Codename: TIARAS

Take this as a neutral review. Since Steam only allows binary reviews I had to choose something. Pros: Nice environment, music and character design (even though I hate cyberpunk/half cyborg whatever anime gals with kitten ears it is personal and I know a lotta others are simpin' for staff like that so cannot allow personal preferences to intervene with stuff like that) Cons: Ground is like one hell of a slippery butter fiesta, this gal simply cannot land properly, so yeah terrible physics, no controller support is a big no for a 2D platformer it feels like they were too lazy to implement that and time limit wasn't obvious they expect you to guess the UI no tutorial no nothing. Good luck in your careers!

Codename: TIARAS is a student project from DigiPen. One of the first things students should be taught in game development is that 3D graphics became mainstream in the mid 1990's with dedicated 3D cards like the Voodoo3 and the ATI Rage. But the students were deliberately mistaught that's it's okay to release obsolete 2D games in the 3D era of gaming... and certainly and professional developer seeing a prospective new hire who doesn't even know about 3D gaming probably isn't going to give them a job. Needless to say if an educational institution taught me incorrectly on purpose, I'd ask for my money back. This is yet another pointless 2D retro platformer infesting Steam... I can't imagine the disappointment from the students when they discovered this is what they had to make. No employer would be interested in hiring a student who wasn't even taught how to make contemporary 3D games. This is deadweight in any student portfolio. We also have to question what value there is for gamers on Steam when institutions flood the store with low quality 2D video game homework assignments... sure, it might make the students feel good about themselves, but this has no benefit for gamers wh…

The game is very short, some of the jumps are quite annoying, but the game is fun still.

I found the rigidity of animation to mesh nicely with the discrete momentum of the dash ability, and so the first level was overall standard yet agreeable. The second level had crashed early in my first run, but then presented a finely ramped difficulty of moving downwards with the same feature kit. The game is a polished handful of mazer interactions, although the green cubes stand out as needing more allure, and this consequently creates more conflict with the level timer which was also lacking some pressure. Having missable cubes is fair, but to have it as only one out of twenty six cubes between two levels leaves that specific design feeling out of place. I only began to play Ori and The Blind Forest very recently, but in my mind it always seemed like it was too graphically bedazzled to deliver as complex of a game. Out of all comparisons I made while playing, one to that of Outland was always central to this loosely formed critique. The visuals for this lesser known Ubisoft mazer also feel inspired by Rayman with the concept of expression through reduction; the main characters are missing color and fully attached limbs respectively, which provides them more immediate access…

A simple 2D platformer made by university students, if I’m not mistaken. You run, jump, dash, and try not to get zapped by electric currents or fall off buildings. It’s free and not a perfect game, but they’ve clearly put in the effort and will learn a lot from this experience.😊

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