Effie

Effie

This is again more of a neutral rating than a definite positive one. But let me get more into the details to explain.

Effie is a typical Unreal 3D-platformer made by a small team, and this shows, in both good and bad ways. On the positive side you can definitely see the dedication and work that was put into the environments of some levels (like the Vineyard or Windmills City), the platforming sequences are decent, too, and the many runes to collect give some good incentive to explore. Difficulty stays in a casual to easy range, yet doesn’t get too boring. Music was quite fitting as well, not too much variation, but also alright on the whole. So I have to admit I had fun regarding those aspects all in all. I didn’t mind the sometimes a bit clunky movements, or the narration style (a voiced narrator tells the game like a story to his grandchild). But the design and technical flaws sadly always pulled my experience down in between.

Real player with 10.8 hrs in game


Read More: Best Collectathon Cartoony Games.


TL;DR at the end.

When you start the game, right off the bat, first thing I noticed is how unpolished the game is, the animations for opening chests for example seem half-assed, the combat basically consists of just mashing heavy attack and later on when you unlock the boomerang move (which for some reason is even stronger than the heavy attack while also being a huge AoE) and you spam that instead you have to watch that animation in slow-motion EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

On the narrative side, the story is very basic but that’s not why I’m here for, and the voice acting is pretty lame and you’d keep hearing the same voice lines over and over again for example every time you open a blue chest you get one of two voice lines, and you open quite a lot of them.

Real player with 8.0 hrs in game

Effie on Steam

Togges

Togges

A game unlike anything you’ve ever seen!

A combination between something completely new, and totally familiar.

Spread and stack adorable cubes to explore incredible worlds, collect goodies, discover funny stories, and help the King President dominate the universe to save from the unknown threat of the Void.

  • A unique game about spreading and stacking adorabe cubes (a.k.a. Togges).

  • Classic Collect-A-Thon 3D platformer.

  • Amazing handcrafted worlds with beautiful art direction.

  • A non-linear game with dozens of content to explore and discover.

  • A wide variety of lovely characters and funny stories.

  • Emergent gameplay full of creative mechanics.

Incredible gameplay, fascinating worlds!

Beneath all the Stars, in the Bottom of the Cosmos there is an Endless Wall, keeping the known universe from the dangers of the unknown. In the formation of the constellations, the leaders of each domain must protect all the existence. This is the story of the Togges.

Explore multiple worlds and immerse yourself in incredibles settings with stunning vistas. From a futuristic city in the Savannah, to a realm made of carrot cake, discover funny stories and make friends around the Cosmos.

Solve environmental puzzles, discovering how to interact with the world in a range of creative mechanics, and find all sorts of collectibles, with dozens of content in handcrafted levels where every corner has something interesting to do.

Overcome challenges while combining different Togge Colors and abilities, and find new ways to play creating unexpected situations due to emergent gameplay, with multi-layered open levels, completely free for you to explore and master the game.

A game made with love, from a 3D Platformer fan to another 3D Platformer fan. A charming revival from the “strangest” creative B games from the Golden Era of the 3D Platformers, with a modernized vision taking notes from the great classics.


Read More: Best Collectathon Platformer Games.


Togges on Steam

Bunny’s Trail

Bunny’s Trail

A simple but very nice casual memory game, the graphics are cute and colorful and It has original and relaxing music. Recomended if you like simple games to play casually and if you like cute rabbits.

Real player with 8.8 hrs in game


Read More: Best Collectathon Top-Down Games.


Simple. Delightful. A different reviewer caused me to buy this, and he or she was right. Training visual memory for a tiny price? Yes, please.

Real player with 2.2 hrs in game

Bunny's Trail on Steam

Niko and the Cubic Curse

Niko and the Cubic Curse

A fun little platformer. Has some cool ideas, and some awesome music.

Real player with 2.1 hrs in game

Niko and the Cubic Curse

Real player with 1.7 hrs in game

Niko and the Cubic Curse on Steam

Penko Park

Penko Park

Want to go on a weird safari? well then heres a game for you!

