Recent reviews by azurehaiku

both chapters 3 and 4 are amazing in their own ways. so far the story is shaping out to be something incredible, and this is one of few games i've played that felt like an immersive experience from start to end, playing each chapter in 1 sitting is not something i'd usually be able to do but i was so emotionally attuned to it that i just couldn't put them down once i started... toby fox has indeed, done it again. ALSO STREAM AND REMIX THIRD SANCTUARY I BEG YOU IT'S THE BEST SONG ON THE OST

i need to actually learn how to play 8k but in the 30 minutes of slapping my keyboard like a gorilla i enjoyed it

i've still yet to dive in but it looks pretty solid and the quick post-launch patches show promise

little monsters hit the ball. 10/10

i'm only about halfway done with this game completion wise but it has completely hooked me. i definitely think it's a bit of a trial by fire, the tutorial into the outside areas is ROUGH and you're likely gonna spend your first few hours a bit frustrated, but as soon as you start to pick up the movement tech and hone your inputs this game gets GOOOOD. there is no better feeling than getting a boost on a sandripper and letting go so you can bhop to keep the momentum almost indefinitely.

my critiques mostly stand in too few checkpoints and shortcuts [or shortcuts that don't really serve much use given getting to them from a checkpoint is such a pain anyway]. the difficulty definitely needs fine tuning, because while i don't mind it being hard out the gate, the full game is gonna need a lot smoother of a difficulty curve to captivate a wider audience. a lot of jumps currently have too low a tolerance; you need to perform a lot of really tight inputs to do a lot of the platforming puzzles handed to you. ideally they'd be a bit more lenient and grow tighter in areas intended to be "harder" but every area kinda does this, so?

given it is Free and one hell of a meaty demo [with about 15-20 hours of content if you wanna see it to the end], i absolutely recommend it. but do keep in mind you might find yourself feeling a little discouraged to start by the difficulty. if you stick through it, it gets better!!! i swear.

though hot tip ahead of time, keep track of the scales you've collected in which areas as you're going through them, so if you find yourself missing 5 or something scales close to 100% completion it is AGONY to find out where they are otherwise. and yes 100% completion has a reward. i've yet to see it but it sounds cool
[EDIT 2: with 1.0.3 this has been rectified somewhat! past 70% scales / fish different parts of your compass will start to flash when you're in proximity to scales or fish. the ball bearing flashes red, the fish hook flashes green. it's not perfect but 100% is now definitely possible without prior planning]

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EDIT after 100% completion! i think the 100% reward is absolutely worth it. as long as you keep a close eye on your scale count so you can remember where missing scales are, it's not too much of a hassle!

the black tower, the final area of the demo, has an INCREDIBLE atmosphere and felt fairly balanced in terms of challenge too! the music builds as you progress, adding more instrumentation with every section you climb. i won't spoil it all but the reward at the top isn't the end. if you're willing to risk it, you can try to climb to the very top for the view of a lifetime. talk to bail afterwards too! she has some new stuff to say.

safe to say, i'm looking forward to this games full release in a years time and i think it's shaping up to be one of my favourite platformers of all time.

i've cleared every area on hard and normal with heavyblade and not played any other class yet. i am still not bored and have 9 classes to go. if that's not a testament to this games replay value i don't know what is

do you want to start doing art? do you have struggles with it because you think your work isnt good enough or that you'll never improve? this game is going to kick your hearts ass in that case because . wow
only other thing i'll say is that if you want to actually fill the overworld with colour, play with a mouse and keyboard, not controller. controller does work for movement and it's very comfy in that regard but when it comes to painting it's not ideal, which is why i switched to mouse and kb during all the painting sections. if i DID play the entire game with mouse and kb the world would probably look a little less black and white still

absolutely spectacular. go into this game as spoiler free as possible i beg you. it is SO good and even though it's only like, 4 or so hours long don't let that discourage you because those 3 or 4 hours are REALLY fun. and to top it all off, you've still got user generated content you can work through as well

okay. firstly, do not look this game up on youtube, google, twitter, whatever. you will be punched in the face by spoilers.
playing this game blind is an amazing experience, so much so that parts of the soundtrack literally bring me to the point of almost crying. for extra atmosphere, play in windowed once the sun has gone down with your monitors displaying dark colours. it's 6-8 hours long to play everything the game offers and while that's not much, it's worth every cent and penny. you won't regret buying this game.

see you on the other side!

how have i not reviewed this before what
anyway soda