Bow and Banister

It's a funny little game. It's adorably awkward. I really liked the aesthetics, the sound and the humor! It' pretty short, quite easy, not very mechanically rich and a bit buggy rn. But it's ok, I just played it for laughs and had a good time.

[b] Bow and Banister[/b] is a 2D walking simulator with slightly awkward controls. You use the respective mouse buttons to control the retraction of the player character's legs, and are tasked with climbing various sets of stairs from your lowly abode up to the king's hall. The gameplay is very reminiscent of Bennett Foddy's [b] QWOP[/b] from 2008, but with more intuitive movement and no failure condition. You can't lose progress in this game but there are a couple obstacles that are not totally trivial to traverse. The vast majority of the stairs aren't really that obstructive. Conceptually, the potential exists to create a genuinely challenging experience with the same mechanics, but B&B just feels like a prototype in that regard, more concerned with presentation and vibes than gameplay, and that's fine. I remained entertained enough for the entire duration thanks to the unique art direction, comical character animations (combined with the violin strokes synchronized to your steps), and the repeating realizations that there is yet another stairway in my path. It's like one of those Family Guy gags that's initially only mildly humorous, then gets tiresome, then becomes funny again…

It's like some king of a Bard's Quest