Super Panda Adventures

Super Panda Adventures

Went with a negative review as it turned out to be a “No, this isn’t fun anymore” for me after a while, but this… see this is really one of those things I wish there was a neutral verdict button on Steam for.

Pros:

Cute, reasonably amusing - decent setting if minimalistic (which is fine, this is not Zelda time.)

Lots of upgrades available

Lots of exploration/areas you can do more with after getting the appropriate items

Cons:

You’re going to be fighting the same mobs, about 224 times per area. This is not just because of fairly thin mob variety, but because stuff respawns waaaaaay too fast. You walk over one screen, look back and the mobs are already up and running again. This gets incredibly old, especially when you’re trying a hard jump or something that requires going back through some areas.

Real player with 109.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Platformer Singleplayer Games.


The look of this game makes people think it’s simple or childish, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether you are a casual gamer that just wants to enjoy a fun game with a good story, to a hardcore gamer who prefers roguelites and rage-quitting, this game has you in mind!

tl;dr / quick review

Super Panda Adventures is a one of the best examples of the Metroidvania genre on Steam. It has solid mechanics, fluid and smooth controls, an excellent soundtrack, fun shoot-slash-and-jump combat, and is genuinely funny. Super Panda Adventures is different and really took me by surprise; so much so, that it has made my list of all-time favourites PC games. I am not sure if it gets the attention that it deserves, but this is truly a genre-defining game.

Real player with 34.1 hrs in game

Super Panda Adventures on Steam

Moonlight

Moonlight

  • This review isn’t written by a native speaker, thank you for your understanding -

  • If you haven’t found this review helpful or if you have found a mistake please leave a comment below -

Rating

Must Play

Family rating

Everyone

- Key features below –– Review after ———————————————–

Play time needed (perfect)

about 5 hours

Gaming level

Casual

Achievement level

Casual

Game style

Platform, Puzzle (few)

Real player with 19.0 hrs in game


Read More: Best Platformer Great Soundtrack Games.


Genre:

Side-scrolling adventure platformer.

Gameplay:

  • Very cute soulful main character, charming environment, simple yet heartwarming storyline with a bedtime story childhood innocence about it.

  • Chill & joyfull modern-classical Japanese music, relaxing background sounds.

  • Controller supported as well as XBox One controller vibration feedback, clean responsive controls.

  • Minimal item interaction, lacking an inventory or skill which would give the game a more engaging experience for the older player, completing via speed-run is recommended.

Real player with 3.7 hrs in game

Moonlight on Steam

Shady Part of Me

Shady Part of Me

Within the first 10 minutes of play, I fell in love with this game. I had no expectations and was hesitant to take on a ‘platformer.’ It has elements that reminded me of Limbo (avoiding dark stuff but without the monsters) and Little Nightmares (directing a faceless child through a surreal landscape but without the monsters). I am most reminded of Iris.Fall which also focuses on a child’s journey and uses shadow play as part of the game mechanics.

For me, Shady Part of Me is better than all three of those, put together. It is a journey of self discovery and overcoming fear to become your true self. The narrative is told through ‘self talk’ between the child and her shadow (her light and dark sides) and an outer voice that offsets the self doubt and provides encouragement. To be honest, I missed a lot of the narrative because I was so enchanted with the landscapes, the creative puzzles, the music, and the style. As far as platforming goes, I did not struggle. The game is fairly forgiving and has a rewind that lets you re-do a mistake (rather than having you die and start a sequence all over).

Real player with 27.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Platformer Puzzle Games.


Shady Part of Me is a cur artistic puzzle game about a little girl who stuggles through life. Being afraid of light, or afraid of beeing seen, is one of her issues. As such, she cannot walk through brightly lid areas in the game. Her shadow can only live in the light and there you have a nice twist on the both 2d (shadow) and 3d (‘real’ world) puzzle elements in this game.

Both the girl and her shadow needs to traverse through a quite large amount of small maps and are both controlled independently of eachother. The girl has to walk in shadows, not being able to enter brightly lid areas, while her shadow must walk and jump on shadows cast by the environment. They have to work together to move boxes and turn levers to make the way clear for each other and reach the end of each map. On top of that, there’s some dangerous things going on in the shadow world.

Real player with 12.7 hrs in game

Shady Part of Me on Steam

Escape Goat 2

Escape Goat 2

This is the way sequels should be made. If you enjoyed the original Escape Goat, you’re in for a real treat. I found the first game to be fun but felt like the main campaign was over as it was just getting good. This game isn’t baaaa–ad at all. Yes, I went there.

