Delicious FruitCrimson Needle 3
Creators: Kale, PlasmaNapkin, Zero-G
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Speedrun Leaderboards Tags:
Adventure (2) Needle (27) Trap (3) Gimmick (20) Medley (1) Long (8) Trigger (1) x_Floor (4) Secret (1) 100F (1) floor (1) NeedleGimmick (1) Art (1) God (1) 100_Floors (1) SourPls (1) domu_game (2) domu_2_game (1) SPM (1) TheBoys (2) Perfect (1) CNTeleportation (2) Stumble-Like (1) Flow (1) Nasrano-like (1) cn3-like (1) Origin (1) Master (1)Screenshots
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by Welowas
Creator's Comments:
ActualKale [Creator]
Heyo! At the request of NO ONE I decided to commentate this game.
What follows are links to a series of videos featuring me "playing"/skipping through the entirety of CN3 and commentating on the game as I go. It's around 9 hours of footage and was recorded over the course of around 2 years. Because the videos were often shot far apart there will be noticeable differences in the audio quality, in how my voice sounds, in my enthusiasm, in how comfortable I am talking etc. It also means that I might be repeating stuff I've said in previous videos but I think that's generally a good thing in order to hammer certain points home.
I did try to record with a script but it didn't work very well so instead I went with just talking off-the-cuff. Given that theses are also unedited videos this means that I will have moments of brain lag or losing my train of thought or digressing or saying "umm" a lot. Speaking to yourself in front of a camera for long uninterrupted periods of time requires a lot of practice to do well and I'm already self-conscious about it so please don't be mean :)
As stated, these videos collectively go through every single part of CN3. I don't necessarily know what other people would find interesting to hear so naturally I just talked about stuff I personally find interesting. If there's something you're interested in about the game that is not covered then just ask me privately, I'll gladly take any chance I can get to talk about the game.
Below are the links to the videos along with brief descriptions of some of the things i go over. These descriptions DO NOT cover most of the topics that are brought up and I genuinely think every video has at least some points that are interesting so if you care give it a shot...
Start to 31:
https://youtu.be/bTfBoXZ8cHM
In this video I talk for an excruciatingly long time about the title screen and about some overarching goals with CN3 and how they differ from CN2. Don't worry, I get better at not being long-winded as I go... Once that's finally done I start getting into the ideas behind the cornfield and the first 30 floors of the game.
Golden Maze and Bounce blocks (M and A):
https://youtu.be/vHYouO6Dz6c
Talk a bit about the floor 31 hub. Get into the golden maze area and the UNORTHODOX design philosophy that informed the making of that. In the bounce block stage I talk about, among other things, why working on it was so inspirational and how Denferok almost KILLED the development of the game.
Variety stage (X):
https://youtu.be/83Uzw83j-JM
I start the video a little FRUSTRATED because I had to re-record. I then go to a stage which I struggle to find a name for - the one with Plasma visuals - and because it's the first thing I made for the game I talk about how CN3 started and how it grew over time. I address the DRAMA about CN3 not being a real Crimson Needle game.
Bathhouse (I):
https://youtu.be/Jzy4-bRxS8w
I go to the Bathhouse and pass by several sections of the game I'm passionate about. I bring up what I find to be UNDERAPPRECIATED aspects of the game. I also touch on the immense satisfaction of making this stage and what I find to be really special about the secret. Also a little bit about finding inspiration in unexpected places.
Blue Puzzle Area (N)
https://youtu.be/2i2u4PIoka4
I BASH pretty hard on the area of the game I like the least.
The Bad House (A):
https://youtu.be/TA2SA4UgRGE
Before going to the Bad House and EXPLAINING WHAT IT ALL MEANS I talk a little bit about something that DISAPPOINTS me about the current state of needle and also about why Charr is a MASTERPIECE. I visit my FAVORITE room in the game.
Triple jump stage (T):
https://youtu.be/eY2DVdHON14
A video apparently recorded out of SPITE?? How some people might have MISUNDERSTOOD the game. How the music was picked, tips for finding music. I talk about finding a new inspiring approach to game design and problem-solving. I also sing the game's PRAISES a bit, talk quite a lot about design philosophy and try to explain why I find that aspects of CN3 still haven't been surpassed even as parts of the game have aged.
