Phantom of Zana

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Very well made 2D platformer that gives you lots of options to bolster defense, projectile shots or sword attacks. Most levels unlock abilities that each new area is designed around. The story seemed kind of meh but everything else was smooth as butter, I would have paid a couple bucks for this.

Thousands of retro 2D platformers are infesting Steam, and "Phantom of Zana" is just more pollution in a crowded market of terrible games. There are over 17,000 platformers on Steam, literally thousands (you can go see for yourself if you search for the platformer tag on the store, I'm not kidding). This pixelcrap platformer/brawler/hack and slasher looks and plays a bit like a ripoff of Zeliard, but without the RPG bits. And it's shorter. I often wonder if amateur developers look around before publishing games that are objectively inferior to games that have been around for decades, but I don't think they do. I mean, nobody would do that deliberately, would they? I think it should be pointed out this isn't the worst of the thousands of platformers on Steam... it's far from the best of course, this is no Silksong, but it doesn't completely suck. However, as always, there's no prizes for being the most handsome guy in the burns ward. The platforming genre is pretty much obsolete... just a tiny number of professionally developed platformers exist on PC and offer any real value or interest to gamers (Silksong, etc). This is nowhere near being as good as Hollow Knight or Silk…

"Phantom of Zana" is a fun action platformer that I enjoyed playing for the most part. For a free game, it’s very nicely made and offers a lot of content: 13 fairly large levels, a wide variety of moves, and quite a few enemy types. That said, the game has its good and not-so-good parts. Starting with the good, the controls are smooth and responsive. Moving around and slashing enemies felt great. At the beginning, the player can walk, jump, roll, and perform a horizontal slash attack. As the player progresses by defeating the stage bosses, she unlocks new attacks and moves: shoot, dash, air dash, upward attack, downward attack, grappling hook, slide, and more. These constant additions to the player's move-set kept the game feeling fresh throughout. The player can also be enhanced with upgrades. Coins collected in the stages can be spent at the in-game shop (accessible after beating bosses) to increase health, defense, and attack power. The player can also collect stars; 50 of them will automatically fill a potion bottle, which can be used anytime to restore health. This mechanic was incredibly helpful and helped me survive the more difficult sections of the game. Clearly, the pla…

i didn't finish the intro level because it was too slow paced and boring. Maybe things pick up later, but there wasn't enough to keep me playing. Nice pixel art, however the ugly character/dialogue portraits don't match the appealing aesthetic of the sprites. Has potential.

I could pull my usual nonsense where I write something ridiculously long, get sidetracked into a conversation with myself about how E.T. for the Atari 2600 was the only perfect video game ever made, and the world just didn't get it, but I won't because this developer did us all a solid, and gave us a seriously great game for free! There's something very unselfish, sweet, and even... dare I say "noble" about that. The one thing I understand about making games, is that if you're putting any effort, or care into it (even with a team of people), these things take forever to make! And this looks like quite a bit of thought went into it, so we're looking at 2-3 years (minimum) of someone's hard work, and they're like "here friend, this one's on the house"... as someone who despises most of humanity, I gotta tell ya, this almost makes me believe that we really could make the switch to a world where we don't live, kill, and die over silly green paper (if you're in the U.S. that is), and people like this will help us get there. Thanks... whatever your name is! I hope you continue making games with this level of quality, and get the recognition that you deserve!