Wandering Petal

"Wandering Petal" is a very mediocre 2D retro pixel platformer/adventure game slapped together with the godawful GameMaker Studio (which, interestingly, has never been used to create a truly successful game, but wow, has it been responsible for a lot of garbage here in the shovelware section of Steam). Explore 2D retro pixel blob backgrounds as a 2D retro pixel blob and wonder why some parts of the gaming industry think they're stuck in 1987. This features really godawful, lazy pixelcrap "art" instead of real graphics. It's hard to say if this was because the developer didn't have the skill to do the job of creating 3D visuals, or couldn't afford to hire someone who does, but it also doesn't matter. What matters is that this looks bad because of that decision, and that's a major deterrent to gamers. Games like Terraria and Stardew Valley succeeded [i]despite[/i] the bad graphics, not because of them. Not every "free" game really is. There's often MTX, or content locked behind DLC, or donations being requested, or any other number of things that could mislead gamers, but in this case I'm glad to say this really does appear to be a fully free game. Nothing demonstrates a deve…

The aesthetic is gorgeous! I love the animation and art used in this game. I also appreciate how the game doesn't hold your hand like many current platformers, but instead lets you acquaint yourself with the world and overcome challenges at your own pace. We learn things in tandem with the main character which provides a sense of unity and encourages the player to make their own inferences about the plot. I really enjoyed my experience with this game!

I want to preface this by saying this game is not poorly made. The artwork is great and has a pleasant art style, the sound effects they chose to use are perfect, The visual effects on the vines are really cool, There are no issues where the floor stops working and it all comes together in a nice little package that could be the blueprint for a much longer game. Playing as a nymph and gathering different flowers to unlock abilities is a really cool idea. That being said, there are problems. The first thing I would suggest is increasing the general volume of the background music. I thought this game was silent until I turned my laptop's sound up to max. Secondly, and much more complicated, There is a recurring problem where the player character gets caught on walls they're trying to jump onto. Also, a couple of times, the jump action just fully stopped responding, but falling to another platforming fixed that. The third thing I want to mention is that There is no death condition or out of bounds. when I was in the cloud area, I fully jumped off the left side and just kept falling. I guess it makes sense since there are no enemies in this game yet, but having some kind of invisi…

Beautiful art, yellow flowers lead the way is a nice touch, tricky platforming (jumping can be a bit of an issue, but the art is clearly the focal point), Great little experience with a wonderful mysterious ending, love the breathing details on the tree.

A fine little platformer with art that rises above the clouds of its gameplay. What is easily the greatest draw of this game are the visuals and they are indeed gorgeous with their painterly style and lush nature setting. There is a little bit of story which can be grasped directly, however what provides the most hints to the world are the details in the background particularly the crumbling architecture of the ruins. In terms of gameplay first up the inconsistent double jump people are bothered by is not the intended as the actual double jump! You only obtain the proper double jump ability after collecting all of the flowers after which it works perfectly fine, so until then it’s better to play like you don’t have a double jump at all. The climbable vines are indicated quite clearly with bright yellow flowers. These touches make the platforming very intuitive. As a free game this is a flowery feast for the eyes and a nice bite-sized experience for inbetween tasks or other games, when you are looking for something pretty and simple.

not bad