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From the Free Games thread:GreenBuckanneer posted:Lost Ruins is free:
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Dec 18, 2023 22:12
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FireWorksWell posted:Anyway I still only have three of those healing glyphs and every video I've seen of that boss fight has people with at least seven; where do I find those things? They're hidden around, I had 5 by the time I got to the lower part of the Columns. There's one hidden in the Town of Exile, another in the Forest Foregone, and another in the Field of Pyro, off the top of my head. I managed to find all of them to the point where it unlocked the special ending for the bottom of the Pyro area.
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Dec 18, 2023 22:33
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Fuzz posted:They're hidden around, I had 5 by the time I got to the lower part of the Columns. There's one hidden in the Town of Exile, another in the Forest Foregone, and another in the Field of Pyro, off the top of my head. I managed to find all of them to the point where it unlocked the special ending for the bottom of the Pyro area. I managed to find four in the past hour and a half; I forgot about the warp in Whispering Forest and I've done pretty much everything else I can find so I've been ripping bosses apart and now I'm only missing one core afterimage.
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Dec 19, 2023 00:19
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Kheldarn posted:From the Free Games thread: Lost ruins somehow looks like it's a porn game but it isn't, although it definitely has weeb tendencies. I found it to be okay but a little weirdly balanced; it wants to be a 2d dark souls game basically. I eventually fell off out of lack of interest, not out of a dislike of the game or anything.
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Dec 19, 2023 04:16
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Got around to completing Aeterna Noctis. Still was super impressed by its best qualities, but the flaws started to show through a little too much. By the end I kinda wished the entire game had just been built around the arrows, and imo they could have basically done without melee combat almost entirely. I fully completed it in around 33 hours and was still loving the platforming, but the vast majority of combat was just a total mindless slog right to the end, especially including the final boss. The last area also kinda gave me a headache with the insane amounts of bright purple. Gotta give it a 7.5/10 did get the plats in every time trial though 
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Dec 19, 2023 08:10
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Put a couple hours into Cookie Cutter yesterday. Thoughts so far: Good: - The animation is beautiful and grotesque. Tons of unique animations and details. Think Pizza Tower. - The game is very fast and snappy. Not just the gameplay but the whole design. You're zippy from the start, inputs are fluid and fast, execution moves are brutal but very quick, you respawn at the last checkpoint only seconds after a death, and bosses (so far) are frenetic glass cannons that will either kill or be killed in a minute or less. - Combat has strong Guacamelee vibes. Light attacks build up energy and heavy attacks/specials/healing use it up. The environment is as deadly to the enemies as it is to you and there's plenty of it - there are several places where traps exist solely for your benefit and an early ability lets you punt enemies in any direction. There is also the requisite dodge and parry, the latter of which is very tight on timing but extremely satisfying to land. - Secrets abound and they're rewarding, most often containing extra cash, a socketed upgrade, or space for more of said upgrades. - No loving soulslike stuff! Don't get me wrong, I love the Souls games as much as the next Gamer-American and Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games of all time, but it is so refreshing to not have the pressure of dropping/losing things when you die, no stamina management, no cryptic lore scattered around for the sake of it, no "bonfires" and all that entails. Bad: - It's very easy to lose yourself in situations with lots of enemies, and you can't take that many hits even from basic mooks. - Enemies will sometimes break out of stunlock but it's not clear when or how this happens, compounded with the above point can lead to some cheap shots when you think you've got the fight under control. - So far every environment has been some flavor of run-down industrial zone. There's hints of a potential crystal zone in the future though! I love crystal zones. I will lower the score by a whole letter grade if I'm being misled. - The "humor" is edgy cringe. Not nearly as bad as the previews would have you believe, but definitely juvenile and eyeroll worthy. Worst examples: the second-most featured character is a vagina-shaped robot, and one secret area has an unpleasantly phallic take on a Chozo statue. Thankfully what little story there is actually seems to take itself seriously. There are a lot of memes and references in the background but most are hidden behind secrets. I did see Balrog from Cave Story so they're not all bad.
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Dec 21, 2023 15:34
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I was thinking about going for 100% in afterimage but I got Se's Treasurescope and why the hell does it trigger around chests you already opened? E: Never mind, I think I just had it going through a lot of walls at first, hahaha FireWorksWell fucked around with this message at 00:06 on Dec 22, 2023 |
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Dec 21, 2023 16:49
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Falcon2001 posted:Lost ruins somehow looks like it's a porn game but it isn't, although it definitely has weeb tendencies. I found it to be okay but a little weirdly balanced; it wants to be a 2d dark souls game basically. I eventually fell off out of lack of interest, not out of a dislike of the game or anything. It's a much better game than those review numbers suggest at least, and very repayable with both a mode where you swap between three bosses and a series of "starting class" modes. Just as long as you can stand the painfully slow normal attacks and the high difficulty and the occasional creepy vibes.