Blue Tower (O):
https://youtu.be/a3js0LBNYSQ
A short video for a short stage. I mention an event during development that BROUGHT ME TO TEARS.
Halls of Brilliance (R):
https://youtu.be/T-_FllUFzRU
In this one I go through the halls of brilliance talking about EVERY SINGLE GAME I'VE MADE (minus one). I also talk about how needle ideas can seep into my mind and POISON my experiences.
Capitalism stage (2):
https://youtu.be/PzLQqIc8p0o
I give a pretty interesting rundown of how the ideas for certain GIMMICKS have come about. I also bring up the TIRED gimmick vs. "pure" needle argument. I explain why the Capitalism stage was a NIGHTMARE to complete and why the quality there DIPS around the halfway mark.
Wonderful and Green tower (3 and 5):
https://youtu.be/qh3ZsRz9hXI
I address some of the backlash against Wonderful's stage and go over why I like it and why I like her design in general. I then head over to the green tower stage where I spend most of the time talking about one of the BEST game's I've made: Thank Thenewgeezer and what I find so special about it (and so lacking about the majority of needle games).
Boshy stage:
https://youtu.be/rVKXPFmLhmE
I talk about BOSHY! Give an account of how I got into Boshy and speedrunning and how that developed which gradually evolves into a kind of disjointed rambling. But there are probably some interesting parts in there..
Floor 70-100:
https://youtu.be/qzYdul5GDJA
Lots to cover in this final video. I go through the last bits of the game and remark how I feel about some of the rooms there. I go on a long rant about the INSANE last 2 weeks before release where a MAJOR CHUNK of the game was made. Why 92 had to be the way it is and why floor 100 was such a success.
[25] Likes
What follows are links to a series of videos featuring me "playing"/skipping through the entirety of CN3 and commentating on the game as I go. It's around 9 hours of footage and was recorded over the course of around 2 years. Because the videos were often shot far apart there will be noticeable differences in the audio quality, in how my voice sounds, in my enthusiasm, in how comfortable I am talking etc. It also means that I might be repeating stuff I've said in previous videos but I think that's generally a good thing in order to hammer certain points home.
I did try to record with a script but it didn't work very well so instead I went with just talking off-the-cuff. Given that theses are also unedited videos this means that I will have moments of brain lag or losing my train of thought or digressing or saying "umm" a lot. Speaking to yourself in front of a camera for long uninterrupted periods of time requires a lot of practice to do well and I'm already self-conscious about it so please don't be mean :)
As stated, these videos collectively go through every single part of CN3. I don't necessarily know what other people would find interesting to hear so naturally I just talked about stuff I personally find interesting. If there's something you're interested in about the game that is not covered then just ask me privately, I'll gladly take any chance I can get to talk about the game.
Below are the links to the videos along with brief descriptions of some of the things i go over. These descriptions DO NOT cover most of the topics that are brought up and I genuinely think every video has at least some points that are interesting so if you care give it a shot...
Start to 31:
https://youtu.be/bTfBoXZ8cHM
In this video I talk for an excruciatingly long time about the title screen and about some overarching goals with CN3 and how they differ from CN2. Don't worry, I get better at not being long-winded as I go... Once that's finally done I start getting into the ideas behind the cornfield and the first 30 floors of the game.
Golden Maze and Bounce blocks (M and A):
https://youtu.be/vHYouO6Dz6c
Talk a bit about the floor 31 hub. Get into the golden maze area and the UNORTHODOX design philosophy that informed the making of that. In the bounce block stage I talk about, among other things, why working on it was so inspirational and how Denferok almost KILLED the development of the game.
Variety stage (X):
https://youtu.be/83Uzw83j-JM
I start the video a little FRUSTRATED because I had to re-record. I then go to a stage which I struggle to find a name for - the one with Plasma visuals - and because it's the first thing I made for the game I talk about how CN3 started and how it grew over time. I address the DRAMA about CN3 not being a real Crimson Needle game.
Bathhouse (I):
https://youtu.be/Jzy4-bRxS8w
I go to the Bathhouse and pass by several sections of the game I'm passionate about. I bring up what I find to be UNDERAPPRECIATED aspects of the game. I also touch on the immense satisfaction of making this stage and what I find to be really special about the secret. Also a little bit about finding inspiration in unexpected places.
