Delicious FruitJopagu's Profile
Send a PMJoined on: Jan 16, 2022
Bio:
Hi, I'm Jopagu. She/They pronouns please :)
I don’t play much avoidance so my diff ratings on those might be scuffed.
Clears list is all the games I played before I started reviewing them. I'm trying to slowly go through those and replay/review them all.
I review games based on how much I would recommend them to others. 0s are reserved for games I do not recommend for ethical reasons. This does not mean I have anything against people playing or enjoying those games.
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504 Ratings!
499 Reviews!
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504 Games
499 Reviews
Jopagu
For: I Wanna Sertraline
For: I Wanna Sertraline
A fantastic Tethys-like that deviates from that game in key ways. Notably, the use of jtool gimmicks adds a lot. The needle here is much more fun than Tethys, trading the cramped awkward jumps for fun, unique movements. A lot of the jumps feel very distinct, and they're designed well enough to carry the same visual weight with spike designs as Tethys. Additionally, this game deviates by having 3 stages instead of 2. This is cool, I liked having more, and it helped progress the themes.
Thematically, this game is about death, with a lot of religious iconography in the block designs, and stage 2's church background. I like how it conveys a journey to heaven, but I felt like the themes were weaker than in Tethys. The title felt disconnected, making a pun off of Dopamine rather than a thematically resonant title. The clear screen was a disappointment, as it's not very special, especially in comparison to Tethys's haunting image. This is very much a personal opinion, but I felt this game didn't resonate with me as much artistically. However, it's still very fun needle, and I'd recommend it.
[0] Likes
Thematically, this game is about death, with a lot of religious iconography in the block designs, and stage 2's church background. I like how it conveys a journey to heaven, but I felt like the themes were weaker than in Tethys. The title felt disconnected, making a pun off of Dopamine rather than a thematically resonant title. The clear screen was a disappointment, as it's not very special, especially in comparison to Tethys's haunting image. This is very much a personal opinion, but I felt this game didn't resonate with me as much artistically. However, it's still very fun needle, and I'd recommend it.
Rating: 8.9 89
Difficulty: 49 49
Jul 17, 2022
Jopagu
For: I Wanna Uhuhu Spike 2
For: I Wanna Uhuhu Spike 2
The Uhuhu series is a classic, influential series of needle games. The visuals and music are bangers to this day, and few things top the upbeat atmosphere. It's hard to play needle for long without seeing the iconic Uhuhu visuals, making it a definitive piece of history.
Like all older needle games, the style is very unique, lacking the polish of modern games. Things like save placement and block formations weren't as codified, and in Uhuhu this creates saves that are maybe more awkward than cleaner needle, but make up for it in uniqueness. One save, the hardest in the game for me, features hollow lumps of minispikes, which is a very distinct needle formation that I liked seeing.
The save balance is awkward, and many saves are just hard due to named jumps that aren't very interesting. However, the game also does well creating tense saves, such as a save that requires jumping up a few times to get to the single jump of the save, or saves that use repeated easy jumps before a tricky named jump. Not everyone enjoys this kind of design, but I like what it adds, and it's not every save.
The game also has an iconic drop that's several screens long and has a cruel 16px. This is probably a controversial design choice, but I really like it, and it remains memorable due to this. Overall, the game is lacking a lot, and filled with awkward difficulty. But like many old needle games, it has some interesting things that you just don't see these days. I really do think this game is worth playing, if even just to see a piece of needle history.
[0] Likes
Like all older needle games, the style is very unique, lacking the polish of modern games. Things like save placement and block formations weren't as codified, and in Uhuhu this creates saves that are maybe more awkward than cleaner needle, but make up for it in uniqueness. One save, the hardest in the game for me, features hollow lumps of minispikes, which is a very distinct needle formation that I liked seeing.
The save balance is awkward, and many saves are just hard due to named jumps that aren't very interesting. However, the game also does well creating tense saves, such as a save that requires jumping up a few times to get to the single jump of the save, or saves that use repeated easy jumps before a tricky named jump. Not everyone enjoys this kind of design, but I like what it adds, and it's not every save.
