Delicious FruitCthaere's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: May 25, 2020
Bio:
I play fangames or stuff.
I try rating game compared to what they are trying to achieve rather than compared to fangames as a whole, and with knowledge of what you're getting into; If I rate a corridor needle game, I assume the person reading the review wants to play corridor needle, as if they don't they shouldn't bother playing it anyway. With that said, I tend to be very generous on needle ratings while being very skimpy on avoidances (although you likely won't see it as if I'd give it less than a 7 I just won't clear it instead).
with extremely rare exceptions, 9/10+ is reserved to games that have left deep emotional impact, while 10/10 is reserved for games I love unconditionally.
If I reviewed it and the review doesn't say otherwise, it's safe to assume I cleared it. I try adding my clears to df but I never really cared to keep track, so some might be missing.
don't expect diff ratings to be very accurate.
I've submitted:
237 Ratings!
158 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
237 Games
158 Reviews
Cthaere
For: Glob
For: Glob
Good hard gimmick needle.
While the comparisons to Dew are obvious, I find it important to stress a couple factors; First, is that this game feels like more of an asshole than Dew, or at least what I remember of Dew. The second, and the direct consequence of that, is that despite not being quite Dew, the asshole factor gets introduced so early and the game itself does not have nearly the same level of external hype factors that the game could not have been made and been successful without Dew's existence. Many players have already burnt out on needle in this difficulty range, much less one that pulls some of the moments this game does. Finally, while the game does evoke similar feelings to dew, it's missing the feeling of the massive journey. While length undoubtedly plays a big part in this, it feels like the difference is a bit more innate, and Dew manages to feel a lot more interconnected and cohesive. However, I would not fault this game for not living up to Dew; It must judged based on its own merits.
And with that said, the game does stand on its own. It has some fairly simple but clever gimmicks that have not been explored thoroughly yet (if at all), great needle design, and a good sense for minimalistic visuals. Song choices are good but not outstanding, and usually mesh well with the visuals. The needle style itself I would describe as "post flow"; Needle that is aware of the concepts of movement/flow and is designed largely from this perspective, but isn't trying to maximize smoothness so much as it's trying to do other things, usually trying to strike a balance that allows them to take a player out of their comfort zone while still providing enjoyable and satisfying gameplay to keep them hooked in. This style is well executed in this game, but oftentimes feels like the balance is a bit more shifted against the player rather than towards them for my taste. This goes especially for the final stage which I stopped on, as I did not feel the need to clear this, and I have already seen it on screenshare. I would have also liked to see a few more "break" rooms that weren't either 0 difficulty, 85 difficulty, or at the end of a long save; The invisible cherry room and to a lesser extent the invisible maze room striked that balance very well and were good palette cleansers, but all of the others felt a bit lacking.
This is certainly a very strong debut game, and I would like to see what the maker continues with. While I would readily recommend it to those who can handle the difficulty, I would be a bit more hesitant to recommend it as a grind and I would encourage dropping the game if it gets too frustrating, as it has a strong potential for it and I do not see the payoff as worth it. Furthermore, while this is a great game, I do not consider it a must play.
[2] Likes
While the comparisons to Dew are obvious, I find it important to stress a couple factors; First, is that this game feels like more of an asshole than Dew, or at least what I remember of Dew. The second, and the direct consequence of that, is that despite not being quite Dew, the asshole factor gets introduced so early and the game itself does not have nearly the same level of external hype factors that the game could not have been made and been successful without Dew's existence. Many players have already burnt out on needle in this difficulty range, much less one that pulls some of the moments this game does. Finally, while the game does evoke similar feelings to dew, it's missing the feeling of the massive journey. While length undoubtedly plays a big part in this, it feels like the difference is a bit more innate, and Dew manages to feel a lot more interconnected and cohesive. However, I would not fault this game for not living up to Dew; It must judged based on its own merits.
And with that said, the game does stand on its own. It has some fairly simple but clever gimmicks that have not been explored thoroughly yet (if at all), great needle design, and a good sense for minimalistic visuals. Song choices are good but not outstanding, and usually mesh well with the visuals. The needle style itself I would describe as "post flow"; Needle that is aware of the concepts of movement/flow and is designed largely from this perspective, but isn't trying to maximize smoothness so much as it's trying to do other things, usually trying to strike a balance that allows them to take a player out of their comfort zone while still providing enjoyable and satisfying gameplay to keep them hooked in. This style is well executed in this game, but oftentimes feels like the balance is a bit more shifted against the player rather than towards them for my taste. This goes especially for the final stage which I stopped on, as I did not feel the need to clear this, and I have already seen it on screenshare. I would have also liked to see a few more "break" rooms that weren't either 0 difficulty, 85 difficulty, or at the end of a long save; The invisible cherry room and to a lesser extent the invisible maze room striked that balance very well and were good palette cleansers, but all of the others felt a bit lacking.
This is certainly a very strong debut game, and I would like to see what the maker continues with. While I would readily recommend it to those who can handle the difficulty, I would be a bit more hesitant to recommend it as a grind and I would encourage dropping the game if it gets too frustrating, as it has a strong potential for it and I do not see the payoff as worth it. Furthermore, while this is a great game, I do not consider it a must play.
