Summit

I saw a video on Youtube and have to agree that it definitely deserves much more recognition. So far, I haven't played very much, but the controls seem tight, the graphics are nicely crisp and clean and there was a good bit of variation to the gameplay already, with much more to come apparently. I'll update this review at a later time but for now, it's a clear recommendation at that price point!

If there was a side thumb option it would be what I chose, as there are a lot of big flaws with the game that come with the good parts. The game Summit is most similar to is Ori, both are platformers where you explore an open world completing various challenges along the way. Both games are platformer first, action game second. Both games have your character getting new abilities that change how you move about the world. They are very different games in terms of polish though, as expected of course with Summit being made by a solo dev. Pros: - The map layout is very interesting with a lot of ways to get around. Revisiting old areas when you get a new ability is often rewarding and not just finding upgrade materials but alternative areas/shortcuts. It's hard to oversell how impressive this is, it is done much better than in Ori. Most of the time I was happy there was no fast travel options as using newfound powers to speed through previous areas delivered a real sense of progression. - There are a lot of cool secretes around the map. - The grappling hook is fun. It is kind of hard to use but learning how to use it is rewarding and personally I haven't seen anything similar before…

Great game with a few glitches. Recommended and hope to see more from this developer in the future

I hate that I can't recommend this. I like the premise, the music, and it looks pretty good, too. But I have 2 big problems: Spotty controls. Grabbing the walls often chooses not to work, causing you to fall(often to your death). And I got to the zipline, which refuses to connect at the starting point. For the first zipline you come across, you have to jump out in order to get it to sense the line at all, and it's hit or miss if you'll actually grab onto it. The 2nd zipline was better in this regard(no risk of instant death), but still took a few tries. I'd like if pressing X near the line just worked. I also had this issue where if you climb a ladder all the way to the top and it ends at some other type of wall, it prevents you from jumping away from it. You just have to move down a little and then you can jump, but it's still weird. Spotty hit detection. This became especially obvious during the first boss fight. My attack could cleave all the way through the boss and not hit it for no apparent reason. I also don't understand why hitting it in the head doesn't work at all. You have to hit the body portion. And sometimes jumping over its wave attack works, and sometimes it hits …

I was really enjoying this game, but unfortunately the Vulture boss proved impossible for me to get past. Despite the mechanic mostly working fine elsewhere, I was unable to grab onto the wall and jump toward the boss to attack it.. my character would just fall down instead. It would work maybe 1 in 20 times, but after a couple of dozen deaths; morale plummeted and I gave up. The climbing/grabbing mechanics in general could do with some polish to make it more forgiving. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the map design, the world building and the music. Really impressive considering this was made by a solo dev.

I’ll review my first 20 minutes or so of gameplay: The game starts with you crawling while watching other npc’s running past you, which was a little odd, the npc’s should either also be crawling away or I should be able to run with them. (Just a peeve of mine) I had to remap the controls. Too many functions were set to the same button which made the controls feel clunky and my character would do something I didn’t want, like clutch the wall instead of swing the crowbar. The blue/white sky background is the same/similar color of the snow/ice foreground. This makes is hard to see where I’m supposed to be jumping at times. A few of the flying “bat” creatures face the wrong way while doing a dive attack and some even get stuck in the ground while attacking, then randomly glitch back into existence on top of my character and the player takes damage. (This is an immersion breaking bug) There is a slight pause after you jump which is really annoying, especially on the crumbling platforms. There is barely enough time to jump from one platform to another. (I played this section using a controller, not sure if there is the same delay on mouse and keyboard). You can’t jump if you are at …