Side Scape

I found this developer and this game after playing Xanthiom for the Atari 2600 via RetroAchievements. Side Scape is a really cool little indie game. It's a half side-scroller Metroidvania and a half Zelda-like. The thing is, you can actually switch between these gameplay styles on every screen once you unlock the ability. Really simple and straightforward gameplay that slowly introduces a few clever puzzles. This is not the only game that has used the concept of switching gameplay styles, but I thought it worked really well. I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough and would love more like this. It also worked on my old PC so that's pretty helpful for those without high-tier gaming devices. The people behind the game directly responded to me when I had a question and some feedback and they were willing to chat and help me out. Extra points for that! Thank you so much! If I had any criticism, I think it would be that the boss fights feel juuust a little janky and seem like a bit too much of a jump up in difficulty from the simple exploration and minor enemies. However, I don't consider myself an expert gamer so if I was able to get through the bosses, they couldn't have been that bad.…

Huzzah!

4/5 - Pretty solid game, and remarkably innovative. I agree with the review that calls it "Zelda-like" rather than Metroidvania. If you like that style, and you're ok with the homebrew feel that lacks polish, then I'd definitely grab it on sale.

A great little game. The core mechanic is cleverly threaded through all of the map design, and the exploration and combat are well supported by the variety of tools and weapons. A+, entirely worth the afternoon it'll take to play. It's a zelda-vania in a very good way.

This game is innovative, fun and has a good sense of humor! A true hidden gem! I love it!

A pretty neat game! The powerups you find are pretty interesting, and having two characters with their own abilities and health bars adds an extra layer of strategy to boss fights that I think's pretty cool! The top-down combat can feel a little stiff at times, though later powerups I found helped a lot. (And also I play a lot of platformers so I'm just generally not as practiced at top-down combat, so that's probably a factor too.) [spoiler] I spent quite a while trying to defeat the dragon thing boss with Grisham before finally using the knight and realizing it was way easier since I could just use the shield to knock back the projectiles and stun it. Which makes complete sense given that thing is the final boss of the knight's world, so of course it would be designed around his abilities! [/spoiler] The music's neat too! It's a pretty cool game, and I enjoyed it!