i am finally writing my ‘games i played at magwest’ post because there is an emergency time limit
glitch dungeon crystal: babushka quest is in the current steam next fest and you need to play it. also another oakland dev we know suggested that subtitle and i’m glad it was appended
it is a puzzle platformer so good that calling it a puzzle platformer does it a wild disservice. my eyes sprint across the screen as i enter a new room. platform and powerup placements inform me with immediacy that, despite my daring not to dream it possible, two mechanics interact in yet another way. i turn to the developer, and say, “you rat fuck. you’re sick.” this happens every room, every five minutes. for an hour. you must play this.
the game, within its own copy, calls itself a metroidvania, but the only child of metroid it calls to my mind is la mulana. this is good.
vassoul is the best game that you cannot play, look at, or hear about. (or at least, i thought that was true; this bunch of links seems to have a demo from a few months ago in it) jamel is a solo dev making his first game, which pushes belief, because this gamefeel is sweat-sticky. vassoul is an action video game which knows the human sprint speed is 25mph. vassoul is a platform video game which knows that locking your horizontal momentum through perfectly timed dash-canceling jumps should not have a flashy particle effect to reward you for being a good boy, because you are not a good boy. you are a bad girl, and you are breaking the game for the sick, sick pleasure of flying off the screen.
the combos are hot-hard, the slowdown zoom-in combo when you perfectly parry a boss feels electric (and was iirc explicitly inspired by lethal league). vassoul is video games. i played it more than once. i have never been more fortunate to be seated directly across from someone. it is another game that is getting given the title of metroidvania on its website which mostly just informs me what we all here have all known all along which is that it’s a bullshit word that means nothing. this is not a metroidvania. this is dracula may cry x.
on day two of magwest, someone played our game. well, a lot of people did, but let’s just stick with someone. he loved it. a handful of hours later, two more people played our game. hours still after that, an individual approaches and states “i’m the last one at my table who has not played this game, so here i am.” i inquire as to this individual’s origin, and my eyes are directed to the corner opposite us.
what i find is trailthread. imon, its lead developer, was that someone from so many hours ago. he is a saga freak. he was elated to meet other saga freaks. this team is still in college. this game exists for rpg mavens.
each turn, your characters may take two actions: spend SP on a regular ability, and spend maximum HP on a ‘thread’. Threads modify an ability being taken by any member of the party, for this turn only. increase a move’s damage, add an element, cause it to trigger twice. health is restored and reset at battle’s end, so a perfect battle sees your maximum health reduced to atoms. this game hands you three simple archetypal party members and a crowbar. rip the game open, and hack it to ribbons.
super sushi roll is a game i admittedly initially played out of obligation because i told its dev i would when, after playing our game, they informed me they also had a game. on the other hand, i’m glad that i did. one developer working with an artist, super sushi roll dares to ask, what if you could move the pinball? this game looked at super monkey ball and decided any tilt action that does not result in home-run-derbying yourself into oblivion is wasted, and so asks you to tilt not the stage, but merely to tilt that which may slam.
i will admit that it grips me less than the other games above, but the listed steam price of four dollars is somewhat criminally low. this game may resemble some manner of deluxe newgrounds upload, but rents have increased a lot since flash’s heyday.
i also got to play some pop’n music which was good for my soul. i have not smacked those orbs in a number of years.
also i played jack bros. and that’s GOTTA be one of the best septentrion-likes out there.
