Gentle Giant is a newcomer to the indie games realm, having debuted with Spiritfall, a platform fighting game created in the format of an action roguelike. Combat is quite Super Smash Bros (SSB)-informed, and feels like the Subspace Emissary or Multi-Man Smash expanded into a standalone game. You play as the Omenforged and throughout each run obtain blessings from the seven (or eight, shhhh) divine spirits (which act as the game's rng) with the goal to travel to "the brink" and unseal the gate by any means necessary. There's not much to the story, but it slowly unravels itself throughout the first five runs. Combat is rather simple, here. Unlike many other "rng-crazy" action roguelikes, in Spiritfall the attacks you start with are largely what you end with, though you can unlock one special move during your run as an upgrade, as well as some new passive abilities. Most of the blessings in this game work towards improving your stats on attacks or applying elemental properties to them. These upgrades don't initially "feel" that big, even after much stacking. However, I'd argue that this is good game design for the context of Spiritfall because the player grows in power about as quickly as the enemies during an average run. This keeps the game simple to play but hard to master with the player maintaining deliberate control of the Omenforged; thus, much of the player's ability to win a run comes from their skill and prowess rather than a crazy spectacle of rng combos - isn't this the original purpose of a roguelike, anyway, to progress by skill rather than rng? One point of criticism I have for the game is that the runs can lack diversity. There is only one boss per biome, and there are five biomes per run, which means you'll be encountering the same five bosses in the same order on each run. I think having alternating bosses per biome, like in Slay the Spire, would address some of this predictability. While the bosses are well-designed, sometimes they can feel like a bullet-hell with an overwhelming number of projectiles; this is a more major point of contention for me. Spiritfall has difficulty modifiers that allow the player to make each run more challenging, and there are cosmetic unlockables in the form of masks, too, as well as a boss rush mode; however I feel like this isn't quite enough to maintain long-term replayability as the runs can feel a little played out due to the lack of diversity in the boss fights, as mentioned above. Personally, I would have really enjoyed a mode in which the Omegforged fights against a hidden rift (a random event in a normal run) in each combat room, but this doesn't seem to be on the devs' agenda. Now where Spiritfall really excels is its art direction and presentation. The game utilizes a highly animated and vibrant cartoon graphics style that feels very mystical and divine, featuring mythological lore that doesn't go too deep. It's all about atmosphere rather than linear story-telling, and I think it looks amazing. The soundtrack is also great, featuring folky, cinematic soundscapes with a lightly surreal or even psychedelic timber to it. It really captures the setting well, and enhances the game's ambience. The controls work perfectly - they're tight and intuitive, the Omenforge does exactly what I tell it to do, and I have not come across any bugs in my thirty or so hours playing the game, making the gameplay feel polished, satisfying, and refined. The game works well on both controller and keyboard (and mouse). The game's pacing is also great, with each run taking between twenty and fifty minutes. Overall, Spiritfall is a masterfully presented action roguelike, informed by platform fighters like Super Smash Bros, with awesome visuals and sound design, refined controls and movement, and good pacing. However, I think the game suffers from run predictability, lack of a meaningful post-game, and too many projectiles in boss fights. Balance could also be improved a bit, with some upgrades feeling stronger than others (I did not elaborate on this above), but I do appreciate that this is a "skill-based" roguelike that doesn't rely on crazy rng combos to win; though I understand that some people seek out the latter in this genre. I can recommend Spiritfall to fans of both platforms fighters and action roguelikes as an enjoyable experience.