The game also has an iconic drop that's several screens long and has a cruel 16px. This is probably a controversial design choice, but I really like it, and it remains memorable due to this. Overall, the game is lacking a lot, and filled with awkward difficulty. But like many old needle games, it has some interesting things that you just don't see these days. I really do think this game is worth playing, if even just to see a piece of needle history.
Rating: 7.2 72
Difficulty: 50 50
Jul 17, 2022
Jopagu
For: I Wanna be the AIW
For: I Wanna be the AIW
What a phenomenal game. PhgQED set out to imitate Tethys, and did so really well. AIW is the best kind of "x-like" game, where it uses much of the style from the original, but deviates in significant ways that create a unique feel. AIW is very much its own game, and it's very much a Phg game. One of the places this is most prominent is in the incorporation of apples. They're used as decorative elements, in one notable screen dividing the screen into regions, and they're also used to create interesting jumps, that make this game stand out from other pure needle. The inclusion of rarely seen elements like apple walks definitely contributes to the uniquity of this game. Other aspects feel like Phg needle, but they're more nebulous so I'll just let you see for yourself. One final note here, Phg composed the music for this game themself, which is an incredible achievement, and he displays mastery of composition by creating very Dopamine feeling music that contributes to the themes of the game, something that's super hard to do.
The game itself is really fun. I personally found that this is a more enjoyable game than Tethys, which contributes to its higher rating, even though I think there are other things Tethys did better. The needle is more distinct, and there are fewer annoying tight jumps. This connects to my interpretation of the themes, but it also just makes for a better flowing experience. There is some imbalance between saves, but it's frankly not very egregious, and nothing felt significantly different from its surroundings. The screens use a lot of different layouts and block/spike designs, creating diverse and memorable screens. The jumps also flow really well, and saves are good lengths. The game isn't afraid to have a longer save followed by a single jump save, and that works well for avoiding awkward saves.
That's it on the gameplay, but I want to spend some time analyzing the themes. According to the readme, AIW is a word referring to life force, and eternity. To me, this is immediately evocative of divinity. And given that it is a proto-Indo-European word, this is an ancient divinity. A God that's watched over this world as since the first amoeba emerged from the primordial sludge. A god to whom the life of a human is but a fleeting moment. The first stage approaches one way of reaching this god, through death and bloodshed. It's hidden behind the blocks and the spotlight, but the background here is a bloody scene, with swords impaled into vague gore. Death is the end of vitality, and the beginning of eternity. So it's no surprise it's used to evoke AIW, while giving a nod to the liminality that's so heavy in Tethys. There's a lot of cool stuff in this stage, but I want to mention one specific screen, that has you travelling between pillars of blocks. To me, this conjured images of trees. Specifically ancient trees, like great redwoods. These trees tower over mankind, and care not for our passing. Our blood spills on their roots and it matters not. In a lot of modern fantasy media, and classical mythology, trees have a place as divine beings, notably the World Tree Yggdrasil. The image I had of these massive tree very much felt like a meeting with the divine.
The second stage is another way to approach a god, through altered states of consciousness. Many cultures throughout history used these to commune with divinity, through drugs, starvation, lack of sleep, and more. The second stage's tileset uses rainbow spinning visuals to create a trippy drug-like feeling, like you're using an altered state of consciousness to commune with the eternal. The background is a barely there image, fading in and out of view. It creates the feeling like you're seeing God at the edge of your vision. It's a transcendent experience, but one that you can't fully see, and that can't be put into words. The game captures this feeling really well, and it was something special to play through.
As for the things Tethys does a bit better, the first is the mid screen. The one in AIW isn't very memorable, and just uses an apple jump that's not very unique. It's still a thematic experience, but the one in Tethys feels very special, and resonates much more. Secondly, the clear screen. AIW's clear screen is very good, but the visuals are a bit lacking. I love the music, and how there's a haunting melody that kicks in only if you linger on the clear screen, which I was motivated to do by how thought provoking the game was. However, Tethys uses a specific image, that's one of the single most memorable images I've seen in fangames. It's legitimately haunting, emotionally evocative, and thematically resonant. I don't think AIW does a bad job here, but the one in Tethys is just such an incredible thing, it's impossible to beat.