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Dec 21, 2023 22:19
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Healing coming entirely from consumables, at least early on, is where it lost me. Once I realised that I checked out pretty hard
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Dec 21, 2023 23:52
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For anyone who enjoyed Dead Cells, I'd recommend checking out Trinity Fusion. It cribs some stuff I really liked from other roguelites like Hades (plenty of boons, macroprogression similar to Hades' Darkness Mirror) and Returnal (power level, mostly), and I really like games where I go 'just one more run'. Maybe my opinion here is colored by Afterimage but the writing, VA and story seem pretty good so far.
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Dec 22, 2023 16:40
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So i'm right at the end of lone fungus (I think) and I'm just about done with it. Is there a ng+ or anything? I've got access to the surface and what I assume is the final boss which I've put off to try and find all the secrets, but it seems like thats gonna be the bad end? I've also found the other ways out in the purple area and the bottom area which I assume are alternate endings but i just dont have the motor skills to do the kaizo-esque stuff with pogoing of the rotating spikes or the jumping off multiple spells schtick. I enjoyed it a bunch as I was playing but the endgame just feels a bit ehh. The exploration was decent but the itemization seemed pretty mid to me. Is there any point in doing the ladybugs/shards? a lot of it seems too hard for me and I don't think I'll bother. I like that they put a lot of movement tech in but it seems a bit janky to be honest, especially getting the spin jump to turn blue and bounce off stuff.
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Dec 24, 2023 02:59
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field balm posted:So i'm right at the end of lone fungus (I think) and I'm just about done with it. Is there a ng+ or anything? I've got access to the surface and what I assume is the final boss which I've put off to try and find all the secrets, but it seems like thats gonna be the bad end? I've also found the other ways out in the purple area and the bottom area which I assume are alternate endings but i just dont have the motor skills to do the kaizo-esque stuff with pogoing of the rotating spikes or the jumping off multiple spells schtick. The bad ending is escaping early through the tall shaft, IIRC. I felt I was pretty well warned that that was a bad idea.
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Dec 25, 2023 03:23
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If I recall the endings all drop you right before afterward so there's no risk of doing one.
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Dec 25, 2023 21:05
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I was really not feeling Xanthiom Zero, after 45 minutes it just felt like a very by-the-book clone of Metroid, but more primitive and with clunkier controls/physics. Was gonna refund it as I do for anything that can't captivate me within two hours, but when I got to Steam's refund prompt for $1.47 I just couldn't do it, felt like such a goddamn cheapskate. I might let them have the money out of a mix of pity and respect, really should be supporting fully realised games that cost less than a pack of mints. Serephina fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Dec 29, 2023 |
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Dec 29, 2023 02:27
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Serephina posted:I was really not feeling Xanthiom Zero, after 45 minutes it just felt like a very by-the-book clone of Metroid, but more primitive and with clunkier controls/physics. Was gonna refund it as I do for anything that can't captivate me within two hours, but when I got to Steam's refund prompt for $1.47 I just couldn't do it, felt like such a goddamn cheapskate. yeah for cheap stuff I'd just take it on the chin, even at 45 minutes I've spent more for less gameplay. I bought a bunch of sub 5 dollar mvs in the sale and I'm just going to bail if they aren't doing it for me. I started playing the 1st alwa game yesterday, it's fun but has some bad design elements (ie water or some spikes are an instant death rather than just resetting to the start of the room, and one boss' save point is a handful of screens before the boss with some instadeath poo poo before the boss room). I got frustrated and quit, I'll give it another shot but even then I got 3 or 4 hours of it already so I don't feel any need to complete if it's not fun. I've gotta say I don't really like how soulslike stuff and kaizo platforming have kind of been rolled into the genre. I don't want everything to be super easy but I'm more interested in the exploration side of these games!
