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:
236 Ratings!
157 Reviews!
9 Screenshots!
236 Games
157 Reviews
Cthaere
For: I wanna YS 5
For: I wanna YS 5
A few screens of vanilla needle with a few cherries mixed inbetween, each one with its own tileset, which are easy and mostly inoffensive (except for the black and neon pink one) followed by choice between needle and avoidance. I chose the avoidance, which is a mix between non-precise memorization based pattern (which does not rely on instagibs) and a stream of rng mapped to a nice song. Overall nearly everything was decent but nothing stood out. I wouldn't go out of my way to play this but it's definitely not a bad streaks roll.
[0] Likes
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: 40 40
Jan 25, 2021
Cthaere
For: I wanna be the Persephone
For: I wanna be the Persephone
Hades like with a surprising amount of original jumps and vertical gameplay, making for an innovative game within the niche genre. Unfortunately the first screen has a few saves that do not flow very well (4 and 6 are the main ones, and potentially 7 but I fluked. 2 is grindy and annoying but it shouldn't be the reason to drop this) but afterwards the game smooths out. If you're looking for the hyperprecise generic jump spam guilty pleasure of hades games there are better games for it, but this is just as precise, nearly as satisfying, and also far more interesting. Recommended to anyone who's not afraid of precision and wants to try something new.
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 77 77
Jan 24, 2021
Cthaere
For: Hydrohomies
For: Hydrohomies
Hydrohomies is a 6 person collab between some of the biggest names in western needle design, featuring about half a dozen screens per stage for the most part that focus on gimmicks and include a heavy dose of catharsis water - intentional wording here, catharsis water is used as merely an aid in most of the stages rather than constituting the focus - but ultimately vary depending on the stage. As a collab, this failed my personal test, which is to be more than the sum of its parts: Only two stages really stand out in their design: One that is likely going to be controversial (and is also the hardest), and one that did not pull it off well.
Stages are covered in the order I did them, which is also the difficulty ascending order by in-game metric.
Wolfie: Felt like more vandal. While always welcome, I feel like a big reason Vandal worked so well was pacing, as the game was allowed to develop, experiment and mature before settling down for the unique style displayed, and that pacing is sorely missing here. Still, Wolfie does what he does best, and when working in his element he produces great, consistent needle, even if at times I wish he tried to push a bit more out of his comfort zone. 8.5/10.
GWiz: One of the two that stand out. First half is pretty eh, although I did get a good chuckle at the gravity arrows . Second half has extremely clever pathing with a very interesting gimmick, but the execution falters: There's too much idle waiting in place inside water columns until you get to your destination, there's very little jumping (the one central mechanic of fangames) involved at all due to the gimmick without significant weaving/stuttering to compensate, and the final screen was really confusing because the final jump seemed unreasonable to the point I started to question if the exit really was where the level design pointed at. It also felt like it was abruptly cut, just when the gimmick started to feel natural and level design got pretty interesting, which makes me question the existence of the first half even more. Still, it did something interesting, and the issues, while not minor, weren't stage-ruining for me either, and I had some fun with it. 6/10.
Zurai: Where do I begin. Triggers that can and will kill you if you don't know what they do and have 0 indication (which is a recurring theme in the other stages except Wolfie's, but is extremely noticeable here) and are also broken, 95% of jump heights being 2f, 5f or (usually mandatory) fulljump, interesting ideas implemented in bad or boring ways, and needless backtracking that changed very little about the path. I'm also relatively sure you can softlock here. Frankly, I don't know how this passed testing. Music and visuals were great, and it's short, easy, and not actively unfun, but it certainly did make me think "I wish I was playing something else right now". 5.5/10.
Jestreloon: This was my first encounter with Loon's needle, and despite usually disliking many of the elements used in their style individually, they formed together to a pretty fun style. Definitely got me interested in playing more. Good stage in a style that isn't as distinct as I'd hope from a collab but still was its own thing. Also probably the most vanilla stage in terms of gimmicks, which was also a nice breath of fresh air. 7.5/10
Geo: Finally, best stage. Felt like it was ripped straight out of Dew. It was unique, it had my fingers breakdancing on the arrow keys in the same way I loved certain other gimmicks in Dew, and it was just the right amount of "out there". Might be controversial but personally it was amazing. Also it actually did something interesting with the water as opposed to the vast majority of other stages. My biggest gripe is that it felt like it would work best as part of a whole rather than a standalone stage, and the collab was not the right "whole" for it. 9.3/10.
