Posted on: January 20, 2022
MischiefMaker
Verified ownerGames: 819 Reviews: 66
Surprisingly good action-adventure indie
Blackwind is a 3rd person platformer action-adventure indie game by a 2-person development crew. You play a teenage kid who takes refuge from a crashing spaceship in an experimental AI-driven battlesuit and ends up having to take on an entire alien invasion by himself. As most teens in mecha anime do. Gameplay is equal parts combat, exploration, and puzzle-platforming. The combat portion of the game is solid. You have a peashooter that can upgrade to multi-shot, energy blades with normal and heavy attacks in a 4-hit combo, multi-target missile swarms, a double-jump that can do an area-effect ground-pound, dashing, parries, and more. Certain enemies require certain moves be used to make them vulnerable. Get their HP low enough and you can do glory kills ala. nu-DOOM for a quick burst of health. Dead enemies drop orbs that can be used to unlock and upgrade new moves at upgrade centers. Exploration parts have you inside maze-like facilities battling aliens in tight hallways and small rooms as you search for consoles and passkeys to open doors and get out. Pay close attention to the minimap, it'll indicate important things like possible key locations with a white dot. You can also explore narrow vents and other small openings with a tiny detachable laser drone at points, giving the game a kind of Blaster Master feel. Exploration is probably the weakest portion of the game because all the reused assets make it easy to get lost. Finally there are 3rd-person platforming challenges, often with zelda-style timed button platforms. Not much to say about this except learn what grab-able ledges look like and you'll save yourself a world of frustration. As for negatives, while the graphics are bright and the music is pleasant, but the cheesy voice acting for your teenage protagonist can grate. The camera is out of the player's control and its tracking and panning can be weird sometimes. While keyboard-mouse controls are supported, this game's made for a pad.
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