Dustforce DX

Dustforce is one of the best precision platformers out there due to its high skill ceiling, and wide amount of features. Included in the game is a level editor, easy to use custom levels, and multiplayer; on top of all this there are over 50 levels of increasing difficulty. The art style and soundtrack lend to the aesthetics of the game, as you will die and fail many, many times, but the game's indifference to your failure and success mean there is little reason not to try again. The only thing that is unlocked are additional levels, and this is okay as the levels that are locked to start with can be accessed by scoring well on easier levels. The later levels are too difficult for a beginner to even beat, nevermind get a perfect score on until they have gained better skills through practice. Dustforce is 100% about mastering the mechanics, and as a result has some pretty complex ones; due to the speed at which an experienced player can complete a level, it will appear to be very fast and fluid. All in all, if you like challenging games that test your abilities to the limit, try Dustforce.

I think this might be one of my favorite 2D platformers ever! It took me a while to get into it, the controls felt sluggish since characters have a couple of frames of animation before they do the action, but after a while, controlling the characters felt second nature and even the thoughest precision challenges felt fluid. If you get beyond this hurdle, Dustforce is one of the most compelling platformers ever made, the scoring system is simple but done really well and getting an SS rank always felt satisfying, so did replaying levels again and again trying to get the best time or score. The addition of a replay system is brilliant, sometimes you will get stuck in a level because it's too hard or you didn't master a certain mechanic, but watching the replays really helps the player learn and improve, although I usually don't go for top rank in games, seeing my progress by watching my replays really inspired me to do better, and aside from the last level, I have SS'd and got within top 1000 in the score rankings for every level. The replay mechanics also helps players figure out new mechanics about a certain character or a time-saving trick in a level, even the easy ones with barely any hazards are still fun to play because of it. I can't forget the music, although Dustforce is a fast-paced platformer, the music is calm and helps you relax, this combined with really fast respawn times keeps you away from getting angry. One criticism I do have is some later levels, specially the X-difficulty ones, become these giant spike labyrinths with some safe ground to stand on every now and then, they are hard, but not in satisfying way. Which is a shame considering other levels aside from these extra hard ones are really well designed. Despite that, game is amazing and I think it's definitely worth a shot, I believe it deserves more recognition.

This game was too hard for me...but it's worth the purchase price just for the soundtrack. I'm not kidding, the OST stands on its own and I listen to it at least twice a month. Fantastic. Game itself is beautiful and challenging - brings out the speedrunner in me. Unfortunately, that also means that I completed the first level in the area of 50 times and then quit - it's so easy to see every mistake I make and I just want to perfect it. Still, lovely game for the right person.

One of my favorite platformers of all time, if not games of all time. It's very challenging, but mastering the game is very fun and extremely rewarding. Highly recommended!

Takes everything that was good about super meat boy and makes it better. The game is hard, but precise controls and awesome music keep you coming back for more. And besides at 10$ you get the game and the soundtrack.. the soundtrack alone is worth it at that price.