Stonk: I can't really put my thoughts into writing on this one, but it was good. It felt kinda like Wolfie's stage, but also very much not like Wolfie's stage. I loved the hub idea, and the second save as well as the second to last one. Otherwise, it was good but not amazing, suffering from the gwiz stage problem at times of having long stretches without jumping, sometimes exacerbated by having to hold the jump button for vine purposes too. 7.8/10.
Overall good, but considering the names behind this (and the reviews posted before mine, with the game having a 9.8(!!!) at the time I downloaded it) I expected way more. I can't give this a blanket recommendation, but I still strongly recommend checking out Geo/Wolfie and suggest you do Stonk/Loon while you're at it.
[6] Likes
Stages are covered in the order I did them, which is also the difficulty ascending order by in-game metric.
Wolfie: Felt like more vandal. While always welcome, I feel like a big reason Vandal worked so well was pacing, as the game was allowed to develop, experiment and mature before settling down for the unique style displayed, and that pacing is sorely missing here. Still, Wolfie does what he does best, and when working in his element he produces great, consistent needle, even if at times I wish he tried to push a bit more out of his comfort zone. 8.5/10.
GWiz: One of the two that stand out. First half is pretty eh, although I did get a good chuckle at the gravity arrows . Second half has extremely clever pathing with a very interesting gimmick, but the execution falters: There's too much idle waiting in place inside water columns until you get to your destination, there's very little jumping (the one central mechanic of fangames) involved at all due to the gimmick without significant weaving/stuttering to compensate, and the final screen was really confusing because the final jump seemed unreasonable to the point I started to question if the exit really was where the level design pointed at. It also felt like it was abruptly cut, just when the gimmick started to feel natural and level design got pretty interesting, which makes me question the existence of the first half even more. Still, it did something interesting, and the issues, while not minor, weren't stage-ruining for me either, and I had some fun with it. 6/10.
Zurai: Where do I begin. Triggers that can and will kill you if you don't know what they do and have 0 indication (which is a recurring theme in the other stages except Wolfie's, but is extremely noticeable here) and are also broken, 95% of jump heights being 2f, 5f or (usually mandatory) fulljump, interesting ideas implemented in bad or boring ways, and needless backtracking that changed very little about the path. I'm also relatively sure you can softlock here. Frankly, I don't know how this passed testing. Music and visuals were great, and it's short, easy, and not actively unfun, but it certainly did make me think "I wish I was playing something else right now". 5.5/10.
Jestreloon: This was my first encounter with Loon's needle, and despite usually disliking many of the elements used in their style individually, they formed together to a pretty fun style. Definitely got me interested in playing more. Good stage in a style that isn't as distinct as I'd hope from a collab but still was its own thing. Also probably the most vanilla stage in terms of gimmicks, which was also a nice breath of fresh air. 7.5/10
Geo: Finally, best stage. Felt like it was ripped straight out of Dew. It was unique, it had my fingers breakdancing on the arrow keys in the same way I loved certain other gimmicks in Dew, and it was just the right amount of "out there". Might be controversial but personally it was amazing. Also it actually did something interesting with the water as opposed to the vast majority of other stages. My biggest gripe is that it felt like it would work best as part of a whole rather than a standalone stage, and the collab was not the right "whole" for it. 9.3/10.
Stonk: I can't really put my thoughts into writing on this one, but it was good. It felt kinda like Wolfie's stage, but also very much not like Wolfie's stage. I loved the hub idea, and the second save as well as the second to last one. Otherwise, it was good but not amazing, suffering from the gwiz stage problem at times of having long stretches without jumping, sometimes exacerbated by having to hold the jump button for vine purposes too. 7.8/10.