Rating: 8.7
Difficulty: 83
Jan 16, 2024
Cthaere
For: The Avoidance Complex
For: The Avoidance Complex
It is always bittersweet to see an unfinished passion project finally laid to rest after long years in "I might pick it up at some point later" limbo, and this one feels even moreso knowing Max and his journey with fangames and gamemaking as a whole. In a way, I feel quite biased; Even if I hated playing the game, so long as it still showed genuine care, effort, and the tiniest smidgen of polish, I would still look at it fondly. However, while I will say the game has issues (as would be expected from an unfinished release), it is still very worthwhile playing, with most of the content ranking at "fairly enjoyable if a bit flawed" with a few exceptions in both directions.
The game is split into 4 areas: Tiers 1 through 3, each with 4 full length avoidances, and a "minivoidance" room with a few 20-40 second song fragments. Outside of the minivoidance room, which serves as a break more than anything (even if iru hank is still pretty hard), the levels of both quality, polish, and difficulty get a significant jump with each tier. Unfortunately, given that you have to beat all 4 avoidances in a tier to advance to the next one, this makes the game a hard sell for those who would get stuck in T1 for too long, as they would spend all of their time butting heads against the worst content in the game (most of which is still decent, but there is one avoidance I consider genuinely bad in there), only to be rewarded by a tier 2 that is miles more difficult. It is clear that Complex is best played at around the same skill level needed to beat Fish (preferably under 50 hours), and that while being better won't diminish much of it, being worse absolutely will.
As for the avoidances as a whole, the vast majority are mostly-simple barrages with a couple more "gimmicky" attacks thrown in, with a big focus on just pure reading of basic attacks with some spicing up. There are several recurring issues, being long boring intros, attacks that have high level of difficulty variance depending on RNG, attacks that serve as big diffspikes, and several visually inelegant attacks (as in, the way the bullets move feels unnatural and unfitting). However, as Iru has put it, "while far from being a shining example of immaculate avoidance design" the issues are still minor enough that overall the game manages to maintain a good level of enjoyment.
With that out of the way, I would like to take a moment to review all 12 avoidances, as a comprehensive review does not seem to exist.
T1:
Rock my emotions - decently fun barrage. simple visuals but they work pretty well. has a long intro problem (everything pre infjump is too easy and not very fun to play). The squares attack later into the fight is also pretty bruh. Without those issues, it'd probably have been best in tier; It's still a good contender for it.
Reve of mirrors - barrage with apple sprites. Hardest in tier, and easily the worst avoidance in the game. Extremely slow intro and it's infjump so you HAVE to be focused on it the entire time, highest bullshit potential overall, several attacks that are just mindbogglingly boring, difficulty is mostly concentrated in the latter half... In short, while a lot of it would be fun in a vacuum, as a full experience it is miserable especially if you get stuck for longer than you feel like you need to. It is worth clearing if only to get further into the game, and clearing this is a mark that you've been through the worst of it, but I would much rather this was not necessary to beat to advance to the next rank.
Cursed - basic barrage, very effective visuals even if they're a bit simple, was the most enjoyable overall but I fluked pretty big chunks of this and I'm fairly certain if I didn't I'd hate this more, and that also means I don't really have that much to say about it unfortunately.
Power attack - standard barrage (who could have guessed), decent visuals, inter-attack difficulty variance is pretty high. Pretty easy and basic, not much to talk about it.
T2:
Reveal Spoiler
Rolling Girl: a pretty barragey miku, but still the most patterny boss in the game. Basic visuals that mostly work really well, but definitely feels like it's missing more work. Long boring intro problem. Can bullshit you especially with the black spiral. Decently fun but generally just a fairly mediocre fight. Didn't mind it all that much though.
Octane: standard barrage, decent visuals, pretty long, intro problems. Has a few really bruh attacks, such as the arrows coming towards the center on the 1st attack on the big center platform, platform snapping inconsistency in the segment with moving platforms, and several attacks that can give really bad RNG on the bottom middle platform, in addition to the circle pattern on it being kinda weird and very late into the fight. Probably enjoyable if it takes you less than 3 hours, but it didn't for me and as a result it transformed from "decently enjoyable" to "mildly irritating". Also hardest in tier, which is a shame since it's probably the least enjoyable by a tiny margin under rolling girl.
Vicious Heroism: Standard barrage, very simple visuals but they work extremely well, by far the best standard barrage thus far with good pacing, fun attacks, decent mapping, and just overall very well executed. Good job.
Hotline miami: one of the more interesting fights overall, especially for a T2 avoidance. Apparently was originally T3 but was then swapped with another T2 avoidance. Great visuals and ideas, but middling execution: Out of the 3 intro segments (circles, circles + tp, waterfall + tp) the 1st is boring, the 2nd is great if sometimes feels bs, and the 3rd is both boring and garbage on your hands. These issues hold back the avoidance to a painful degree, as it has by far the best visuals, mapping, and overall ideas in the tier. Thankfully, it gets very consistent, and everything else is fun, but it's still a massive shame that greatly holds it back. Unfortunately, it's also the easiest.
T3:
Reveal Spoiler
Peer Gynt: Standard barrage. My favorite of the bunch, even over Moon. Visuals work extremely well, bullet movement is very clean, intro that gets very consistent and is still fun to play once mastered so you don't really care about the fact that the difficulty is all backloaded, amazing overall feel. To be honest, I was skeptical the game would be able to reach this level of quality, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
A fool moon night: Standard barrage. Long, hard, well made, good attacks, visuals, song, everything. Simplicity (with a good share of spiced up attacks and ideas) executed at a high level, similar to vicious heroism, except even better. The only avoidance I haven't beaten yet, on account of being the hardest, however I've gotten relatively far into it, put a good amount of time, and watched the rest to gauge that my opinion would likely change mostly in regards to the overall grind process and pacing, rather than the general level of quality.
