Mable & The Wood

I got this game for free in one of the giveaways of GOG, and after reading most of the reviews here i decided to finish the game to see why were there so many negative ones. While i rate this game higher than the other reviews here (3.5/5), i have to say that their criticism is completely valid, and while i enjoyed and had a fun time with the game i can't fully recommend it without warning that the negative aspects are real and should be considered when buying the game, i suggest you watch some of the video reviews and gameplay that exists of this game before deciding. Playing this game gave me solid fun, and at the end i was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised. Pleasantly because of the different transformations and how fun it was to use most of them to move; because of the quantity and variety of content available; because of the graphics, art style and music which were charming. Unpleasantly because at the end of the day it has a significant amount of shortcomings which make this game feel both still in development and amateurish in design. There can be some errors in the hit detection of the floor and walls, specially with some specific transformations and in specific circumstances, i have been teleported in some occasions, and in general sometimes it can feel like its not adequate enough for the kind of challenge that the player is put up to. The biggest issue however is the design itself of the game, level design, game mechanics and the progression. I feel the punishment for getting hit an enemy is too great in terms of the currency, just a few seconds and you can lose it all, there are very few invincibility frames and sometimes its hard to hit your enemies, there was a general disorientation as to where to go after the first boss, most players don't pass the first hour of the game. I liked this game, the achievements show the ambition and effort put in by the team that made this game, but it needs more polish for me to play more times.

This game packs lots of creative ideas--any one of which might be worthy a game concept--into a lovely sprite-filled package. The problem, as I am personally aware, is that the breadth of the game is too great for the developer. Polish and exposition are lacking. Controls aren't tight, and gameplay mechanics are frustrating when they aren't charming. Charm is something this game has. I love how bold the game designer is. How the ideas and storytelling dare to do what they are doing, even if they fall flat. Branching paths, interesting twists, and truly expansive level design (though not skillfully executed) are just a few features on a long list. I only wish they could have delivered it in a few more years, when they had time to flesh them out. Try this for the concepts, but don't expect to try it for long.

I simply cannot recommend this. The idea isn't necessarily without merit, replacing conventional platformer controls with a system based on shape shifting, but the execution is severely lacking. Movement never felt natural, and taking damage or dying felt less like my fault than because I was spending half my effort fighting the controls. Or because of random glitches, where I'd be killed because I suddenly got stuck in a wall or would be launched in the opposite direction to the one I was holding. Apart from gameplay, there's not else to recommend either. The art design is bland and I frequently felt lost because of how similar everything looks. The music is fine but nothing special. The story... is there, but I have no idea where it was going. Admittedly, I didn't finish the game, so maybe the story ends really strongly. But I think I have a good reason for quitting. I was somewhere in the second half of the game, fighting a boss, when it glitched and the boss disappeared. I'd already had a lot of glitches in this play session and was very frustrated, so I quit to the menu and tried to reload my game. Only, I somehow accidentally deleted it; no warning or confirmation pop up. Several hours gone, and I have no desire to go through that again.

I knew from other reviews what I was getting into - somewhat buggy, unpolished... but knowing this, in its current version it is frankly OK. I'm on my third playthrough. On the first, I tried to find the pacifist route and got softlocked. On the second, I did the normal route (defeating all the bosses), and now I'm doing the pacifist route again which I ended up finding. Apart from occasional clumsiness, it works OK and is good fun on my PC with XBox controller (according to another review, the controller is pretty much a prerequisite). My recommendation is to first play the game the normal route, exploring all the different abilities you get by defeating the bosses, and then the pacifist route (which is played with the fairy only). I feel that this should really come with the game's manual, so I'll explain here how to get the pacifist route. SPOILER ALERT if you want to find the pacifist route for yourself (SOFTLOCK RISK!) Pacifist route entry point HOWTO: * Find the key in the village (hint: you need to open a door) * Use the key do go down the well * Clear all the yellow rooms on the map (i.e. collect keys and upgrades). Hint: you need to bust open the three slugs. * After the slugs, you can go through the secret passage with the key. DO NOT open the door to the bottom right of the map, or your key will be gone, excluding you from the pacifist route and possibly resulting in a softlock if you move past the Dirt King (if you didn't collect the stamina upgrade).

I get the gimmick. The sword is heavy, and you strougle pulling it. Fine. Even if in the long term it'll annoy the player a lot. The fights get seriously annoying for bosses getting quicker while you stay slow,and get randomer patterns. Fine, I I'll pass them eventualy. The platformingis your usual indie hardness. Ok, I'll manage it at the start but if it'll start demanding combining forms-abilities - which it probably will - , I'll start thinking turning it off. I turn into an itty-bitty spider instead ofa giant monstrosity? A "bit" disappointing, but I understand.No explanation on how that form works? I figured out eventualy. Infinite head spawn enemies without warning? Surrrre... On the good side the graphic works, the music is passing, and the talks with the NPCs give flavour. On the very bad side, you get this Sonic-mechanic with crystals. Whatare they good for? I'll never know, as I had literaly 0 when reaching the first shop, the only one I've found . And it sold "item: unkown" Well, seems I'll never learn whatit is about. And that pisses me off. Make the pillars save with the crystals I have when touching them,and make me respawnwith all crystals reset to its place, and me with my collected resources. If not - well, at least I got this game for free.