Blue Puzzle Area (N)
https://youtu.be/2i2u4PIoka4
I BASH pretty hard on the area of the game I like the least.
The Bad House (A):
https://youtu.be/TA2SA4UgRGE
Before going to the Bad House and EXPLAINING WHAT IT ALL MEANS I talk a little bit about something that DISAPPOINTS me about the current state of needle and also about why Charr is a MASTERPIECE. I visit my FAVORITE room in the game.
Triple jump stage (T):
https://youtu.be/eY2DVdHON14
A video apparently recorded out of SPITE?? How some people might have MISUNDERSTOOD the game. How the music was picked, tips for finding music. I talk about finding a new inspiring approach to game design and problem-solving. I also sing the game's PRAISES a bit, talk quite a lot about design philosophy and try to explain why I find that aspects of CN3 still haven't been surpassed even as parts of the game have aged.
Blue Tower (O):
https://youtu.be/a3js0LBNYSQ
A short video for a short stage. I mention an event during development that BROUGHT ME TO TEARS.
Halls of Brilliance (R):
https://youtu.be/T-_FllUFzRU
In this one I go through the halls of brilliance talking about EVERY SINGLE GAME I'VE MADE (minus one). I also talk about how needle ideas can seep into my mind and POISON my experiences.
Capitalism stage (2):
https://youtu.be/PzLQqIc8p0o
I give a pretty interesting rundown of how the ideas for certain GIMMICKS have come about. I also bring up the TIRED gimmick vs. "pure" needle argument. I explain why the Capitalism stage was a NIGHTMARE to complete and why the quality there DIPS around the halfway mark.
Wonderful and Green tower (3 and 5):
https://youtu.be/qh3ZsRz9hXI
I address some of the backlash against Wonderful's stage and go over why I like it and why I like her design in general. I then head over to the green tower stage where I spend most of the time talking about one of the BEST game's I've made: Thank Thenewgeezer and what I find so special about it (and so lacking about the majority of needle games).
Boshy stage:
https://youtu.be/rVKXPFmLhmE
I talk about BOSHY! Give an account of how I got into Boshy and speedrunning and how that developed which gradually evolves into a kind of disjointed rambling. But there are probably some interesting parts in there..
Floor 70-100:
https://youtu.be/qzYdul5GDJA
Lots to cover in this final video. I go through the last bits of the game and remark how I feel about some of the rooms there. I go on a long rant about the INSANE last 2 weeks before release where a MAJOR CHUNK of the game was made. Why 92 had to be the way it is and why floor 100 was such a success.
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jan 18, 2022
101 Reviews:
joseph567
I have to say playing this game is one of the most suffering and painful experience in my lifetime. A pure torture.
However 9.5 for creators' love and passion for the fangame. I love needle with gimmick so I fully understand how much will be paid to make such a game. The gameplay was suffering but experimental needle game needs more love too. Thanks.
[5] Likes
However 9.5 for creators' love and passion for the fangame. I love needle with gimmick so I fully understand how much will be paid to make such a game. The gameplay was suffering but experimental needle game needs more love too. Thanks.
Rating: 9.5 95
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 15, 2019
Nick24
Rating based on any%, difficulty based on 100%.
About time I wrote a normal review for CN3
The sequel to legendary crimson needle series most of the community was waiting for was released on June 7th 2019. Below is my review on the content.
Floors 1-30
This is pretty much what almost everybody was expecting from this game. It's your usual 100 floor style needle. Nothing unusual, pretty much anybody with decent needle skills will make it through these floors. Nothing's too hard here. Also I want to notice that sometimes you can press up while standing in saves to read author's name for the floor/comment.
Floor 31 (no secrets)
This floor pretty much represents the entirety of Crimson Needle 3 and it is what some people of the community didn't like. Basically, this is metroidvania-adventure floor with a bunch of gimmicks in it. As for me, I like most of floor 31, however there are 2 stages which were quite a difficulty curve for me: yellow stage and the dotkid one. After doing all of 12 areas (Yellow, "the bad house" , elevator blocks, "the bath house" ,"minesweeper", green block area, dotkid, the tower, medley, "life under capitalism", "wonderful" area and elevators), the orange portal will be open at the hub. Inside the portal there is your classic boshy refence stage and it's the final thing of floor 31.