Tempestissimo: Probably the worst out of the bunch, and I have had an extremely negative experience with it on top. Attacks are the hardest individually outside of virtual stigmata, and feel inconsistent and frustrating to die to. The indicator game adds very little to the avoidance. Visual design is worst in tier and one of the worse ones overall. This alongside Reve nearly docked the rating down from 9, however playing Peer Gynt (and to a lesser extent Moon) afterwards restored it. Do not take it to mean that this is all that bad, however; It's still a decent barrage, just one that I have had a really bad experience with, and would likely be much worse to play if you are not at a sufficient level of avoidance skill (which I am evidently not).
Virtual Stigmata: Short standard barrage. Slow intro problem. Hardest individual attacks, highest RNG difficulty variance within attacks, highest attack difficulty variance in relation to each other. A collection of 4 seconds attacks that either overwhelm you or disappear before they reach you, with very little inbetween. There is a good amount of room for skill, but it always feels like it's a matter of whether the avoidance wants you to pass or not. However, the final 30 seconds change everything, and are without a doubt the single best segment in the game. Simple but great concept executed beautifully. Bravo.
Overall, it was a very fun experience and a pleasant surprise given my lower initial expectations of what I would find in here compared to what I got. I would only recommend the game to those who have beaten several 70+ diff barrages, and I would say that even then you could choose to delay playing it until you have beaten a just-below-HoF barrage (fish, count 0, bye the entrance, etc.) or harder. However, once you have gotten to a certain level in your avoidance journey, this is a game you would regret not checking out.
The game is split into 4 areas: Tiers 1 through 3, each with 4 full length avoidances, and a "minivoidance" room with a few 20-40 second song fragments. Outside of the minivoidance room, which serves as a break more than anything (even if iru hank is still pretty hard), the levels of both quality, polish, and difficulty get a significant jump with each tier. Unfortunately, given that you have to beat all 4 avoidances in a tier to advance to the next one, this makes the game a hard sell for those who would get stuck in T1 for too long, as they would spend all of their time butting heads against the worst content in the game (most of which is still decent, but there is one avoidance I consider genuinely bad in there), only to be rewarded by a tier 2 that is miles more difficult. It is clear that Complex is best played at around the same skill level needed to beat Fish (preferably under 50 hours), and that while being better won't diminish much of it, being worse absolutely will.
As for the avoidances as a whole, the vast majority are mostly-simple barrages with a couple more "gimmicky" attacks thrown in, with a big focus on just pure reading of basic attacks with some spicing up. There are several recurring issues, being long boring intros, attacks that have high level of difficulty variance depending on RNG, attacks that serve as big diffspikes, and several visually inelegant attacks (as in, the way the bullets move feels unnatural and unfitting). However, as Iru has put it, "while far from being a shining example of immaculate avoidance design" the issues are still minor enough that overall the game manages to maintain a good level of enjoyment.
With that out of the way, I would like to take a moment to review all 12 avoidances, as a comprehensive review does not seem to exist.
T1:
Rock my emotions - decently fun barrage. simple visuals but they work pretty well. has a long intro problem (everything pre infjump is too easy and not very fun to play). The squares attack later into the fight is also pretty bruh. Without those issues, it'd probably have been best in tier; It's still a good contender for it.
Reve of mirrors - barrage with apple sprites. Hardest in tier, and easily the worst avoidance in the game. Extremely slow intro and it's infjump so you HAVE to be focused on it the entire time, highest bullshit potential overall, several attacks that are just mindbogglingly boring, difficulty is mostly concentrated in the latter half... In short, while a lot of it would be fun in a vacuum, as a full experience it is miserable especially if you get stuck for longer than you feel like you need to. It is worth clearing if only to get further into the game, and clearing this is a mark that you've been through the worst of it, but I would much rather this was not necessary to beat to advance to the next rank.
Cursed - basic barrage, very effective visuals even if they're a bit simple, was the most enjoyable overall but I fluked pretty big chunks of this and I'm fairly certain if I didn't I'd hate this more, and that also means I don't really have that much to say about it unfortunately.
Power attack - standard barrage (who could have guessed), decent visuals, inter-attack difficulty variance is pretty high. Pretty easy and basic, not much to talk about it.
T2:
Reveal Spoiler
Rolling Girl: a pretty barragey miku, but still the most patterny boss in the game. Basic visuals that mostly work really well, but definitely feels like it's missing more work. Long boring intro problem. Can bullshit you especially with the black spiral. Decently fun but generally just a fairly mediocre fight. Didn't mind it all that much though.
Octane: standard barrage, decent visuals, pretty long, intro problems. Has a few really bruh attacks, such as the arrows coming towards the center on the 1st attack on the big center platform, platform snapping inconsistency in the segment with moving platforms, and several attacks that can give really bad RNG on the bottom middle platform, in addition to the circle pattern on it being kinda weird and very late into the fight. Probably enjoyable if it takes you less than 3 hours, but it didn't for me and as a result it transformed from "decently enjoyable" to "mildly irritating". Also hardest in tier, which is a shame since it's probably the least enjoyable by a tiny margin under rolling girl.
Vicious Heroism: Standard barrage, very simple visuals but they work extremely well, by far the best standard barrage thus far with good pacing, fun attacks, decent mapping, and just overall very well executed. Good job.