Escape Goat 2 has quite a bit more to offer. The story is richer (especially for a puzzle game), the gameplay is a lot more varied, and the puzzles offer even more profound “Ah ha!” moments than the first game.

The system for moving between levels is much better this time around. If you get stuck you can easily pull up the new overworld map system and go back to any other puzzle–no more need to start rooms over at the first puzzle just to get to that fifth puzzle again.

Real player with 21.1 hrs in game

A platforming puzzle game with a large bundle of interactive features, this game succeeds at two goals. First, at being a good challenge that causes you to think about your approach to dozens of levels instead of just roaming through and pressing buttons. Secondly, and here’s the catch, also at being fun whilst doing so.

Whenever you make a mistake in this game, you know it’s usually your own fault and you mutter unmentionables under your breath before you willingly try again – because it’s fun.

Real player with 14.9 hrs in game

Escape Goat 2 on Steam

Thomas Was Alone

Thomas Was Alone

THOMAS WAS ALONE - A beautiful, minimalist indie 2D puzzle/platformer.

|

|| 8.5 ||

| Score | Comment |

| Graphics | 8 | Simple but pleasing, using clean lines and shapes to form the game levels. Game Characters are also simple shapes with different colours but are easily identifiable. Background colours and effects have a different pallet for each level. The overall effect is minimalist, stylish and elegant. |

Real player with 16.3 hrs in game

When this game first came to my attention, I thought it looked like a nice puzzle platformer with a minimalistic art style. While it is that, I found much more to it once I began playing.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me say a few words about the gameplay. It is a platformer, and most of your actions will be some variation on jumping. Some of the mechanics common to the genre can be found here: double jumping, reversed gravity, bouncy springboard-like surfaces, and so on. It is also primarily puzzle-focused, so, while there are a couple of places where a moving environmental hazard forces you to act within a short timeframe, response time is generally not a factor.

Real player with 7.7 hrs in game

Thomas Was Alone on Steam

140

140

This is a beautiful beat platformer that sat in my library uninstalled for 3 years, now… I feel like a complete idiot. After completing Mirror Level 4 I can say that this game is just downright amazing. Levels that move and change to a beat and rhythm. Time your jumps and movement per the rhythm and move with solid tight controls. There is one issue with this game but it doesn’t crop up until the very end of the game so unless you’re a completionist this may seem like a perfect game in the end.

Real player with 23.9 hrs in game

TLDR

| Enjoyment |

★★☆☆☆

|

| 100% Difficulty |

★★★★☆

|

Experience

You may notice there are contradictory comments from different players talking about this game being either too easy or too challenging - that’s because this game has 3 “normal” stages and 3 “mirror” stages; the normal stages are littered with lots of save points while the mirror ones are the same levels with all the save points ripped away, essentially a 1-life mode. Usually, the normal part can be blasted through in no more than 2 hours, and then you’ll be presented with the ending sequence. If you’re not paying attention to the game’s “menu” afterward - or if you’re not interested in the mirror stages challenge at all - you’re seriously missing out. The 1-life nature of the challenge will force you to sync your mind with the rhythms, and that’s when the true nature of this game really shines.

Real player with 11.9 hrs in game

140 on Steam

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack

The story of Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is pretty simple: You play as a blob breaking out of a blob torture research center and getting his revenge. On his way to do so the blob automatically absorbs everything that is smaller than him and so he is getting larger and larger and is able to absorb even more.

Over the course of the game you gain new abilities like smashing, telekinesis, magnetism and sometimes you can even fly around. Combined with the six different themed world stages and the never stopping growth of your blob the game never gets to repetitive besides it simple basic gameplay idea. The puzzles in the game are fairly easy what I did not really mind. The platformer part on the other hand is a bit tougher mainly for one reason. Besides the blob being a blob, and therefore precise movement can be a bit tricky, the controls are unusual. I have read some complains about them, because the game contains parts where you have to use the mouse. People playing the game solely on keyboard or gamepad have to shift over what can be annoying (Edit: This has been changed since the initial released and the game is playable with gamepad only by now). Personally I played the game one hand on the keyboard and the other one on the mouse. This combinations works pretty well. And even if you die you will start by one of the nearby checkpoints. Normally you should pass each passage with less than five times dying except you are trying to get the gold medals or you are collecting your blob friends.