[2] Likes
The game itself is really fun. I personally found that this is a more enjoyable game than Tethys, which contributes to its higher rating, even though I think there are other things Tethys did better. The needle is more distinct, and there are fewer annoying tight jumps. This connects to my interpretation of the themes, but it also just makes for a better flowing experience. There is some imbalance between saves, but it's frankly not very egregious, and nothing felt significantly different from its surroundings. The screens use a lot of different layouts and block/spike designs, creating diverse and memorable screens. The jumps also flow really well, and saves are good lengths. The game isn't afraid to have a longer save followed by a single jump save, and that works well for avoiding awkward saves.
That's it on the gameplay, but I want to spend some time analyzing the themes. According to the readme, AIW is a word referring to life force, and eternity. To me, this is immediately evocative of divinity. And given that it is a proto-Indo-European word, this is an ancient divinity. A God that's watched over this world as since the first amoeba emerged from the primordial sludge. A god to whom the life of a human is but a fleeting moment. The first stage approaches one way of reaching this god, through death and bloodshed. It's hidden behind the blocks and the spotlight, but the background here is a bloody scene, with swords impaled into vague gore. Death is the end of vitality, and the beginning of eternity. So it's no surprise it's used to evoke AIW, while giving a nod to the liminality that's so heavy in Tethys. There's a lot of cool stuff in this stage, but I want to mention one specific screen, that has you travelling between pillars of blocks. To me, this conjured images of trees. Specifically ancient trees, like great redwoods. These trees tower over mankind, and care not for our passing. Our blood spills on their roots and it matters not. In a lot of modern fantasy media, and classical mythology, trees have a place as divine beings, notably the World Tree Yggdrasil. The image I had of these massive tree very much felt like a meeting with the divine.
The second stage is another way to approach a god, through altered states of consciousness. Many cultures throughout history used these to commune with divinity, through drugs, starvation, lack of sleep, and more. The second stage's tileset uses rainbow spinning visuals to create a trippy drug-like feeling, like you're using an altered state of consciousness to commune with the eternal. The background is a barely there image, fading in and out of view. It creates the feeling like you're seeing God at the edge of your vision. It's a transcendent experience, but one that you can't fully see, and that can't be put into words. The game captures this feeling really well, and it was something special to play through.
As for the things Tethys does a bit better, the first is the mid screen. The one in AIW isn't very memorable, and just uses an apple jump that's not very unique. It's still a thematic experience, but the one in Tethys feels very special, and resonates much more. Secondly, the clear screen. AIW's clear screen is very good, but the visuals are a bit lacking. I love the music, and how there's a haunting melody that kicks in only if you linger on the clear screen, which I was motivated to do by how thought provoking the game was. However, Tethys uses a specific image, that's one of the single most memorable images I've seen in fangames. It's legitimately haunting, emotionally evocative, and thematically resonant. I don't think AIW does a bad job here, but the one in Tethys is just such an incredible thing, it's impossible to beat.
Rating: 9.1 91
Difficulty: 56 56
Jul 15, 2022
Jopagu
For: ProMethium
For: ProMethium
Cool 3x2 maze, similar to the area ends in QoQoQo 300. The game is pretty focused on precision, and relatively short saves. There are a couple awkward jumps, like a forced 1/2f early on. However, the game uses vines and water well to create interesting pathing, and this kind of maze is always cool to see.
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 51 51
Jul 15, 2022
Jopagu
For: Untitled40
For: Untitled40
I love experimental needle, and with it's only up spike needle, Untitled40 certainly qualifies. The jumps are all interesting, and the spike limitation creates a great constraint on movement. The author has to do different things to enforce familiar maneuvers, and it's really cool to see. The jumps themselves are very heavy on bonk jumps, and on don't-bonk jumps. This makes it feel very unique to play, as most games use these jumps in limitation. Sometimes its a bit awkward, and lends itself to saves whos difficulty hinges on one jump. However, the uniquity of the game makes it much more memorable, and I think it should be played by anyone who seeks unique experiences.
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.6 76
Difficulty: 45 45
Jul 14, 2022
3 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I Wanna Free the Fortress | 59.0 | 8.3 | 10 |
| The "Needle" | 53.0 | 6.8 | 16 |
| I Wanna [Expunged] the [Expunged] | 19.3 | 8.9 | 7 |
70 Favorite Games
68 Cleared Games