Hotline miami: one of the more interesting fights overall, especially for a T2 avoidance. Apparently was originally T3 but was then swapped with another T2 avoidance. Great visuals and ideas, but middling execution: Out of the 3 intro segments (circles, circles + tp, waterfall + tp) the 1st is boring, the 2nd is great if sometimes feels bs, and the 3rd is both boring and garbage on your hands. These issues hold back the avoidance to a painful degree, as it has by far the best visuals, mapping, and overall ideas in the tier. Thankfully, it gets very consistent, and everything else is fun, but it's still a massive shame that greatly holds it back. Unfortunately, it's also the easiest.
T3:
Reveal Spoiler
Peer Gynt: Standard barrage. My favorite of the bunch, even over Moon. Visuals work extremely well, bullet movement is very clean, intro that gets very consistent and is still fun to play once mastered so you don't really care about the fact that the difficulty is all backloaded, amazing overall feel. To be honest, I was skeptical the game would be able to reach this level of quality, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
A fool moon night: Standard barrage. Long, hard, well made, good attacks, visuals, song, everything. Simplicity (with a good share of spiced up attacks and ideas) executed at a high level, similar to vicious heroism, except even better. The only avoidance I haven't beaten yet, on account of being the hardest, however I've gotten relatively far into it, put a good amount of time, and watched the rest to gauge that my opinion would likely change mostly in regards to the overall grind process and pacing, rather than the general level of quality.
Tempestissimo: Probably the worst out of the bunch, and I have had an extremely negative experience with it on top. Attacks are the hardest individually outside of virtual stigmata, and feel inconsistent and frustrating to die to. The indicator game adds very little to the avoidance. Visual design is worst in tier and one of the worse ones overall. This alongside Reve nearly docked the rating down from 9, however playing Peer Gynt (and to a lesser extent Moon) afterwards restored it. Do not take it to mean that this is all that bad, however; It's still a decent barrage, just one that I have had a really bad experience with, and would likely be much worse to play if you are not at a sufficient level of avoidance skill (which I am evidently not).
Virtual Stigmata: Short standard barrage. Slow intro problem. Hardest individual attacks, highest RNG difficulty variance within attacks, highest attack difficulty variance in relation to each other. A collection of 4 seconds attacks that either overwhelm you or disappear before they reach you, with very little inbetween. There is a good amount of room for skill, but it always feels like it's a matter of whether the avoidance wants you to pass or not. However, the final 30 seconds change everything, and are without a doubt the single best segment in the game. Simple but great concept executed beautifully. Bravo.
Overall, it was a very fun experience and a pleasant surprise given my lower initial expectations of what I would find in here compared to what I got. I would only recommend the game to those who have beaten several 70+ diff barrages, and I would say that even then you could choose to delay playing it until you have beaten a just-below-HoF barrage (fish, count 0, bye the entrance, etc.) or harder. However, once you have gotten to a certain level in your avoidance journey, this is a game you would regret not checking out.
Tagged as: Avoidance
[2] Likes
Rating: 9.0
Difficulty: 90
Dec 23, 2023
Cthaere
For: The Maker Medley
For: The Maker Medley
The Maker Medley is an IWM-themed medley game consisting largely of maker maps, but also drawing heavily upon fangame pop culture to create a hybrid game that gives a great entry level to fangames.
As a medley, the game is relatively short: Only two stages with their own boss (and sometimes a mid-boss), followed by a handful of guest stages, a medley of all the content from the first two stages, and a final boss. To summarize my experience with those, The first two stages are pretty fun, but not really outstanding. The first boss feels a lot more like an avoidance than a boss, which I appreciate and approve of, however it's understandably not got that much to draw upon; Making flashy avoidance attacks in maker at a fitting difficulty level is a nigh impossible task. Second boss was actively unfun for me; Reveal Spoiler Both it and the final boss suffer from extremely awkward design around shooting, with limited shooting windows coupled with short iframes that still incentivize mashing and a health pool that feels too big even if realistically it's not. As a result, the first attack was highly annoying to play through. In the final phase, the timing of the warning signs feels like complete guesswork, and failing it sends you back to the 40 second avoidance beforehand, which is also a source of frustration. The guest stages are extremely good, although they all feel like there's a lot of trial-and-error to them, which can be a bit tedious for the longer ones. The medley stage was mediocre, and really didn't feel like it was handled the best way possible; It just felt like replaying everything, except a lot more watered down, and was pretty disappointing. Final boss is great, and visually and theming wise it popped off big time, although I would appreciate it if it indicated phase transitions better.
As far as the overall theming is concerned, the game is heavily themed around both IWM and fangame pop culture. Music and assets are mostly taken from IWM, although it's clear that in a lot of cases they've been transformed or enhanced to be able to do things that cannot be accomplished in IWM. As a result, the game feels like you're playing a collection of random maker maps for the first two stages, which cheapens the experience for me a bit. From boss 2 onwards, though, the production value goes up significantly, and more unique elements begin to appear. The game also features numerous cutscenes which form a short, humorous story, although how funny it ends up being to you is going to be extremely subjective. All in all, I suspect people coming from IWM would end up liking this a lot, while those who find the IWM music and assets to be soulless and overused are going to be much less appreciative.
All in all, a pretty fun game, a great beginner game, and a stellar introduction to fangames for IWM players, but not an experience I would consider essential.
