The Bomb Split

Completed Explo and played a decent chunk of Grenadier but my hands need a rest. Both are great precision platformers that evoke a golden age feel to them standing on the shoulders of games like the Newgrounds Meat Boy, N+, and VVVVVV. Explo has this open world aspect to it that makes me want to go back and explore more despite clearing the main route. The limited actions of only jump and bomb sounds basic but the devs have some truly inspired puzzle designs with mechanics that compliment the limitations of the player expanding on it in unique ways. Grenadier has the same inspired puzzle design to compliment its mechanics as well. The grenades detonate on a 3,2,1 countdown but it only counts down when it hits an object leading to some very interesting thinking to solve some of the platforming. Explo has a great synthy vibe soundtrack that blend into the gameplay and both come with a bunch of fun secrets and hidden paths for the intrepid and curious explosive enthusiast. Would highly recommend picking it up, after having beaten Explo I would've paid 10 bucks just for that, grenadier is like getting a 2nd whole free meal.

I beat all of Explo after randomly seeing a bsky post about it, and i am blown away at how good it is, especially for a game that currently has 1 review. Definitely inspired by VVVVVV, Celeste and Leap Year, but the crazy thing is, it's as good as these other games?? I love love love love how it uses one mechanic and challenges you to discover new ways to use it over and over again. I want more people to play this!

I'm not a platform player by any means. I have over 10k hours in CS, thousands in TF2, I am much more of an FPS/Comp player. Luckily, that doesn't matter for Bomb Split. It's a simple to learn, hard to master game. In my first run of Explo, I spent roughly an hour getting through the main route. I was also able to find a couple of stars and do a few side areas as well. The challenges switch up frequently enough where I'm never bored, but also they're long enough where it feels like I have time to master the mechanic the game is pushing. Streaming it for my friends, they say it's very reminiscent of Celeste. I can definitely recommend this game and that's without even touching the second part of the "split album". Make sure you do your wrist exercises!