Into The Underdusk

[table][th]Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/lists/] Gaming Masterpieces [/url] - The greatest games of all time on Steam. [/th][/table] Is this game a masterpiece? No. You play a little guy with a plague doctor mask, finding memories from his life, in a cute yet somehow creepy precision platformer. You walk around rather slow but can enable “always run” in the options. Your character still isn’t very fast, but at least he doesn’t appear to fall asleep at any time anymore. Beautiful pixel art, very strange inhabitants of the underworld, tough jumping sequences, big levels (but there is a map and fast travel), hidden secrets. Boss fights are without weapons, you just must reach certain places in a level without getting killed by the boss. Get touched by anything (any monster, any trap or other hazard) in this game, and you die. The bosses (and some mobs) have weapons, of course, and it is sometimes a bit hard to predict where they will shoot their projectiles. I did enjoy the platforming, but I began to hate some of the mobs because they can sometimes kill you quite fast (one hit is enough) and unexpectedly. Contrary to most prec…

Visually decent, but the level design is insanely boring and plain, and player movement speed is obnoxiously slow. About 20 minutes in you finally get a sprint button, and the sprint is still almost slower than any other platformers base speed. Navigating/exploring this game is one of the most painfully slow and tedious experiences I've ever had in my life. Would not recommend.

A QUICK REVIEW: This is a non-linear platformer that encourages you to explore, with a tough challenge that can be made to be as forgiving or as masochistically hard as you like. The trials ahead still remain the same, with very tight timing to dodge enemies, their attacks and environmental obstacles, but the difficulty levels offer a range between infinite lives to a very limited amount, and decently spaced check-points lessen any frustration. With responsive controls and pretty slick execution its mostly on the side of being a fair test for your reflexes. Do note that I said "mostly", as it can be frustratingly hard at times, and for every point where you can admire and enjoy its design there will be another where you're cursing it. Story-wise its a bit darker and deeper than the relatively cute 8-bit style graphics suggest, and is a surprisingly engaging meditation on love, loss, life and death. I enjoyed it and hated it in equal measure, and I can only recommend it if you want something pretty hardcore. If you want a tricky metroidvania, or an old-skool retro challenge, this will scratch that gaming itch. If you want something accessible and forgiving...well, this isn't it.…

Into the Underdusk is a solid metroidvania with a nice story supported by a great atmosphere (kudos to the soundtrack that does a wonderful job creating it) and solid controls. The platforming phases are not really that precise and brutal but there are some difficult situations that can throw off the least experienced players (more on that later). I really loved the NES vibe this game gave me, it took me back to that wonderful period where games were sometimes unfair but enjoyable. If that sentence feels weird, maybe Into the Underdusk is not for you. Because yes, the game does suffer from a few flaws or bizarre choices that sometimes create unfair situations and that can frustrate some of the most impatient or inexperienced players out there. But you also have to realize that this game has been developped by a single person that kept his day job and in only 6 months. If you ask me, that's quite the impressive feat. The first weird choice is that you start by walking and the running feature is an item you have to find. The path to it is straight forward since that's the only way you can go but it can be frustrating to be so slow at the beginning of the game. Once you get said boo…

I don't like it. Some of the platforming is hard just because you're forced a scroll transition mid-jump (there's not active camera system, you just run or jump off the edge of the screen and the next screen scrolls into place), the sprint button is not changing the guys speed, and so many precision jumps end up falling down 3 minutes of gameplay, that's frustrating. And that's just from playing 10 minutes.

Developers, what the ♥♥♥♥ is wrong with you making this broken piece of ♥♥♥♥ "game"?? It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broken and unbeatable. The wall jump feature is broken(i.e. only works when it wants to), and the mask chase end part of the "game" is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!! You next to never have enough time to avoid both it and the surrounding enemies long enough, to make it to the next respawn point. I promise to never recommend this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ piece of ♥♥♥♥ to any of my friends, unless you improve the wall jump mechanic and slow the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ speed down of the mask chasing you. We need room to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ breathe at the final part of the game. I seriously hope you fix this piece of ♥♥♥♥!!