[3] Likes
As a medley, the game is relatively short: Only two stages with their own boss (and sometimes a mid-boss), followed by a handful of guest stages, a medley of all the content from the first two stages, and a final boss. To summarize my experience with those, The first two stages are pretty fun, but not really outstanding. The first boss feels a lot more like an avoidance than a boss, which I appreciate and approve of, however it's understandably not got that much to draw upon; Making flashy avoidance attacks in maker at a fitting difficulty level is a nigh impossible task. Second boss was actively unfun for me; Reveal Spoiler Both it and the final boss suffer from extremely awkward design around shooting, with limited shooting windows coupled with short iframes that still incentivize mashing and a health pool that feels too big even if realistically it's not. As a result, the first attack was highly annoying to play through. In the final phase, the timing of the warning signs feels like complete guesswork, and failing it sends you back to the 40 second avoidance beforehand, which is also a source of frustration. The guest stages are extremely good, although they all feel like there's a lot of trial-and-error to them, which can be a bit tedious for the longer ones. The medley stage was mediocre, and really didn't feel like it was handled the best way possible; It just felt like replaying everything, except a lot more watered down, and was pretty disappointing. Final boss is great, and visually and theming wise it popped off big time, although I would appreciate it if it indicated phase transitions better.
As far as the overall theming is concerned, the game is heavily themed around both IWM and fangame pop culture. Music and assets are mostly taken from IWM, although it's clear that in a lot of cases they've been transformed or enhanced to be able to do things that cannot be accomplished in IWM. As a result, the game feels like you're playing a collection of random maker maps for the first two stages, which cheapens the experience for me a bit. From boss 2 onwards, though, the production value goes up significantly, and more unique elements begin to appear. The game also features numerous cutscenes which form a short, humorous story, although how funny it ends up being to you is going to be extremely subjective. All in all, I suspect people coming from IWM would end up liking this a lot, while those who find the IWM music and assets to be soulless and overused are going to be much less appreciative.
All in all, a pretty fun game, a great beginner game, and a stellar introduction to fangames for IWM players, but not an experience I would consider essential.
Rating: 7.7
Difficulty: N/A
Feb 27, 2023
Cthaere
For: I wanna Odoryanse
For: I wanna Odoryanse
The avoidance is relatively well-known, and I don't have much to add that hasn't been said. Very fun, relatively consistent however sometimes it decides to not play nice. To note, I've gotten worse situations from at least 5 other attacks than I did from blood 2, so I don't consider it that bad, but I know others have a different experience with this. Such is RNG.
[1] Like
Rating: 8.8
Difficulty: N/A
Feb 26, 2023
Cthaere
For: Dadu Needle
For: Dadu Needle
TL;DR: I played this because I've heard this was pretty bad and thought it looked decently fun, with the reputation being exaggerated and the game itself mediocre at worst. I was wrong.
Dadu needle is a 50f jtool needle game. Visuals and needle style (and presumably maker) changes every 5 floors. None of the visuals are particularly appealing or ugly, and I had the game muted so I wouldn't know if the music changes too.
As far as the progression goes, the first 20 floors are completely inoffensive if unmemorable and mostly serve to ease you in. The rest is a mixed bag, both in regards to style, jtool gimmicks used (with most stages being pure needle), and quality, with 2 particular stages later on that stand out unfavorably. In the first, the design constraints movement in a way that can be best described to as "minimalist modern FTFA-like", forcing the player to make long horizontal jumps without hitting spikes that restrict their height. The other gave me the worst hand pain I've ever experienced while playing needle through the worst vine usage I've ever played, requiring precise positioning on vines to clear extremely cramped sections, with the jumps themselves being either fulljumps, low jumps off of vines, or just holding the jump button for 20 seconds trying to frantically hop from vine to vine using the precise spot where it works.
As far as the general needle design, the game has a tendency of randomly throwing jumps at you that are far more precise than you'd expect. There are only 3-4 stages mostly exempt from this after the first 10 floors, including the two mentioned above where all the jumps are equally obnoxiously precise (although at least the first of those has some short save screens). It is painfully obvious that this game was insufficiently tested (with only 1 tester credited in the readme).
All in all, I feel as though the current reviews understate how bad this game gets at its worst, to the point I came into it with low expectations and morbid curiosity yet still managed to be left disappointed and frustrated. While I will note that I have not played needle in quite a while prior to it and was a bit rusty, I do not think it was a significant factor in my experience. Would absolutely recommend to avoid playing this.
[0] Likes
Dadu needle is a 50f jtool needle game. Visuals and needle style (and presumably maker) changes every 5 floors. None of the visuals are particularly appealing or ugly, and I had the game muted so I wouldn't know if the music changes too.
As far as the progression goes, the first 20 floors are completely inoffensive if unmemorable and mostly serve to ease you in. The rest is a mixed bag, both in regards to style, jtool gimmicks used (with most stages being pure needle), and quality, with 2 particular stages later on that stand out unfavorably. In the first, the design constraints movement in a way that can be best described to as "minimalist modern FTFA-like", forcing the player to make long horizontal jumps without hitting spikes that restrict their height. The other gave me the worst hand pain I've ever experienced while playing needle through the worst vine usage I've ever played, requiring precise positioning on vines to clear extremely cramped sections, with the jumps themselves being either fulljumps, low jumps off of vines, or just holding the jump button for 20 seconds trying to frantically hop from vine to vine using the precise spot where it works.