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Dec 29, 2023 04:37
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the zelda 2 fan remake (page intentionally sparse to avoid attention from lawyers) has been around for a while but I finally got around to playing it and it's really good. the dev claims it's a port of the original code to game maker so everything is supposed to behave just like it did on the nes, but with a lot of QOL improvements and fun new additions. * it's widescreen + has controller support * you can save at NPCs in towns instead of having to die * NPC dialog is a little more helpful * you can look at the overworld or dungeon map in the pause menu * dolls permanently increase your max lives * continuing in a dungeon just kicks you back to the entrance * small additions to a lot of locations, and fun new areas strewn all over the place * the new areas often contain heart or magic pieces (instead of full containers), or new items * you can buy a map that adds icons to the overworld where collectables are * graphical improvements that aren't exactly subtle but mostly fit in. you might not even notice them if you aren't familiar with the original like the first palace looks more like it's in a desert now. that's neat!   I already liked zelda 2, but not enough that I ever really felt like replaying it. having a blast with this though. if you do play it, i recommend you open the in-game options with the O key and change the audio set to "ISABELLECHIMING", which is a really nice Konami VRC6 arrangement of the original soundtrack with some extra tracks thrown in, including unique variations on the dungeon theme for each palace. they're so good!
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Dec 29, 2023 06:39
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Imo the only actual problem with Zelda 2 is that the last dungeon is a war crime
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Dec 29, 2023 09:54
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field balm posted:I've gotta say I don't really like how soulslike stuff and kaizo platforming have kind of been rolled into the genre. I don't want everything to be super easy but I'm more interested in the exploration side of these games! I've been playing Vision Soft Reset and it has some wonderful "time travel" mechanics but I had to stop playing after getting one-shotted by a bunch of stuff in a row, enemy and environment alike. This isn't hard! Just make it so I can take a few hits instead of one! I'm trying to relax, I don't want to git gud!
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Dec 29, 2023 10:59
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Martman posted:Imo the only actual problem with Zelda 2 is that the last dungeon is a war crime BIg agree on this, I replay Zelda 2 regularly but I always quit right after the second-to-last dungeon. Even getting to the Grand Palace sucks. I beat it once and that was enough for the rest of my life.
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Dec 29, 2023 23:48
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If y'all share my love of Zelda 2 I definitely recommend checking out the romhack Amidas Curse. It's really good and feels like a sequel we never got.
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Dec 30, 2023 00:11
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the last dungeon in the remake is still too big but at least the auto map helps narrow down where you haven't been. you can start a second quest after you finish, which carries your levels over and from what i've heard has a cool new final area. kind of wish it was just in the first quest though.
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Dec 30, 2023 07:08
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Fanatical bundle Build Your Own Exodus has Afterimage in it: get it and another game for $12 total. What should the other game be? Well, there aren't other metroidvanias in the pack, but can't go wrong with Metro Exodus if you don't have that. Otherwise, maybe Pathfinder Kingmaker? Gungrave GORE is a janky mess but it's a beautiful janky mess.
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Jan 10, 2024 22:42
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FutureCop posted:Fanatical bundle Build Your Own Exodus has Afterimage in it: get it and another game for $12 total. What should the other game be? Well, there aren't other metroidvanias in the pack, but can't go wrong with Metro Exodus if you don't have that. Otherwise, maybe Pathfinder Kingmaker? Gungrave GORE is a janky mess but it's a beautiful janky mess. Uh, you get Tails of Iron because that poo poo rules.
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Jan 11, 2024 00:44
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Fuzz posted:Uh, you get Tails of Iron because that poo poo rules. Oh, for some reason, I thought that game got a bad reception: I must've seen a bad review for it somewhere, I recall something about them mentioning that combat gets a bit repetitive/too telegraphed or something? Anyway, glancing at it now, it does look pretty cool! Oh well, there's mixed reviews on a lot of stuff: even Afterimage, the thing I brought up this bundle for, gets pretty mixed as well, haha (unless I'm off about that too). Hmm, while we're talking about mixed reviews, has anyone played The Knight Witch? I was really interested in a bullet hell metroidvania, but it seemed to have a less than positive reception: wonder if it's just a case of a rocky launch or something else. FutureCop fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jan 11, 2024 |
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Jan 11, 2024 02:21
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FutureCop posted:Oh, for some reason, I thought that game got a bad reception: I must've seen a bad review for it somewhere, I recall something about them mentioning that combat gets a bit repetitive/too telegraphed or something? No, that's my memory of it: Tails of Iron never really adds any new layers to combat so it's very repetitive by endgame. The game was like a less-ambitious Salt & Sanctuary.
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Jan 11, 2024 02:24
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Falcon2001 posted:If y'all share my love of Zelda 2 I definitely recommend checking out the romhack Amidas Curse. It's really good and feels like a sequel we never got. Have you played Panoply of Calatia? It's the NES Zelda 3 we never got, complete with items from later in the series that I never thought would work in 2D. More directly on-topic, I agree with the sentiment above that some more exploration-y Metroidvanias are solely lacking. I bounced hard off Aeterna Noctis because of the difficulty.
