I bought Judero right when it came out, and I was immediately impressed with it. The stop-motion animation is great, especially the short clips that play to introduce new characters. And I found myself lingering in a town just to listen to one of the songs with lyrics.
But I soon found myself distracted by other things such as UFO 50, which was released two days later. Unfortunate timing for Judero, perhaps similar to the time that Star Wars overshadowed Sorcerer’s theatrical release.
Resuming the game this week, I discovered that it offers more than I’d initially realized and I feel like I should do my part to try to bring more attention to it. The writing just gets better as you go along, as does the music. This song in particular really struck me:
The basic combat is somewhat unremarkable but not bad, and the mechanics are varied. There are rough edges, but in a way that remains charming.
I haven’t yet finished the game, but I would guess I’m close.
i need to get back to this but i really liked how the flat and declarative videogame quest writing of the opening parts gradually dissolves as the game goes on, lost in the weirder and sadder npc text that increasingly drops the mask and gets more openly contemporary. that sense of things running to a close and a fairytale logic not able to sustain itself.
i did turn on easy mode for the fights pretty quick though. idk i’m not good at that stuff it’d be funny if this game got its own little cult of true hardcore gamers who were all really into the fighting mechanics and impatiently skipped through all the poetic background text and folksongs though
I also picked this up and got distracted by another more anticipated game releasing the same week, but I do hope to double back and get to it before too long. Glad to hear there is an easy mode as the combat seemed very rough.
I also switched to easy mode after having a hard time with a boss. I think I could have won with another attempt or two but challenging combat isn’t really the game’s draw for me. The boss fights are mechanically and aesthetically creative, though.
I’ve found that this is a game best played in short sessions. I like it more every time I play it but I never play it for very long at a time.