As far as the general needle design, the game has a tendency of randomly throwing jumps at you that are far more precise than you'd expect. There are only 3-4 stages mostly exempt from this after the first 10 floors, including the two mentioned above where all the jumps are equally obnoxiously precise (although at least the first of those has some short save screens). It is painfully obvious that this game was insufficiently tested (with only 1 tester credited in the readme).
All in all, I feel as though the current reviews understate how bad this game gets at its worst, to the point I came into it with low expectations and morbid curiosity yet still managed to be left disappointed and frustrated. While I will note that I have not played needle in quite a while prior to it and was a bit rusty, I do not think it was a significant factor in my experience. Would absolutely recommend to avoid playing this.
Rating: 3.5
Difficulty: 80
Jan 23, 2023
Cthaere
For: I wanna realize
For: I wanna realize
Good short light-gimmick needle on the easier side. Simple gimmicks that we've already seen without really treading new ground, but it's solid, fun, and accessible. There are several funny moments already mentioned by other reviewers, but they don't detract from the overall experience in my opinion.
After first clear, you get to try your hand at beating each stage deathless; 1 is relatively easy, 2 are challenging but reasonable, while the last one is probably going to be a Moment. Nonetheless, they're fun to attempt so long as you do not intend on seriously grinding them down.
Song choices are good, and alongside simple-yet-effective visuals invoke a strong (although not fully immersive) atmosphere.
I know I've said little about this game compared to my usual inflated reviews, but it really is what it is: A well designed, short & fun accessible version of an amalgamation of new wave gimmick needle. Would definitely recommend.
[4] Likes
After first clear, you get to try your hand at beating each stage deathless; 1 is relatively easy, 2 are challenging but reasonable, while the last one is probably going to be a Moment. Nonetheless, they're fun to attempt so long as you do not intend on seriously grinding them down.
Song choices are good, and alongside simple-yet-effective visuals invoke a strong (although not fully immersive) atmosphere.
I know I've said little about this game compared to my usual inflated reviews, but it really is what it is: A well designed, short & fun accessible version of an amalgamation of new wave gimmick needle. Would definitely recommend.
Rating: 8.8 88
Difficulty: 60 60
Jan 4, 2023
Cthaere
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
For: I HATE Double Turn Team!
Haven't cleared so no ratings, and no usual really long review.
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
Update: Cleared (any%), and the game turned out to be a lot more mixed of a bag than I expected. The highs are not as high as I had hoped either. Still a big recommendation, but a more cautious one.
[3] Likes
In any case, check this out. It's very good modern needle that's relatively light on the gimmicks. There's definitely a ton of work put into this, and the result speaks for itself. Visuals are simple but effective for the most part, and the soundtrack is the best I've seen in a fangame (although ymmv if your taste doesn't match mine). Has some really great humor and easter eggs too. Quit because it has some really long saves that I don't feel like grinding, although I might come back to it in the future. I'd be inclined to believe it gets easily over 80 diff later down the line, so do be warned though.
Update: Cleared (any%), and the game turned out to be a lot more mixed of a bag than I expected. The highs are not as high as I had hoped either. Still a big recommendation, but a more cautious one.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 14, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
For: I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN]
Rating based on "innocent" (normal) difficulty on a previous version of the game.
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
[1] Like
I Wanna [VERB] the [ADJECTIVE] [NOUN] is a 32 pixel needle game which appears to be an easier FTFA like of medium length. The visuals are simple, pleasing, unobtrusive, and consistent with other similar games.
As for the gameplay... There are problems. Save balance is a major issue, for once, which would likely make a playthrough on hard/vhard (the difficulties that seem more "intended") a much more painful ordeal. The jumps themselves, while facilitating more complex movement than you'd expect from an FTFA like, do not get to the level of consistency one would expect/hope for from an FTFA like (which could be also due to the relatively short save length) and has a few particular repeat offenders that feel both inconsistent and frustrating to die to due to appearing to be easy but heavily affected by keyboard/vstring "luck" (full vspeed ledge landings, and the turnaround diagonals). In general, the enjoyment I personally find in FTFA likes is making the seemingly impossible become consistent - Jumps should appear hard so that dying to them feels acceptable, yet either still have a consistent manner to execute them through a setup, or be performed by a string of comfortable (yet precise) inputs to so that the jump feels as though skill of execution is the determining factor in passing or failing. As one can see, this contrasts with the previous points of contention.
This game has an extra screen (or two? I already forgot, if there are two then I'll focus on the last one as it is the more important of them anyhow), which features shorter save length and tighter jumps. To be perfectly frank, some of these felt like luck. Particularly the first jump of either of the final 2 saves. There's also an align issue with the bottom middle save (EDIT: fixed in new version). While there are some cool things here (the jump from the corner through the plane on the top left is really good, and the water plane was also fun), they do not really fit in the context of the game and the parts that felt like luck made me almost want to quit.
In conclusion, I would suggest prospective players to avoid this unless they're significantly better than me at FTFA likes (which, to note, I have cleared Say Something). As for feedback and suggestions for improvement, I'd personally want to see slightly longer saves of jumps of the type I described above - Either hard & precise-looking but with a consistent setup, or jumps that feel natural to do (doublejumping out of corners raised by 2 blocks, tbone diagonals, water dplanes are great example of this).
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 12, 2022
Cthaere
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
For: I Wanna Take A Walk In The Sun
If you know nothing about this game and are interested in playing it, I would advise that you do not consume any piece of information about it save for the non-spoilered parts of the rest of this review, lest you decrease the quality of your own experience. Go into this game with an open mind and low expectations to get the most out of it.
