

Gambol
Mike Pickering · 2018 · Indie, Action, Platformer
PC
Positive88% · 25
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About Gambol
Gambol is a wall-hopping, ceiling-slapping jaunt of a platformer with straight forward controls, and buttery smooth movement. You control the Gambol Gumball through a gauntlet of levels designed with flow and rhythm in mind to test your platforming grit. But don't be too nervous, because along with the slick controls you also have a triple jump that's energy is reset upon touching any (non-lethal) surface, including the ceiling. Holy cow, that sounds great. The controls are simple enough that you could play it on a NES controller, with only run, jump, left, right, down-boost, and \ to worry about. What's that “\” all about? Hah, don't think too much about it, it's probably nothing.
“Whoa!” you say, “this looks crazy hard, is this one of those games that Poo-Dee-Pah yells at on the YouVideo?” Nah, it's not too bad, the levels appear a bit tougher than they really are since I had to put in more obstacles to make up for all that sweet, juicy, player agency you have. Oh, and when you inevitably meet your demise at the hands of a spike, laser, bomb, floating-shock-ball-of-hurt, or whatever else, you re-spawn within a couple seconds (or just hit the level-restart button if you're fidgety like me), so it's no biggie if you have to re-run a level a few times before you get the hang of it. But for all you hardcore platforming buffs out there, I've made a second, harder difficulty with special levels, and normal mode levels with more hazards added. Oh my!
Inconsequential! It's probably about candy or jellybeans or some such nonsense. Honestly, the story is just a vehicle to move the action along, so it's not super important, but I'll work something in there, just you see, and chapter four will shock you!
- super-smooth Modern Platforming Action!
- A triple jump that's energy is reset upon collision with any non-lethal surface. Wowie!
- 130+ Levels, designed to flow in a way so that they can be (fairly) easily speedran once mastered NO AUTOSCROLLERS! !
- Wild hazards to avoid!, and one to use to your advantage if you're gutsy enough to experiment (hint: not the spikes, those just kill you. Don't try using those for anything. Except to die. Which you will do if you touch them. Avoid at all costs).
- No weird gravity mechanics, or things to make you motion sick. Back in my day we liked our colors bright and our gravity linear (only going down, baby!)
- Simple, customizable controls that anyone can master. Cool beans!
- Two difficulties: One for normies like myself, and one for people who, I don't know, like losing? It's super hard, but whatever! Yay!
Q: What Platforms Will the Game Run On?
A: Windows/PC. It is possible (though not promised) that Linux and Mac versions may come in the future, though they will certainly not be available at launch.
Q: How Many People Are Working On This Game?
A: Just this guy!, Mike. Catch me on the Tweeterverse @ACEJester <3 Oh, and Andrew Lippens is the composer. He's super cool, too.
Q: What Inspired Gambol?
A: I love games with wall-jumping, but I haven't found one with the mechanic done how I'd like it done, so I've made my own!
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
⠀10 found this helpful
1 found this helpful
Игра "Gambol" сочетает элементы стратегии и азартных развлечений, предлагая увлекательный геймплей с простыми правилами. Привлекательный визуальный стиль и динамичные механики делают её идеальной для коротких сессий. Однако баланс сложности и награды оставляет желать лучшего — часто выигрыши кажутся случайными, что снижает ощущение контроля. Подойдёт тем, кто любит рисковать и ценит быструю игру. Рекомендую для развлечения, но не более того.
"Gambol" is one of literally thousands of retro 2D platformers infesting Steam and lowering the average quality of all video games everywhere... and I'm not kidding. Searching for "platformers" on the Steam store page yields over 17,000 results! Is this one of the best of those? Absolutely not. This is a rather badly made 2D "platformer" where you control a bouncing, sometimes gravity defying gumball and bounce around your usual spikes and other moving hazards and platform around for no discernable reason. Simple, but janky and unpolished controls are a perfect complement to the ugly, phoned in graphics. There's no polish here, although part of that would be due to the "no-code" kids toy construction kit, Construct 2. Platforming is an old, mostly dead genre, and this lacklustre experience, while it doesn't have an upfront cost, isn't saving the genre... it's no surprise this failed to capture any attention from gamers in the era of immersive 3D gaming. On the topic of visuals, the weak looking 2D retro assets seem like they'd be more at home in a browser game or a mobile app. 3D graphics accelerators hit the mainstream of PC gaming in the mid 1990's with cards like the A…
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