Kraino Origins

Hey, you know those infinitely-respawning birds in Ninja Gaiden precisely placed to knock you into the OHKO pits? Well, what if the entire game was like that? Yeah.

Great little game! Feels retro but still mostly accessible. Like a simplified Castlevania, Shovel Knight etc. Looks and sounds as good as the trailers, always tight and responsive with a good mix of combat and platforming. It's short but sweet, with 8 fairly long levels and 8 shorter challenge levels between. While there are unlimited lives and a decent amount of checkpoints, the bosses can be a little tough. The forced boss rush in the end felt a bit lazy and unfair, but at the very least there was a checkpoint after the first three bosses. Also, bosses generally telegraph their moves decently. Despite some difficulty spikes (with maybe a bit of a skill issue on my part), it's still more accessible than truly oldschool games out there. The game feels a bit like a prologue to something bigger, but it's still worth it and I'll be definitely playing the sequel.

Pretty fun, and has a cool aesthetic, but it is insanely short. You can 100% this in a few hours. Still, it was a good time, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

This is a tough one to recommend.. but I also can't NOT recommend it either. Buy this on the deepest sale you can, I guess. I bought it at half it's release price, which was OK. So the game is very short. It took me 3 hours to complete it. It's pretty easy too. I just got finished playing HK Silksong, which is obviously super hard, but this is a child's game by comparison. I found the boss fights to be interesting enough, but they all seem fairly except maybe one or two of them. The music.. people seem to be raving about it, but I am a little baffled at that. I had to turn it off in the beginning because it was repetitive and not good. As it progressed, it got better though. Still, nothing special, but it isn't BAD. The visuals I like though, as I'm a nostalgia-♥♥♥♥♥. Gameplay is fairly simplistic.. you have a couple attacks, a thing you essentially cast, and that's about it. Platforming in this was satisfying enough. Overall, it feels more like the concept game for something larger down the road, but it was alright. I like supporting small developers. I see there is a sequel in the works, but it will have to come a long ways from what this one is in order for me to …

I really like this so far. Feels like something from the Sega Gebesis, but more modern and smooth. The level selection made me think of that looney toons gaym from the sega gen era and the mocement and combat made me think of boogerman. So maybe a nostalgia trip? Haha But its solid in its own right. So glad it level based. I enjoy replying the same level and collecting all the thingys.

A nice proof of concept for a bigger game. The asking price is steep for what is here though, definitely wait for a sale. Pixel graphics are good, soundtrack is kind of bad actually, and one of the achievements is bugged for me. But its a nice way to spend a couple hours.