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
[4] Likes
I wanna take a walk in the sun is a long needle game which contains both JTool needle, CTool needle, and general gimmick needle in comparable amounts. The jtool needle is for the most part in modern style, taking after late CN2 - post CN3 games. Throughout the games, there are many throwbacks and references to other notable gimmick needle games such as Volatile Presence, Cry Myself To Sleep or Hydrate.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the game is mostly fun to play, if failing to stand out in many parts. For how long this game is, there were a meager few instances of me being wowed by it, although it is worth noting that they do exist, and that many modern gimmick needle games fail to achieve even that. As for the weaker parts, they are relatively uncommon, and while some of them feel intentional, many of them do not and seem to stand in violation of common modern needle design tropes, although I cannot recall anything that fully annoyed me. As for some of the overarching aspects of the game, removing snap from 98% of platforms would have made the game significantly better, and having a more healthy spread between jtool and the more creative parts would have done better than having all of the good stuff shoved in the 2nd half with pure jtool being 80% of the first half. While they are not too common, the vast majority of gameplay issues could likely have been fixed with better testplay, and so it is a bit disappointing to play the game in this state.
As far as the atmosphere goes, it borrows tilesets heavily from other games and occasionally song picks. In cases the song is taken as well, the atmosphere feels cheap, unoriginal and unfitting, while the parts with original music manage to clash jarringly in places and rarely work to create a good, cohesive atmosphere. The lack of dynamic visuals in 80% of the game as well as the usage of NANC2 default engine gimmicks with their sprites and SFX intact exacerbates these issues, as the game feels very flat and whatever immersion there does exist to be salvaged is swiftly broken by the nang triple jump star. This isn't to say the game is ugly, or that the soundtrack is bad, nor that the fit is so bad so as to reduce from the experience; However, for a game that feels as though it was trying to craft an atmosphere, it fails to do so, meaning rather than points being deducted for poor production, instead no bonus points are added for well executed one. In many cases, it does feel as though relatively little work and a minor overhaul of the soundtrack could have significantly increased both atmospheric cohesion and production feel, and so this aspect remains very disappointing.
All in all, if you can stomach 30+ screens of 70 diff jtool to get to the interesting stuff, I would recommend this, although even when you do get to the good stuff don't set your expectations too high; If you can't, you should probably refrain from this game.
And now, for the spoilered part:
So now it's time to address the elephant in the room: Morning dew.
It is extremely apparent the game tries modeling itself after Morning Dew. From the name, through the many, many stolen stage visuals, the attempt at the OST, even the post-credits cutscene. While I have said in the preamble that the player should not think about Dew lest they ruin their experience, it is inevitable the realization will happen at some point, simply due to it being at the very core of what this game seeks to achieve. As such, comparisons to Morning Dew are every bit justified, as the game itself invites them*.
And well, in every conceivable metric, this game does not live up to dew. However, it is important to know the effect of this: The comparison serves only to highlight the places this game is lacking, rather than make the game actively worse. This game isn't mediocre because it doesn't live up to Dew; It does not live up to Dew because it is mediocre**. And here lies the true problem in the comparison: Trying to be Dew means not being allowed to be mediocre, and this comparison sets the expectation that it will not be, one that cannot be fulfilled.
While I do believe this comparison is warranted, I would also want to point out a few things regarding it: First, it is only one perspective to look at the game, one which should not consume all of your field of vision. It is no more important than the analysis of the game as an independent game. Second, while the game does imitate dew, it feels much more as though it tries paying tribute to it (and the other games represented inside) rather than trying to become an alternative to it, and this must be taken into account when looking at the two side by side, as this casts a much more empathetic light on it.
While I cannot say my experience wasn't tainted by this knowledge, I do not think it had too big an effect, and as such I would still abide by the unspoilered part of the review. And yet, I do wish it lived up to Dew. It is what it is, though.
Footnotes:
*for those of you who wanna go "but you can't know what the creator was thinking!!!!": you're technically right, however judging solely from the game and readme, it is by far the most likely interpretation, and we've been playing the "trying to interpret the author" game from the moment art itself was born and came to the conclusion that such interpretations deserve their place and in some cases even overrule the author's word.
**"Mediocre", while ultimately the right word, has some unwanted connotations to it. To clarify, "mediocre" to me in this context means the game is not overtly creative or evocative, not that it is not fun or successful. I consider this to describe the vast majority of fangames, and there are many highly regarded games that I consider to fall in this definition of "mediocre", including some I have rated very highly. Games such as Vandal or Alphazetica would fall in this category: Bringing very little new to the table even at the time they came out, but being very enjoyable nonetheless. Again, there were a couple points this game managed to break free; However, as a whole, I would consider it to fall under this definition.
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 75 75
Oct 4, 2022
Cthaere
For: I wanna Melanzana
For: I wanna Melanzana
As some of you may see from looking at this review page (at least as of the time of me writing this), this avoidance does not have a comprehensive review. And why would it need one? Its reputation precedes it, and the vast majority of people are unwilling to play it to completion due to the high investment and the extremely demotivating feeling it usually brings to unprepared players. It is not infamous for no reason.
