Catsby

[h1] Nice approach for a Game Boy like platformer. Levels might feel a bit confusing thus you have to check your map often to see where to go. Music is really good and catchy. Gameplay is ok except some parts are made uneven like particle effects after obliterating monsters and hitboxes are kinda bad. When getting hit invulnerability time is too short and you might be knocked multiple times by the same thing which is super annoying. Visuals are monochrome but good looking pixel art, nothing too fancy. I think the game is too confusing with all its exploration part and going back and forth. Not bad just doesn't fall into recommendation zone (getting zoned) also main character could be a bit more interesting because it feels like some kind of Kirby knock off. [/h1]

I felt a bit so-so about playing this. In the two hours so far I haven't encountered the rooms in the screenshots, so consider this some thoughts on the open section of the game. Pros - Endearing art style, quirky characters, I imagined them all doing python-style British accents - Hilarious - Weapons work well, I particularly liked the bomb, it's good to have 'built-in' weapons on you character Cons - The opening hours felt quite repetitive, lots of backtracking - it's possible to go up through a load door and find yourself instantly falling back to where you started - very frustrating - First two bossfights are kinda samey Check out some gameplay here: https://youtu.be/HF81cz-GLks

I bought this just based on the retro style, but that was a horrible decision. It seems like the game is trying to be tongue-in-cheek, cheesy anime style, even attempting poorly to be a Metroidvania - and it is just bad. The game has a map and you explore, moving to different screens, much like Metroidvania. You fight some enemies, grab some collectibles, and unlock abilities - and with new abilities, you can go back to older areas and access new places. Again, like Metroidvania. But the game falls flat on its face. While the graphics and sound are trying well to be retro, everything else is bad. The biggest flaw is easily how bad of a Metroidvania game it tries to be. I had only been to about 15-20 screens in the game so far, but I had unlocked 2 abilities already. And out of those 15-20 screens, I'd say more than half of them had places where you needed to use 1 of those 2 abilities to leave somewhere else. And I had already seen other objects in them that looked like they needed a 3rd ability. So the game has way more backtracking than any other style of this game and it is not even done well. It is annoying to be forced to run through a bunch of rooms in a row using the same…

I bought this game a while back, and finally got into playing it. I'm about half way done with it now, and all I can say is wow! The gameplay is fun, until you manage to get yourself stuck in an area where avoiding damage every few steps is nearly impossible. I personally think the areas with all the spikes shooting through the walls and having to jump from each one to get to the top just sucks. Also, I like the wall climbing ability, but not while I'm avoiding boomerangs from skeletons on every frickin side of me, and all I want is this stupid fur ball to jump down the stinkin hole! No teleports either, at least not yet. I feel like I spend half my game time just going back and forth, repeatedly dying left and right! I only recommend this game if you have the patience to do things over and over, again and again.

What looked to be a simple, charming Kirby-clone, and throwback to the original GB era in general instead turned out to be a frustrating slog with inconsistencies across the board, and no easy way to get to safe havens. The boss fights are decent, but that's about it. For more, check out my thoughts on the game here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/522647575?t=00h01m29s