Overall good, but considering the names behind this (and the reviews posted before mine, with the game having a 9.8(!!!) at the time I downloaded it) I expected way more. I can't give this a blanket recommendation, but I still strongly recommend checking out Geo/Wolfie and suggest you do Stonk/Loon while you're at it.
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 72 72
Jan 18, 2021
Cthaere
For: I Wanna Play with Mrs. Witch
For: I Wanna Play with Mrs. Witch
A cute Halloween themed collab, with 6 distinct stages of mostly needle and a final boss. Unfortunately the Halloween theme is entirely superficial, with standard needle featuring themed tilesets and sometimes appropriate music, and is not even properly capitalized on in the trap stage, which I feel was a big missed opportunity. Even without considering the theme, the collab stands on its own fairly well and provides a solid mix of needle and a bit of something else.
Rong: A big interconnected maze where your goal is to find 5 separate collectibles. While you have access to all of them at the start, two of them will make access to the other 3 impossible, and so you have to find them in the correct order. Level design accommodates the final two collectables shenanigans and gives the feeling of exploring old areas anew. While needle is a bit simplistic, it is not the focus and it does not get in the way, and lets the exploration side shine. If I had to pick a favorite, this would be a strong contender.
Taoshu: Very cramped needle, with 1 save with 4-5 somewhat precise/awkward jumps per screen. Has some vstring setup in one of the screens that you'll have to figure out. Interesting, and still decently fun, but probably also my least favorite stage.
Jushi: A mishmash stage, with both needle that has you do a loop through a 2x2 room ending with a very interesting trivia question, a few rooms ending with triggers each, and a special gimmick at the end I'd rather not spoil. The needle is generic, but is overall fun aside from a couple of saves that stand out as bad. I'd say this is the most interesting stage.
Qinchui: A trap stage which manages to elevate your run of the mill moving spikes/fake blocks/invisible blocks traps into a fun battle of wits, accomplishing it by combining both generic applications and very unexpected ones in the level design. Final screen has a punishment room which is really annoying since one of the entrances to it is incredibly cheap. Aside from that, this was a good deal of fun and a nice break from needle.
Zeroyume: An easy needle stage in a more modern style. The needle is good and the atmosphere is comfy, taking a break from the usual Halloween theming. Not much more to say. Straightforward good and fun.
Wujian: Pathing needle focused around water and conservation of the player's double jump. The stage manages to remain fun in execution while juggling the pathing requirements, and on top of that manages to make the needle seem far scarier than it actually is, which was nice. My favorite stage in terms of needle.
Final boss: I had a few issues with it, admittedly. First, it can randomly teleport, which drastically changes how frequently you can shoot at it as well as how dangerous it is. Second, it has revenge bullets, which make the first point way more pronounced. The funniest aspect is that those points also lead me to the third problem: The boss can choose to become entire free, as the point of origin of the revenge bullets is the center of the sprite, but the hitbox of the boss is pretty big, meaning there are certain positions where you can continuously shoot the boss on ground level without ever being in danger by the revenge bullets. This not only trivializes the bossfight but (at least for me) encouraged an extremely reckless playstyle hoping to get it low, have it teleport to the good position, then finish it off. The boss itself is extremely balanced and very fun when played slowly, but becomes a bit of a meatgrind when trying to rush it. The boss also has an avoidance phase after you bring it down, which thankfully has good indicators for instagibs and is overall great fun despite being nervewracking until the very last attack, which amps things up to 11 and feels like it might be rng dependent due to several factors such as projectile speed, arena layout and attack pattern. Still, I had quite a bit of fun with it, but those points definitely hampered my mood a bit.
Overall this is a solid collab with content ranging from "good" to "great", with nothing spectacularly good or beyond mildly bad, which works very well as a collab, even if not a Halloween one.
[0] Likes
Rong: A big interconnected maze where your goal is to find 5 separate collectibles. While you have access to all of them at the start, two of them will make access to the other 3 impossible, and so you have to find them in the correct order. Level design accommodates the final two collectables shenanigans and gives the feeling of exploring old areas anew. While needle is a bit simplistic, it is not the focus and it does not get in the way, and lets the exploration side shine. If I had to pick a favorite, this would be a strong contender.
