Grapplania

Not recommended unless you want to play the Dark Souls of swinging platformers... Kind of wish there was some kind of button to stop momentum while latched, also the last section I gave up on, there should have been one more checkpoint to help you out given how long the climb is and how many obstacles there are.

Grapplania is a focused 2D action platformer that turns grappling, swinging, and momentum into the foundation of its challenge. Developed by Single Play and published by DigiPen Institute of Technology, it has the compact scope of a student-created project but approaches its central mechanic with enough confidence to give the adventure a recognizable identity. Instead of filling the experience with complicated progression systems, lengthy dialogue, or numerous abilities, the game concentrates on learning how to navigate increasingly dangerous environments with a chain whip. The adventure follows Lynn, a descendant of a family of whip-wielding warriors who enters an abandoned castle in search of treasure. The story mainly provides context for the action rather than becoming the centerpiece of the experience. This works reasonably well because Grapplania is primarily interested in what the player can do rather than delivering an elaborate narrative. The mysterious castle creates an appropriate setting for the journey, while hidden valuables encourage players to explore instead of simply rushing toward the end of each section. Lynn's chain whip is easily the most important part of t…

Let's start by saying, I'm bad at this game. Old school Castlevania was a punishingly difficult game series, and i'm glad this game pay homage to it. My biggest issue with this game is the controls. i have a hard time leaping from grapple to grapple because the character will consistently aim the whip diagonally when I'm holding up on the D-Pad. It makes some of the jumps harder than necessary imo. That being said I enjoy the level design and I like that this game is very speedrun friendly.

Needless to say if an educational institution taught me incorrectly on purpose, I'd ask for my money back. "Grapplania" is a student project from DigiPen that ignores that 3D graphics became mainstream in the mid 1990's... there's no such thing as a gaming PC without 3D graphics. The faculty at DigiPen apparently didn't feel it necessary to tell students about that. It's going to be tough for any student to go find work in the industry if they can't even show they know about 3D video games. The students were incorrectly taught that it's ok to make 2D pixelcrap platformers and put them up against contemporary, real PC games in 2023. As a result we got a game nobody wanted, and of course it's not a full game, it's a student demo that's unmaintained, and full of bugs and polish problems that will never be fixed. 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 who have to wade through this stuff to find professionally made 3D games. The game lacks options for adjusting resolution, …

I rappelled the first level in leisurely fashion and a passing consideration for the extra gems. The second level refused to pull punches, however, and after five minutes spent failing to acquire one, I switched my focus towards the clock and finishing out the game; this felt like the correct choice after being faced with the length and difficulty of each level's "final trial," which is a grand step up from most other areas. I'd like to imagine a secret fourth level opening in the absent space on the map once I collect all the chaos emeralds, but an hour of playtime with the normal ending will have to do for now. The game is pretty overtly focused on a single item, with the consequential moods and events that are probably the most abundant in gaming as a whole aside from Nerve beaters. This is a case where music is doing a lot of heavy lifting for the distinction between locations, as well as some other flairs like the map intro, color palette, and well-paced variance. I've been slowly working my way through Symphony of the Night, seeing as I have no point of reference for the series, despite it attaching its namesake onto the portmanteau-like genre with which I have plenty of ex…

this game is really good but challenging the people who had negative reviews just get better at the game