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
[7] Likes
And yet, it is every bit deserving of a proper review. Not only is it one of the most unique games out there, it is a game that is very often talked about from a completely warped perspective, and one where much of the discourse is shaped by those who have never seriously attempted it. A lot of the discussion around Melanzana touches the game for what it is on the surface - a "98" difficulty pure pattern avoidance - rather than the new core gameplay experience on offer and how well it is executed. As such, the aim of this review is not to recommend the game (although I do, albeit with a caveat that you know what you're getting into), but rather to provide a frame of reference through which the avoidance may be better understood, combined with my own opinions and experience (as a person who has died past the 2 minute mark over a dozen times and has poured 60+ hours into it).
So, to start, Melanzana's gameplay is pure pattern and does not tap at all into the reading aspect of avoidances as a core gameplay component. However, to describe it more precisely, it is more than just bullets going to the same place the same way every time - Melanzana is about movement. There are 2 moments in the entire avoidance one can leave their hands off their keyboard for even a second, and both of them are the result of broken patterns at the beginning. The movement itself, while in sync with the song, is almost never tightly bound to it - for the more strict timing windows, there are plenty of visual and timing based cues - and as such you can feel the joy of dancing in accordance to the music without being worried a single misstep will make you trip and fall (the two exceptions to this - claps and CBT - are the worst attacks in the avoidance imo). As for the individual steps in the dance, they are incredibly enjoyable - Twists and turns and leaps and drops and any movement you could want. It is honestly still amazing to me how well each part flows into the next, and how each of the individual jumps can feel this fresh despite the physics constraint of the two available jumps as well as remaining incredibly satisfying to pull off. Most movements have a decent amount of leniency, and most jumps tend to be either fulljump, bonk, or have a wide frame window, however even the tight ones get incredibly consistent and despite the reliance on loose jump heights, it rarely feels too spammy on the fulljumps.
And yet, this does not feel like the peak of the premise - not by a long shot. It is incredibly well done for being the first to venture into this design space - doubly so for being as hard as it is - yet it is not perfect. Aside from Claps, which is the main offender (the attack transitioning into chorus 1, which has a relatively tight timing with 0 visual cue that feels like a cheap instakill every time you die to it), I also take issue with several other sections, including the part between chorus 1 and verse 2 (the entire bottom left platform section - jump to the left has a really inconsistent doublejump back to the platform, jump to the right is a lot harder if you get green instead of purple) and CBT (the attack where you go left and right on the bottom platform while aiming lines chase you; the timing is fairly tight and must be decided upon much in advance, but this can be nullified through numpad use/2f, neither of which feel good, and without them it's a frustrating difficulty spike). None of the other parts are bad, however some feel a bit less inspired than others (the ending of the part before chorus 1, the ending of Rainbow, some excessive reusage of common patterns (even though I don't personally consider it a big issue)). Of course, this is purely my own experience; others may have their own gripes, and I know many people struggle on parts others seamlessly perform and vice versa, but every attack not mentioned here became consistent once I invested enough time into it. Common points where people tend to struggle include the end of the climb in prechorus, the part with the white cherry in chorus 1 as well as the final jump in the segment, the blue and yellow parts in verse 2, at least 3 specific sections in rainbow, chorus 2 if you get purple, and anything in eyesight test that you die to in a real attempt.
But hey, we have Verre now, which according to the few people who have seriously played both fixes those issues.
As for the visuals... yeah. While a consensus has mostly been reached, I'll still spell it out anyway: There is certainly a lot of effort put into production, and the avoidance does feel consistent and cohesive, however the choice in visual identity is rather poor and its execution subpar - the rainbow effects feel excessive and unnatural, giving a feeling of being messy. Most of the attacks have a color seemingly chosen at random, and while it does give them a distinct identity it contributes to the messiness, and that visual identity boost is mostly negated by the fact that a lot of attacks share a different aspect of visual identity (spinning lines). Despite these, the avoidance looks better than default and while the big, flashy, excessive effects mostly miss, the quieter effects are well made - the easing on background changes, camera movements, bullet fade/ease in/out, the pure black/white trails, and similar aspects the average player won't notice unless it is done badly. As an exception to my disdain of the excess rainbow, I will say that I love the trail effect on the player in chorus 2, which is a very clever way of making heatmap and/or rainbow particles which I would not have considered.
And also hey, we have Verre now again.
In conclusion, I consider Melanzana to be a very good game and one of my favorites - an opinion which admittedly is usually shared by other grinders and broken somewhere along the way to the clear, however I doubt that would be the case for me personally - and would recommend it for those who are interested in the premise, so long as they are aware of the nature of the grind. It is very common for many to end up disliking the game and be vocal about it for wildly different reasons - those who hate the core gameplay premise, those who like the premise but hate the weaker aspects of it in the context of a big hard grind, those who like the entire package but are unable to bear a big hard grind and got burnt out by the experience, and those who just use the game as a platform to whine about fangames becoming too hard to grind. You must reflect upon yourself and decide whether you will be able to reconcile any of these issues before taking on Melanzana.
Insofar as being a point of reference for discussion, when approaching other people's position, I would also ask that you understand that the game is surprisingly good for what it is, keep in mind that the aforementioned positions for disliking the game and understanding the place any negativity is coming from, and remember that most discussions over the game do boil down to the difficulty and a greatly simplified view of the core gameplay premise.
(Special thanks to Marc for helping me proofread this and fix a bunch of things and special unthanks to Razzor for refusing to do so)
Rating: 9.5 95
Difficulty: 93 93
Sep 29, 2022
2 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wanna Musiclock | 74.7 | 9.3 | 20 |
| I wanna Xanadu | 60.7 | 7.7 | 8 |
32 Favorite Games
143 Cleared Games