Real player with 40.6 hrs in game

Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer about a mutant blob that can consume anything that is smaller than itself, yet grows every time it consumes something. I think you know where this is headed…

For starters, Mutant Blobs Attack is very well designed. The art style is truly awesome, a cartoony world in a 1950’s horror movie setting, most likely with a wink to Steve McQueen’s (hilarious) The Blob. Combined with small cutscenes in a similar style, this side of the game is genuinely funny. The soundtrack is catchy and fits well with the chosen aesthetics.

Real player with 8.8 hrs in game

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack on Steam

eversion

eversion

“not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition”

Take heed of this screen opener. Do not let the kids near this despite Zee Tee’s cuteness and happy flowers on the store page. The simple premise in this short platform puzzler is about our brave adventurer Zee Tee rescuing the lovely Princess. It has easy controls with arrow keys and up or Z for jump which can be configured to your preference and full screen mode.

Now if this was the sum of its parts I would not be recommending this game. It is not really a spoiler to say that this is not the whole story. The strength of this title is drawing on the music and nightmarish imagery to invoke a feeling of disturbing unsettlement and confusion. This is down to the juxtaposition of cute 16 bit style and the more darker images as the game progresses .It does not hold your hand in explaining anything.

Real player with 19.7 hrs in game

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I’m not that great at platformers, but I’m very patient. If I do something enough, I’ll eventually get it. With that being said, that is exactly how this game went for me. I had to be very patient, because I died A LOT.

I’ve owned this game for quite a long time, but just got around to finishing it today and getting 100% acheivements on it. The reason I put it off so long? Couldn’t quite get one of the jumps in the 4th world, and subsequently lost interest. This game is very specific, and punishes even the smallest errors once you’ve made it to world two or three. I would advise against playing this game if you’re frustrated easily, or if you think it’ll be a walk in the park. That being said, I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there better at this kind of thing than me.

Real player with 5.3 hrs in game

eversion on Steam

FEZ

FEZ

There has been much praise and criticism thrown in the direction of Fez since its release in 2012, both for the quality of the game itself and also to reprimand and counteract the behavior of its PR disaster of a creator, Phil Fish. I have no doubt that there are already dozens of reviews more (or less) verbose, or critical, or exultant than mine if you’re looking for something to exactly echo your crystallized and inexorable opinion of a game that came out over a year ago. Reservoirs of digital ink have long been drained on this topic. If you’re sick of Fez reviews, I’d probably skip this one.

Real player with 26.2 hrs in game

Information

Title: FEZ

Developer(s): Polytron Corporation

Publisher(s): Trapdoor

Genre(s): Puzzle-platform

Game Engine: Trixel

Release Date: 1 May, 2013

Mode(s): Single-player

Review

+ Merits:

By incandescently amalgamating awe-inspiring pixelated art with luminescent puzzles, FEZ successfully establishes a well-built interrelation between nostalgia and cerebral agility. Aside from its mind-twisting multiperspective world, it presents its lingo through coruscating ciphers that require a colossal deal of perception to be interpreted. What astonishes me the most is the way its multidimensional level design encourages your imagination to utilize its bizarre physics and anomalous structures so as to proceed from point A to point B.

Real player with 16.7 hrs in game

FEZ on Steam

LOVE

LOVE

Love is in Early Access, and I’m aware of that. This is just my first experience playing it and what my thoughts are about it so far. First of all, I must admit I am a bit disappointed because it was so short. My first playthrough took 40 minutes, but I’m assuming they did that because it was designed to be played in Speedrun Mode. Simple controls - A to jump, S to save checkpoint, arrow keys to move. It’s not a very complicated idea and there aren’t really any special mechanics; it’s player vs. environment. Not to say that they need to add more things to spice it up, it was made like that and it’s supposed to be like that. Its simplicity is one of the things I like most about the game.

Real player with 30.0 hrs in game

In Short

LOVE is an Old School 8-bit platformer. There are 16 levels in the game, each has their own theme and soundtrack every level introduces a new mechanic/idea so every level is different.

🔵 Pros

+Good looking 8-bit graphics

+Good soundtrack

+Every level has their own theme and there’s a good amount of them

🔴 Cons

-The game is quite short with no real replay value unless you like speedrunning games.

🎮 In-Depth Gameplay Analysis

LOVE is a challenging platformer where your goal is to beat the 16 levels in the game. There are several game modes that will change the amount of lives, checkpoints and other things you have.

Real player with 8.2 hrs in game

LOVE on Steam