Floors 70-90
What? Did you think after 31 goes 32? Can't you count? Obviously after 31 goes 70! Well, the length of previous floor might have been the hint that something like this would happen. Anyways, we are back on our 100F game, however now floors use gimmicks from floor 31. The only thing I didn't like is that some floors took a while (floors 73, 74, 85, 90). Also you might have read what save on floor 90 says aka "The Finale", but is this really it? Let's find out!
The stage rush / Intermission / four devas / crimson boss but it's platforming thing / any% finale / etc.
Well, guess floor 90 lied ._. After beating F90 you teleport to a room with 5 paths in it: red / blue / green / yellow demon area and the exit. Stages themselves were pretty easy and enjoyable, however with one obvious exception. Yep, I'm talking about blue demon area which is FAR more harder than other 3. After beating them all you need to go through small symmetrical tower needle and that's it! There should be a portal on the right. After you jump in it you get any% clear (basically you can already put a clear mark on this site FeelsGoodMan). But what if you were really bored and had nothing to do? Well, there is a bit more to the game...
EXTRA: Floor 31 (secret hunting)
Inb4 you could collect secrets while beating floor 31 at the same time, making secret hunt unneeded, however I didn't do that, so here we go! First of all, big thanks to authors for putting secrets near teleporters. However some secrets were really hard to find. The only thing that obviously stand out is triple diamond spam secret. Other secrets were great, especially gravity flipping 16px platforming one (the one I like the most).
EXTRA: Floors 91-99
After collecting all the secrets you can go back to that tower area and find that there is a passage open up there (and all area is filled with water, making you realize you missed an obvious skip, but whatever). Floor 91 is nothing special, except the fact that it's a line needle. However, the next one is a true meme. You know, that number, "92". In crimson needle series it's an obvious meme and oh boy this meme was pushed to it's limits here. Not gonna spoil much but the only thing I want to say is that "THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN" alright! After that comes floor 93 and it's a tower level, with some annoying hard jumps thrown in the middle, however I liked this floor, because "OMG IT'S A TOWER LEVEL! SO KEWL!". Floors 94 and 95 are free. Floor 96 takes some time, especially that ridiculous jump before the last one. Floor 97 is, once again, another free floor. And than the world of my skillet came to knew a bit of despair... Yeah, it's that legendary floor 98 with platform jumps. Oh god that took so long (4-5 hours on a single floor? Really?). After finally defeating that ordeal, only floor 99 is left before we go into triple digits, yay! Talking about floor, I liked this one. Once I understood how all traps worked, I was amazed how free it felt. I mean, I still spent 2 hours, but that because last "in the water" trigger killed me like 5 times. Also nice meme portal!
EXTRA: Floor 100 "The end of it all"
After 10 hours or so, this floor was finally beaten. Here's my review for each screen.
Red screen: pretty much free needle screen, but well, this floor's long so it's ok.
Orange screen: Has a spike-grazing segment. Last jump is hard.
Green screen: really cool gimmick screen. Took some time to learn, but after that it's mostly manageable to do.
Blue screen: this one really sucked. As always, for some reason, blue things are worst stuff possible in this game. 2 platform jumps and a grazing segment when you completed quite a huge amount of jumps from screens before this one and some more choke jumps after? Oh god no... The fact that it took like 20 attempts to clear is already something. Could definitely use some nerfs for this one.
Purple screen: more of a choke screen to be honest. Has some really nasty moments but it's pretty short and at least easier than blue screen.
And that's it! After 69 hours and 47 minutes in total I finally 100% this game. In summary, this is a great game that anyone who's good enough with needle and gimmick should play or at least give it a try.
The best needle game.
Rebeat this after a while and pretty much only floor 100 still remains somewhat troublesome, unfortunately. Purple screen IS hard now.
[4] Likes
About time I wrote a normal review for CN3
The sequel to legendary crimson needle series most of the community was waiting for was released on June 7th 2019. Below is my review on the content.
Floors 1-30
This is pretty much what almost everybody was expecting from this game. It's your usual 100 floor style needle. Nothing unusual, pretty much anybody with decent needle skills will make it through these floors. Nothing's too hard here. Also I want to notice that sometimes you can press up while standing in saves to read author's name for the floor/comment.
