Delicious Fruit
Download Game 32 Reviews:
Kale
Spike spam needle.
Archfoe is a pretty visually unappealing needlegame, not so much because of the sprites but more so because of the spike layouts. The game has three screens and they all look like someone closed their eyes and started randomly putting spikes and blocks around.
The level design mostly follows one simple device: take ordinary and commonly occuring jumps and squish them. You have the squished diamond save, the squished sideways gate save etc. And the saves are often just that, one or two ultra-precise jumps and nothing else.
For me there really isn't much to gather here. The design isn't your typical generic needle where the same jumps are just rearranged in different orders. These jumps are very prevalent here absolutely but at least there are a couple of interesting configurations. My problem is more with the extremely grindy nature of the game. Sure, it's something you can expect going into this type of needle but so many of these jumps are simply of the kind where you don't improve at them at all.
[3] Likes
Archfoe is a pretty visually unappealing needlegame, not so much because of the sprites but more so because of the spike layouts. The game has three screens and they all look like someone closed their eyes and started randomly putting spikes and blocks around.
The level design mostly follows one simple device: take ordinary and commonly occuring jumps and squish them. You have the squished diamond save, the squished sideways gate save etc. And the saves are often just that, one or two ultra-precise jumps and nothing else.
For me there really isn't much to gather here. The design isn't your typical generic needle where the same jumps are just rearranged in different orders. These jumps are very prevalent here absolutely but at least there are a couple of interesting configurations. My problem is more with the extremely grindy nature of the game. Sure, it's something you can expect going into this type of needle but so many of these jumps are simply of the kind where you don't improve at them at all.
Rating: 4.0
Difficulty: 70
Oct 25, 2015
silverpaladin315
Like the Uhuhu Spike games, but much harder and less production value.
[2] Likes
Rating: 7.5
Difficulty: 75
Dec 15, 2015
thebmxbandit11
short hard saves with interesting jumps and design. I enjoyed pretty much every save, but some were a little grindy.
[2] Likes
Rating: 8.5
Difficulty: 70
Feb 9, 2015
xva
very visually unappealing and hard
Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: 4.4
Difficulty: 73
Jul 26, 2023
Kilgour22
Three screens of precise needle with plenty of saves. There are some pretty interesting squished jumps, if that's your thing. For what it is, I think it's well-executed.
[1] Like
Rating: 6.0
Difficulty: 63
Apr 11, 2023
Nearigami
Enjoyable overall if you like short precise saves. Can serve as a good introduction to this facet of needle.
[1] Like
Rating: 6.5
Difficulty: 70
Sep 19, 2019
Xplayerlol
Fun needle game consisting of short saves with very precise, inventive jumps. I don't recall any save that felt too difficult (Except maybe for the very last one) or too easy when compared to the other ones, which is something I always appreciate in needle. Similarly, I don't recall any poor design choices such as focusing the entire difficulty of the save on a single jump. Visuals are pretty nice, though I remember the music choice being a little questionable. Still, it's a pretty fun needle, much more so than you might expect upon first glance. Would recommend.
Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: 7.0
Difficulty: 76
Feb 9, 2015
phgQED
Archfoe is one of the first needle games I ever downloaded (because of the cool name). As such, I've not really had a contiguous experience with it—there have been many stops and starts, poking my head in at various points on my needle journey to see if I was ready to give it a proper go.
The three words I would use to describe Archfoe are 'chaotic', 'pointed', and 'boisterous'. While some of the difficulty and jump concepts approach a more traditional L-needle level of challenge, the shape of the map and the implementation of various spike patterns and strange shapes make a given playthru feel less oppressive but still generally a bit treacherous. The game is unapologetic about jumps which benefit from cancels, and you'll also see apples, minispikes, and platforms situated in such a way to obstruct your jump trajectory, rather than aid it. 'Prickly' is another word that comes to mind, but that's a generic synonym for needle at this point. I would think of a longer, slender needle with some barbs and random curled points along it, perhaps.
I think I remember seeing archfoe described as 'Uhuhu but harder and with less production value', and while I can certainly see a bit of merit to that comparison, it doesn't hold up for me due to a lack of playfulness in the former. Uhuhu is all about showing off new ideas and weird shapes, while Archfoe felt a lot more like "I have designed this to punish you". The tileset is indeed grim, and though the song is nice, it can't compete with a giant anime medley for potential banger-ish-ness.
Altogether I think the shortness of this game and the unique/peculiar nature of some of its jumps make it worth a look, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone not interested in the raw fringes of needle subgenres and some painful jumps in general.
The three words I would use to describe Archfoe are 'chaotic', 'pointed', and 'boisterous'. While some of the difficulty and jump concepts approach a more traditional L-needle level of challenge, the shape of the map and the implementation of various spike patterns and strange shapes make a given playthru feel less oppressive but still generally a bit treacherous. The game is unapologetic about jumps which benefit from cancels, and you'll also see apples, minispikes, and platforms situated in such a way to obstruct your jump trajectory, rather than aid it. 'Prickly' is another word that comes to mind, but that's a generic synonym for needle at this point. I would think of a longer, slender needle with some barbs and random curled points along it, perhaps.
I think I remember seeing archfoe described as 'Uhuhu but harder and with less production value', and while I can certainly see a bit of merit to that comparison, it doesn't hold up for me due to a lack of playfulness in the former. Uhuhu is all about showing off new ideas and weird shapes, while Archfoe felt a lot more like "I have designed this to punish you". The tileset is indeed grim, and though the song is nice, it can't compete with a giant anime medley for potential banger-ish-ness.
Altogether I think the shortness of this game and the unique/peculiar nature of some of its jumps make it worth a look, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone not interested in the raw fringes of needle subgenres and some painful jumps in general.
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.0
Difficulty: 62
Oct 12, 2022
Mrzwanzig
Short game, lots of saves, lots of squished jumps. Honestly, for what it is, it's pretty good. Most of the saves felt more reasonable and well-balanced than I expected from this type of game, so if you aren't immediately turned off by this kind of needle, it may be worth a look. The final save though starts with a "hope you can 1-frame or this is gonna be absolute garbage" kind of jump, which put quite a damper on the experience for me.
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.0
Difficulty: 73
Dec 12, 2018