Northern Journey
Level design, music and art style absolutely on point: every area is distinct, looks great, has its own unique vibe. They are mostly quite vertical, which is also very nice. Sometimes progression is a bit confusing, but nothing too frustrating here. A lot of areas have little unique mechanics made just for them, lots of nice touches.
Combat is sadly not so great, although 95% of the time at least tolerable. Some enemy attack animations are way off actual attack hitboxes, melee enemies tend to stick to you on contact, hitting repeatedly. Some boss arenas consist of series of narrow bridges/pieces of land with instant drown pits inbetween which is also annoying. It’s generally alright as long as you don’t focus on it too much - imo combat here is just to act as intermissions between exploration and exploration, which is the actual main focus of the game.
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game
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This is a very memorable game that deserves more recognition. It’s extremely strange in a charming way with a lot of variety and surprises, as well as some unexpected humor. This is a very impressive game to have been made by one person, and without reusing almost any content through its full 10-15 hour length; every area has its own unique enemies, hazards and music. There’s a lot of rough edges, but also a lot of smart design like enemies having clear sound cues to let you know when they’re offscreen or health pickups being placed strategically on walkable ledges to let you know where you can go. It gives you just enough information to understand its mechanics and know how to deal with its more esoteric hazards without ever holding your hand. Some of the levels work better than others, and I thought the last third or so of the game was weaker than the rest due to some annoying encounters and gimmicks that went on for too long, but it’s overall a good experience backed up by an evocative and memorable soundtrack. (The soundtrack even comes with the game, it’s just included next to its files, and this is a soundtrack I would have been willing to pay for separately.)
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game