Penko park is an exploration game in the vein of Pokemon snap, you sit in a cart and are driven on a tour of the abandoned Penko wildlife park, as you travel through the park you take snapshots of the various animals that inhabit the place, in many ways its like a rail shooter.

Of course theres more to it that simply riding passively through the park, there are numerous collectables to find and alternate paths to open up. And simply finding the various animals isn’t all there is either most will have multiple poses to collect so you have to figure out how to get them in addition to just finding the animal, for the most part this is fairly easy as the interactions involve only the target animal itself, but there are a few situations where things get complex (like using one creature to scare another) its just a shame that there aren’t more of these in the game (like scaring away a predator causing a new creature to come out or something) but I can see how that would be alot more work for such a small team.

Real player with 11.7 hrs in game

It’s Pokemon Snap on Steam.

So, I really liked Pokemon Snap on N64. I know, I know, it’s a game for five-year-olds, but it was so much fun - travel around different locations, keep your eyes peeled, take some good pictures. Well, that’s what this game is… just with the random monsters of a different imagination. It’s kinda weird - this game is quite a bit simpler than Snap, and yet… I think I liked this one more. Heck, the graphics aren’t even up to the Snap level (Snap was 3D, super animated, blah blah blah… This one is hand-drawn-y, simple animations, etc) - and I still think I like this one better. My ONLY disappointment was how quickly I “beat” the game - I’m showing 4.2 hours logged as of writing this, and that was with trying to take my time to enjoy (rather than trying to “steamroll” the game).

Real player with 9.4 hrs in game

Penko Park on Steam

Cozy Grove

Cozy Grove

I love this game, and if you like games like Animal Crossing you will probably like it too.

It is a cute little game which allows you to help out ghosts by fulfilling the tasks they give you.

You also build a camp for yourself, take care of animals, harvest plants and flowers, decorate the island etc.

Everyday you get a few tasks and some things you can harvest, but after those are done you may have to wait till tomorrow to get new ones, so the game is more of a gradual story and a slow burn (which I like a lot because I do not have the time for major games at the moment).

Real player with 97.9 hrs in game

A lovely game with interesting new ideas, stymied by poor design decisions that make it a chore. If you like Stardew Valley type games, and don’t mind the restrictions usually found on mobile, it could be for you.

Good:

  • Interesting characters, a slow burn unravelling of their stories

  • A nice ‘illumination’ mechanic whereby helping spirits each day lights up the area and enables resource harvesting. Feels rewarding and like you’re making progress.

  • Lots of outfits and recipes to collect for collector / crafter types

Real player with 75.3 hrs in game

Cozy Grove on Steam

Mail Mole + ‘Xpress Deliveries

Mail Mole + ‘Xpress Deliveries

My rating: 7/10

Initially the level design is very basic and easy, perfect for getting the hang of the mechanics of this platformer. Each level is slightly more difficult until you complete the set, then also adds new mechanics and consequence with each new area. Very solid, smart design. Keeps the player engaged and challenged and the overall game from feeling stale.

The timing aspect doesn’t have to be taken seriously if you only want the story, which is great for freedom of choice I think. I see they have support now for Leaderboards and a Speedrun timer, not among my concerns but is cool to see. Makes me wonder if the racing segments could be evolved into an online multiplayer racing game? Happy to see the passion from the developers regardless!

Real player with 14.1 hrs in game

Target Audience: More Laid Back Platforming Fans

Summary:

Mail Mole is worth the price of admission, although it’s one of those games that’s focusing on a sub-set of the platforming lovers of the world. Taking strong influence from games such as Super Mario Sunshine, it’s unique underground movement mechanic provides a solid basis for a game that focuses on more straight forward trap avoidance and speed (at times) more then exploration or combat. Level design may be simple, but it allows focus on the minute details of movement and really, that’s what the game really hinges on in the end, and it did provide me fun for the game’s 5 hour or so run time. The environments are pretty but won’t blow you away, and the game seems like a perfect type of game for younger kids to get them introduced to the world of platformers, while still being enjoyable for adults.