Floor 31 (no secrets)
This floor pretty much represents the entirety of Crimson Needle 3 and it is what some people of the community didn't like. Basically, this is metroidvania-adventure floor with a bunch of gimmicks in it. As for me, I like most of floor 31, however there are 2 stages which were quite a difficulty curve for me: yellow stage and the dotkid one. After doing all of 12 areas (Yellow, "the bad house" , elevator blocks, "the bath house" ,"minesweeper", green block area, dotkid, the tower, medley, "life under capitalism", "wonderful" area and elevators), the orange portal will be open at the hub. Inside the portal there is your classic boshy refence stage and it's the final thing of floor 31.
Floors 70-90
What? Did you think after 31 goes 32? Can't you count? Obviously after 31 goes 70! Well, the length of previous floor might have been the hint that something like this would happen. Anyways, we are back on our 100F game, however now floors use gimmicks from floor 31. The only thing I didn't like is that some floors took a while (floors 73, 74, 85, 90). Also you might have read what save on floor 90 says aka "The Finale", but is this really it? Let's find out!
The stage rush / Intermission / four devas / crimson boss but it's platforming thing / any% finale / etc.
Well, guess floor 90 lied ._. After beating F90 you teleport to a room with 5 paths in it: red / blue / green / yellow demon area and the exit. Stages themselves were pretty easy and enjoyable, however with one obvious exception. Yep, I'm talking about blue demon area which is FAR more harder than other 3. After beating them all you need to go through small symmetrical tower needle and that's it! There should be a portal on the right. After you jump in it you get any% clear (basically you can already put a clear mark on this site FeelsGoodMan). But what if you were really bored and had nothing to do? Well, there is a bit more to the game...
EXTRA: Floor 31 (secret hunting)
Inb4 you could collect secrets while beating floor 31 at the same time, making secret hunt unneeded, however I didn't do that, so here we go! First of all, big thanks to authors for putting secrets near teleporters. However some secrets were really hard to find. The only thing that obviously stand out is triple diamond spam secret. Other secrets were great, especially gravity flipping 16px platforming one (the one I like the most).
EXTRA: Floors 91-99
After collecting all the secrets you can go back to that tower area and find that there is a passage open up there (and all area is filled with water, making you realize you missed an obvious skip, but whatever). Floor 91 is nothing special, except the fact that it's a line needle. However, the next one is a true meme. You know, that number, "92". In crimson needle series it's an obvious meme and oh boy this meme was pushed to it's limits here. Not gonna spoil much but the only thing I want to say is that "THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN" alright! After that comes floor 93 and it's a tower level, with some annoying hard jumps thrown in the middle, however I liked this floor, because "OMG IT'S A TOWER LEVEL! SO KEWL!". Floors 94 and 95 are free. Floor 96 takes some time, especially that ridiculous jump before the last one. Floor 97 is, once again, another free floor. And than the world of my skillet came to knew a bit of despair... Yeah, it's that legendary floor 98 with platform jumps. Oh god that took so long (4-5 hours on a single floor? Really?). After finally defeating that ordeal, only floor 99 is left before we go into triple digits, yay! Talking about floor, I liked this one. Once I understood how all traps worked, I was amazed how free it felt. I mean, I still spent 2 hours, but that because last "in the water" trigger killed me like 5 times. Also nice meme portal!
EXTRA: Floor 100 "The end of it all"
After 10 hours or so, this floor was finally beaten. Here's my review for each screen.
Red screen: pretty much free needle screen, but well, this floor's long so it's ok.
Orange screen: Has a spike-grazing segment. Last jump is hard.
Green screen: really cool gimmick screen. Took some time to learn, but after that it's mostly manageable to do.
Blue screen: this one really sucked. As always, for some reason, blue things are worst stuff possible in this game. 2 platform jumps and a grazing segment when you completed quite a huge amount of jumps from screens before this one and some more choke jumps after? Oh god no... The fact that it took like 20 attempts to clear is already something. Could definitely use some nerfs for this one.
Purple screen: more of a choke screen to be honest. Has some really nasty moments but it's pretty short and at least easier than blue screen.
