got the “Good” ending (as opposed to "Bad or “Weird”) in Sludge Life, a game to hang out with in two easy sittings a month apart. vibe was harshed the minute I started to strain the kinda clunky controls to get 100% so I dropped it, didn’t wanna force it into being A Game or anything
Pseudoregalia is A Game and it’s controls are not clunky and I really dig it! this might be the first 3D platformer (in recent memory? (and aside from some SM64 hacks (B3313 - insert sicko.jpg here))) to really get at what I want from this genre: the playground is the puzzle. tight, versatile controls and abstract geometric riddles to rub against. the blurred out textures and moody midi music are all warm and fuzzy throwbacks but I couldn’t care less about nostalgia, this kind of sparseness is just very appealing to get a read on and wrestle with. and yeah the echoes of like SM64 and Castlevania (SotN & C64) reverberate but if it’s used those past games at all it’s used them to explore fresh territory and play like its own thing
it’s a search action game technically I guess but I’ve yet to get stuck or frustrated by ability barriers, progression is fairly open-ended, people mention sequence breaking but is it really sequence breaking on a first playthrough when you’re just blindly exploring? regardless, it certainly makes you feel like you’re sequence breaking which is a feat. already from the start there was a (I’ll admit sometimes not always pleasurable) tension in the distances jumped, lots of ledge grabbing and precarity of whether you’ll make it to the next platform. I don’t think this is by accident. you’ll then get the wall jumps and grow comfortable with those and…THE WALL JUMPS! this is a lot of the appeal right here, you dive kick at the wall and get up to two (+1 with an upgrade) additional kicks and now your brain is lighting up with platforming possibilities. the feeling of, “Can I get there?” becomes, “Was I supposed to get here?” check out some of this ugly hustle, this beautiful bullshit, these triumphs of traversal:
^ initially I thought this one was pretty clear, I had to follow this path along the wall, it was just the how of it and ultimately I did get from the pole to those upper window ledges and then…did not know where the hell to go, frustration started to set in and then…I went back to the beginning of the path and just wall kick spammed up to a platform above, skipping what I had been wrestling with and I STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH THAT AREA but I love that, I don’t want a guided Nintendo park I want a busted jungle gym
^ this one I thought I might need another ability (pretty sure the wall run is the last one I need) like it’s such an obtuse ask, a teasing task (things are very much helped by the quick respawns in the same room (unless you run out of health, then it’s back at the last save point activated))
^ really didn’t think this was Doable but I continue to embellish Doable!
^ by now, seeing the door up there from below I knew it was Doable, this was just another one of these satisfying little moments of geometry seen, geometry sussed, geometry digested
two main complaints about this game seem to be the lack of map, which I do not share, getting a little lost is good in an exploration game according to me who only half-jokingly says that the mapless Metroids are the real Metroids. the game is a lot of modular interiors with not-so-scream-in-your-face landmarks sometimes but it’s very manageable especially with the ease of movement.
the second complaint I totally agree with though, the combat blows : / iffy hitboxes and no Z-targeting or homing attacks make fighting a ropey ass affair, feels like maybe there was some insecurity about being Only a platforming game. the average baddie is just there to add a little pressure to your footwork, easy to run past, oddly I’ve only encountered one boss at the VERY beginning which was not a good impression but at least it was just the one! (another less than great aspect is the projectile ability I just got (mainly to flip distant switches : /). basically, power-ups deviating from the character’s movement just aren’t as interesting and lining up shots (even with first person mode) is twitchy and a little annoying)
anyway, yeah, good game! here’s goat lady sitting on a stool regaining some health before I make a second attempt at that sequence in gif #1