Absolutely worth the $5 asking price. Includes most of the game tracks (doesn't have the main menu's droney ambient track though). It comes in 320 MP3 and WAV. I dowloaded the former, and it sounds great! The music is lush bitty, but modern, digital fusion and progressive electronic. Korimlio is best boss theme, imo, and Elementemple is best overworld theme imo. You can also get the soundtrack on Bandcamp if you want to support the artist more, and listen to it in advanced, to see if you like it! kajnoon, the composer and one of the programmers at dietzribi, is an awesome dude I've talked to on Discord, he's truly passionate about his work. He's a member of the powerviolence/screamo band atameo, whom are also worth checking out if you like that kind of music! Highly recommended :)
I hate giving this one such a low review. I would say this is a solid 2.5, but I ultimately can't recommend it which is why I'm rounding down instead of up. . This is not a "true" metroidvania, btw, because it's not a proper "action-adventure" game. This is a character action and a platform adventure game connected through the game's progression system. The character action part, frankly I think they nailed. It feels like Kingdom Hearts II but properly challenging, and this is ultimately what kept me engaged in the game until I just couldn't stand it, for the reasons I'll detail below. Combat is very responsive and works exactly they way you want it to, during which you need to think about your approach to enemies, not too dissimilar from a souls-like, but much faster. I actually liked how the combat was locked and not regenerative, I think it would have been tedious if were integrated into the world, in all honesty. The world is huge, and doesn't immediately come with a map. Each area you need to find the map, usually deep in the level, and some don't have any. The platforming is overly precise and it's way too easy to miss your jumps, leading to tedium where I've found myself attempting the same jump for minutes at a time; it becomes exhausting to find where you're going. The semi-open world nature of the game, without it providing you any sense of direction, also sucks. I found myself meandering and trying to figure out where to go for literally hours on end. The rewards for exploration are usually lame - all the chests you find are just in-game currency, and they're about 75%-ish or so of the hidden items you'll find, and with the horrible implementation of the map, exploration is just simply not rewarded enough for the game to be fun at all. The metroidvania format was no the right choice for the game. There is an amazing game somewhere here, but the implementation of the exploration is excruciating, and sucked out all the fun of the otherwise fine game.
Toodee and Topdee is a is ultimately a precision platformer game, with unforgiving, but manageable, level design. What makes this game unique are the puzzles you must solve in order to progress to the next level. The concept of this game was to combine two "incompatible genres," in this case a side scrolling precision platformer and a top-down perspective puzzle game, and it was done brilliantly! Toodee plays in a 2D sidescrolling platforming world, while Topdee plays in a 2.5D puzzle world. In this game, these two worlds intersect, and you switch must get both Toodee and Topdee to a portal in order to complete each stage, by switching between them, and changing the game's mechanics. Often times, there are a combination of actions you must perform between both Toodee and Topdee within a very short timeframe, so fast reflexes are required. Gameplay-wise, this reminds me of that old internet browser flash game, SHIFT. Typically, there is only one legitimate way to solve each level, to my knowledge at least; while the platforming can be unforgiving, it's not tediously difficult - I would describe it as a rewarding challenge. While I haven't completed the game yet, I have not needed to use a guide to figure out the puzzles so far, but I read on some Steam reviews that some other players have needed to use a guide. I have found the level design to be consistent, yet diverse, and in this regard it's a really well-made game. The art style is charming, perhaps even nostalgic, reminding me heavily of Scribblenauts, and the background music is pleasant and captivating. I have found no notorious bugs while playing, and the game runs great! My only issue would be that the game is very short. The levels are quite short, and there are 5 stages of 20 levels, making for 100 total levels, and each level takes about three minutes to complete, and each world about an hour, so five total. Despite the short length, this, again, is a unique, well-made, and charming game. Recommended.
No seriously. The publishers have no business releasing the game in this state - I can't even start it up. The menu screen rotates infinitely, so it's it's impossible to select any option to start the game. If you minimize the game for even a fraction of a second it will crash, and thus if you need a walkthrough you have to quit the game first. Horribly optimized. On top of this, there is no controller support (in a platformer) and the resolution is so poor, I can barely even read what anything says. If you release a game that fundamentally does not work, that's a one star rating. At least fix the literal game breaking glitches?
I purchased this game solely for the online experience. I really did not care about the sinlge player, so this review does not conisder that element of the game. I cannot play a match for more than five minutes before being kicked. Half the servers outright say I'm banned. This started literally the day I got game. It never worked right for me. Apparently I'm not the only one with this issue, as the forum here on GOG shows that several other people have this issue as well. No one knows what to do. Supposedly it's a GOG thing, and the Steam versions work fine, I've gathered from a Reddit post. I reached out to the devs several times and got absolutely no response. They received the message because the automated email response said they received the message, so either they're no longer supporting this game, or they're just ignoring my complaint. Thankfully I got this on sale and only flat out wasted $5 instead of the full $20. I did try out the sinlge player mode, and it works fine, but it's not really something I'm interested in. If I were to factor that into the review, it'd be higher, but the thing is I won't tolerate a game not working entirely. If a feature is broken and doesn't function properly, then you can't charge people with them thinking they'll get the full experience. The lack of the support from the devs shows they don't care enough about their players to care. Since I cannot get the online multiplayer mode to work at all, here on GOG, and I purcahsed this game FOR the multiplayer, then this is a 1 star rating. Fix the online.