Real player with 6.3 hrs in game

Mail Mole + 'Xpress Deliveries on Steam

Yooka-Laylee

Yooka-Laylee

Yooka-Laylee notably became famous before it was even released, since it broke a crowdfunding record, and this accomplishment, due to context, was glorious on its own. This is common knowledge to many readers, but just in case, a recap: A bit over 20 years ago Rareware made a series called Banjo-Kazooie that became possibly the most beloved 3D platformers of all time. A third game was announced but due to Rare getting sold to Microsoft, delayed a while, and what people ended up getting was a fairly unrelated vehicle-building game with the Banjo license grafted on; worse still, it’s publicity and script constantly lambasted the original formula as outmoded. The game bombed, many staff left Rare, and this was already karmic, but then the rogues went on to twist the knife by forming Playtonic, launched a Kickstarter promising a new game that brought back the old BK style, and made nearly 2 million pounds in under an hour. As such a huge middle finger to those in Rare who betrayed old fans, Playtonic deserves great applause. By now, though, Kickstarter has become infamous for how making profits from appealing concepts alone allows developers to skimp on their execution, and though not without its good points, Yooka-Laylee continues that trend.

Real player with 44.4 hrs in game

Huge, empty worlds that are gorgeous and exciting to explore for the first time, but are painfully tedious to scour for the last few collectables?

Only 5 worlds and a hub, but they’re all unnecessarily massive?

A bunch of annoying physics puzzles, racing challenges, and timers?

Hidden bonus challenges that make you want to tear your hair out?

Wait a minute, this isn’t Banjo-Kazooie. This is Super Mario Sunshine!

Seriously, Yooka-Laylee makes more sense when you look at it as a successor to Sunshine, a game that got just about as much hate as it got love. Like Sunshine, I feel that Yooka-Laylee simultaneously deserves all the love it gets, but also all the hate it gets. I haven’t felt so perfectly ambivalent over a game in a very long time. I had a lot of fun with this game, hence the thumbs-up, but I can perfectly understand why some people don’t like it. If you had a love/hate relationship with Sunshine, you can probably expect to feel exactly the same about Yooka-Laylee.

Real player with 38.5 hrs in game

Yooka-Laylee on Steam

Anatidae

Anatidae

Muito bacana o jogo, perfeito pra quem tá afim de jogar algo estressante. Fiquei com vontade de socar o monitor de tão dificil que é esse treco, na moral mesmo. Apesar da dificuldade altissima em alguns momentos, o jogo não possui muitos problemas a serem comentados, mas acho que uma opção de deixar em tela cheia seria bom.

Gostei bastante das skins do jogo e ele foi bem divertido, apesar de ser tão dificil que deu vontade de ir na casa do dev socar ele

Real player with 2.9 hrs in game

Wonderful game with very hard levels, with nice easter eggs and a pretty nice art.

The music is also very enjoyable.

Worth for those who like hard challenges.

Real player with 1.6 hrs in game

Anatidae on Steam

Cracked Up

Cracked Up

Gameplay

Cracked Up is a fun puzzle platformer where an chicken uses her eggs as a weapon, or just as a way to climb up onto platforms.

Find your way back to your nest but watch out for foxes, pits and other dangers along the way.

  • 30 levels to complete

  • 5 crazy egg types

  • Many brain scratching puzzles

  • Secret Golden Eggs that unlock

Story

Dumpling the chicken was swept up by a tornado and was thrown into a world of puzzle and excitement. Help Dumpling get back to the farm by solving puzzles, jumping platforms and using your eggs with unique properties. On the way Dumpling will have to deal with the wildlife, dangers and eat a whole bunch of seeds. Eat berries to change your eggs into powerful puzzle solving tools to help travers this mysterious world!

Cracked Up on Steam