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Jan 11, 2024 02:51
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fatsleepycat posted:Have you played Panoply of Calatia? It's the NES Zelda 3 we never got, complete with items from later in the series that I never thought would work in 2D. I always thought of Crystalis as "Zelda, but in the far far future". Man that game was so good.
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Jan 11, 2024 03:00
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Knight Witch has a demo. I found the combat less than fun but its a taste thing, naturally, as is that I found the writing to be very stale.
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Jan 11, 2024 03:52
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Medullah posted:I always thought of Crystalis as "Zelda, but in the far far future". Man that game was so good. Holy crap! Someone else played Crystalis? I've never heard anyone talk about it before. Also, I never thought of it that way, but yeah, it pretty much was a Zelda game.
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Jan 11, 2024 03:58
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The SNK 40th Anniversary Collection has Crystalis along with a bunch of arcade games that you probably won't care about. It holds up really well, comparable to the best indie titles coming out now.
ultrafilter fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jan 11, 2024 |
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Jan 11, 2024 04:23
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Kheldarn posted:Holy crap! Someone else played Crystalis? I've never heard anyone talk about it before. It's one of my favorite games of all time, at least for the NES. It was surprisingly complex and heartfelt! The part where (should I spoil a 40 year old game?) you use a pendant to look like someone who died, then go and talk to his pet rabbit is fuckin heartbreaking for an 8 bit game and still lives in my head rent free.
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Jan 11, 2024 13:02
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Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is out.
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Jan 11, 2024 14:38
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fatsleepycat posted:Have you played Panoply of Calatia? It's the NES Zelda 3 we never got, complete with items from later in the series that I never thought would work in 2D. Oh nice I'll check this out. I haven't really gotten into the zelda engine stuff in a long time so it wasn't on my radar.
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Jan 11, 2024 19:37
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Played it a bit, gonna continue later, it seems good. Prince of Persia Lost crown will be out on the 15th. It somehow looks like a mobile game, but the RPS reviewer seemed to like it? (although I did get a chuckle out of "Move over, Hollow Knight") It's an Epic exclusive, so that's why you might have missed all the buzz on it. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-review
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Jan 11, 2024 19:48
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TeaJay posted:Played it a bit, gonna continue later, it seems good. Lost Crown is a lot of fun! I had a really good time with it and would say it's a drat fine Metroidvania. Any complaints I had about it are ones which are kind of commonplace in the genre at this point, like "man, I am so tired of insta-death spike rooms with narrow windows." The plot is raw nonsense and somehow manages to be raw JRPG, and it's so hilariously anime inspired that one of the major people you fight is Literally Just Vergil Including Judgment Cut And Quickdraw Style.
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Jan 11, 2024 19:51
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TBH I don't mind the look and I can buy it's fun, but the 60 price tag and the reviewer warning that "Yes, there will be a lot of hardcore platforming and spike rooms" is a bit of a turn-off. Insta-kill spike hardcore precision platformering rooms (and challenge rooms) are not my favourite 'vania content.
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Jan 11, 2024 19:53
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TeaJay posted:TBH I don't mind the look and I can buy it's fun, but the 60 price tag and the reviewer warning that "Yes, there will be a lot of hardcore platforming and spike rooms" is a bit of a turn-off. Insta-kill spike hardcore precision platformering rooms (and challenge rooms) are not my favourite 'vania content. For what it is worth, the game does offer an option to teleport past those rooms if you don't like it.
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Jan 11, 2024 19:56
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TeaJay posted:TBH I don't mind the look and I can buy it's fun, but the 60 price tag and the reviewer warning that "Yes, there will be a lot of hardcore platforming and spike rooms" is a bit of a turn-off. Insta-kill spike hardcore precision platformering rooms (and challenge rooms) are not my favourite 'vania content. Just being true to the source
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Jan 11, 2024 20:04
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I'll try out the demo once it finished downloading. Why are even demos of 2d platformers 10GB these days?
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Jan 11, 2024 20:14
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 00:33 |
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TeaJay posted:TBH I don't mind the look and I can buy it's fun, but the 60 price tag and the reviewer warning that "Yes, there will be a lot of hardcore platforming and spike rooms" is a bit of a turn-off. Insta-kill spike hardcore precision platformering rooms (and challenge rooms) are not my favourite 'vania content. drat did not realize they were selling it at full(ish) price. That's a damper on my hype.
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Jan 11, 2024 20:25
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