Talent Not Included

This is a gem of a game. Tight, responsive controls, a fantastic presentation, sharp level design and a unique concept all come together to make this an indie game anyone should play. The basic gist is that these three demons put together a play and hire actors to perform as heroes. All the levels take place on a single stage, with the differences being instituted via props and background sets that rotate in and out. Each level also has a scoring mechanic where you can try to get the high score on the leaderboard, which is very fun to attempt. There are some level design issues, however. Act 2, level 8, for instance, has a massive difficulty spike with a level end that is insanely hard to survive. This part is also much harder than anything before or after it and seems like it's out of place. These design issues are certainly not common, but they do pop up on a handful of occasions and really should have been refined, as they only serve to damage an otherwise splendid experience. The last boss of Act 3 also seems to be too difficult comparatively and is questionably much, much harder than the final boss, whom you face directly after. This is a great game, though, and one …

After 2 Years I returned to play again Talent Not Included. I'm not getting why they didn't expand this game, is really fun and fast to play.

Talent Not Included is a 2D platformer where the levels change as you play. A lot of effort went into the artwork design for this game, but there's a number of flaws which, despite the hard effort of the devs, means I can't give this a recommendation. First up, resolution is fixed and there's no option to change it, that's unacceptable on PC. It's obvious the game was console ported, because there's a lot of controller prompts as if the devs think you're somehow on a console and not a PC (were they not aware this is Steam?). That's also unacceptable on PC. Finally the gameplay itself... 2D platforming is an old, dead concept that lives only vaguely as a party game on Nintendo. It's usually the go-to format for lousy indie devs just because it's easy to slap one together, dump it on Steam and run back to the cafe to get to work on time. But these guys put a lot of effort in making one, which is a lot like people putting in a lot of effort to make a super cool multimillion dollar Yugo.

Very good platforming game, a bit hard to master but very fun to play

a great simple fun game with a really unique art/level design.

A solid entry-level platformer with a basic story that's enough to loosely provide a reason for doing what you're doing. The game has 3 classes, each with slight variants to their moveset that mix up the gameplay a bit, which is nice. Levels are, overall, quite easy and can usually be completed in the first attempt. The last few levels of each act provide some decent challenges. Going for the Gold quality completion achievement for every level provides some challenge. Good for playing co-op with someone who's not into hardcore platformers.