Taoshu: Very cramped needle, with 1 save with 4-5 somewhat precise/awkward jumps per screen. Has some vstring setup in one of the screens that you'll have to figure out. Interesting, and still decently fun, but probably also my least favorite stage.
Jushi: A mishmash stage, with both needle that has you do a loop through a 2x2 room ending with a very interesting trivia question, a few rooms ending with triggers each, and a special gimmick at the end I'd rather not spoil. The needle is generic, but is overall fun aside from a couple of saves that stand out as bad. I'd say this is the most interesting stage.
Qinchui: A trap stage which manages to elevate your run of the mill moving spikes/fake blocks/invisible blocks traps into a fun battle of wits, accomplishing it by combining both generic applications and very unexpected ones in the level design. Final screen has a punishment room which is really annoying since one of the entrances to it is incredibly cheap. Aside from that, this was a good deal of fun and a nice break from needle.
Zeroyume: An easy needle stage in a more modern style. The needle is good and the atmosphere is comfy, taking a break from the usual Halloween theming. Not much more to say. Straightforward good and fun.
Wujian: Pathing needle focused around water and conservation of the player's double jump. The stage manages to remain fun in execution while juggling the pathing requirements, and on top of that manages to make the needle seem far scarier than it actually is, which was nice. My favorite stage in terms of needle.
Final boss: I had a few issues with it, admittedly. First, it can randomly teleport, which drastically changes how frequently you can shoot at it as well as how dangerous it is. Second, it has revenge bullets, which make the first point way more pronounced. The funniest aspect is that those points also lead me to the third problem: The boss can choose to become entire free, as the point of origin of the revenge bullets is the center of the sprite, but the hitbox of the boss is pretty big, meaning there are certain positions where you can continuously shoot the boss on ground level without ever being in danger by the revenge bullets. This not only trivializes the bossfight but (at least for me) encouraged an extremely reckless playstyle hoping to get it low, have it teleport to the good position, then finish it off. The boss itself is extremely balanced and very fun when played slowly, but becomes a bit of a meatgrind when trying to rush it. The boss also has an avoidance phase after you bring it down, which thankfully has good indicators for instagibs and is overall great fun despite being nervewracking until the very last attack, which amps things up to 11 and feels like it might be rng dependent due to several factors such as projectile speed, arena layout and attack pattern. Still, I had quite a bit of fun with it, but those points definitely hampered my mood a bit.
Overall this is a solid collab with content ranging from "good" to "great", with nothing spectacularly good or beyond mildly bad, which works very well as a collab, even if not a Halloween one.
Rating: 8.2 82
Difficulty: 60 60
Jan 10, 2021
Cthaere
For: I Wanna Enjoy My Dreams
For: I Wanna Enjoy My Dreams
Enjoy My Dreams is a 10 screen needle game of average difficulty. Difficulty progression is pretty weird, starting at the easiest and ending at the hardest, but devolving into complete chaos in the middle. The needle style in theory focuses on weaves and turnarounds in a freeform environment, but in practice it is overshadowed by overuse of fulljumps, which also mean that it takes a while to move between jumps and so interrupt the weaving flow, as well as short save length which also interrupts the general screen progression flow. Above all, though, the game feels incohesive. The 10 screens are divided into 5 groups of 2 with a unique song and tileset each, with some featuring significant changes to gameplay, and due to the low-ish difficulty of most of them they go by fairly quickly resulting in the game having no cohesive identity. Despite everything I've said, there is some fun to be had here, although not as much as I would expect to see in a year or two from this maker. Not bad for a first fangame, and I wouldn't recommend against playing it, but there are improvements to be made both on the needle and the general gamemaking side of things before it can truly shine.
Tagged as: Needle
[5] Likes
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: 50 50
Jan 9, 2021
2 Games
| Game | Difficulty | Average Rating | # of Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| I wanna Musiclock | 74.7 | 9.4 | 18 |
| I wanna Xanadu | 59.4 | 8.2 | 6 |
32 Favorite Games
143 Cleared Games