XETTER 2020

I feel bad about this one. In principle, this is a nice little game, are charming throwback to Boulder Dash and the like. Cute visuals, simple premise, a neat little free indie game. But. There is a problem that happen in all game development, but especially solo indie development; the people making it know the mechanics so intimately, and have playtested it so many times, that they lose all perspective of how difficult they're making it, and release something waaaay harder than they realise (or, at least, where the difficulty is only reasonable if you have intimate knowledge of the mechanics). Sadly, that's the case here. 30 stages? You'll be lucky to beat 2. Beating the levels often involves getting enemies somewhere you can drop a box on them... But if you're any kind of distance away they just kinda stutter-step about in random directions. Get close enough, and you can lure them close... But you don't [i]need[/i] them to come to you, you need them to go [i]under[/i] you. "Well fine, lure them lower down and then get out of range!". They move as fast as you; once they're on your tail, you're done. It's a shame, because I can't really think of a good fix that doesn't involve…

XETTER 2020 is a really simple action puzzle game, but I found the basic idea surprisingly satisfying. The goal is straightforward as I move through each scene collecting every dot while trying to avoid enemies and manage the limited lives I have available. I liked how quickly the game gets me into the action because there is very little unnecessary complexity. The interesting part is that I am not completely helpless against the enemies. I can push blocks around and use them to crush enemies, which gives the simple movement system a little more depth. I enjoyed looking for opportunities to turn the level itself into a weapon, especially when two enemies are closing in and I need to think about where I can safely move. The time limit adds another layer of pressure. I cannot spend forever planning every move, so eventually I have to commit to a route. I liked this balance between careful positioning and quick decisions because it stops the puzzles from becoming too passive. When I finally understand how I want to approach a scene, executing it successfully feels pretty good. The retro presentation also works nicely. The simple two dimensional graphics keep everything easy to read…