorbing ability is hidden in later levels. These all harm the fu…