And that's it! After 69 hours and 47 minutes in total I finally 100% this game. In summary, this is a great game that anyone who's good enough with needle and gimmick should play or at least give it a try.
The best needle game.
Rebeat this after a while and pretty much only floor 100 still remains somewhat troublesome, unfortunately. Purple screen IS hard now.
Rating: 9.9 99
Difficulty: 91 91
Jun 30, 2019
James
I want to play more needle than gimmick. just like CN2
[4] Likes
Rating: 5.5 55
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 27, 2019
zewball
Hello! First of all I would like to congratulate you on the game! I am a big fan of the previous games, because it is very calm and simple and it feels good to play and very good music selection! Yesterday it was rumored that the third game was finished and I was very excited because I didn't think in my dreams that there would be a new part! Well started, but unfortunately it is very different from what has been approved in the series :( the whole has passed a generic western I wanna gimmick game :( I'm sure it's a good game anyway, but unfortunately I don't like it, I don't like this style because it's not so smooth and I find it strange that Crimson Needle is the name, as it is completely different from the others and it misleads your fans. I feel they have the right to know what they are cutting into. I confess to you that I am hurt that you have forgotten the much raw enjoyment on the levels, because it was because I was able to play the previous games for many hours with great pleasure and heart. but I see that the West nowadays love these kinds of games and understand that you have been made the game for them. So please don't be sad that I don't like your game, I'm sure the western community audience will love your game because there are many gimmicks in it :)
[4] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Jun 9, 2019
LastTISisLife
Based on 100 % Clear. Obviously some spoilers
As much as giantic this game with feeling that i would never beat it, exactly same thing happens when i decided to write review on it. So the first of all, this is so far longest fangame that i've beaten in terms of real time duration. Almost 2,5 years (i'm started this game when i only beat Kamilia 2 and by the time i cleared it i've done a long journey in many ways since beating Kamilia 3) journey finally comes to the end and i need to express some important thoughts about this whole thing
When i started this game i alredy knew it will be not usual. I was awared how deeply the gameplay will be changed in comparison with first two games. I'm actually was kinda curious how this game will work for me. Unusual hard needle is not the thing you oftenly saw in fangames, tbh. Modern days the things getting better, but for it's time this is definitely monumental game in every ways
So yeah, i actually fully agree this game deserves it's glory. My expectations about how large and unique this game will be were pretty correct. I think even nowadays there's no worthy rival to this game on their field. This game never stops to amaze you with something
But obviously just looking at my rating, which is quite not highest i can get, you can imagine game... sometimes kinda not hit me in the right way. The same thing you can find in others review on this game, players usually illustrated this as "flaws" or even more fittable word "lowpoints" that are understandable for the game that is so huge and long. I will on my side show them more particularly and speak about content of the game as well while doing it
The game starts with actually what you can expect from 100f game. The game follows formula of first games, but actually kinda breaks it from the start. Tilesets are way more juicy and colorful, gameplay is way more diverse even despite it staying on standard ground. Like in first two games you will not notice much variety among the floors, but here wherever you are you will feel something different. That's what i really liked about this floors, tbh, they are not a waste of space and they are creative. It's very good start of the game imo and probably the part that literally everyone can enjoy. Game also did quite good job with roadblocking complete novicers for their own good (with very first save)
There's some bad thing with this floors tho. I actually didn't enjoyed at all 19-21 floors. Imo, they not bad at idea about them, but the way game just gives you warp gimmick without indulgence of making jumps easier than previous floors (because obviously dealing with somewhat unintuitive gimmick already makes things harder by it's own), in opposite some of the jumps here are really really hard!
And that's where i going to more big picture, because i think this is the one of the main issues with the game for me. I in general didn't find any fun in getting through hard gimmick needle without proper explanation level of it. This goes to some later areas that i will mention also later. I think the main reason why fangames can be fun, is because you can build up your muscle memory and insight of what's going on through some easy stuff. But the thing is CN3 gives you some things that you can find only here or... in some other hard gimmick needle, lol. Basically it's endless loops of inside gimmicks that are never got easy and you need to actually painfully break through them to make at least somewhat understanding of it
I think this issue what is pushing so many people from gimmick needle actually. I'm not really blame this game for it, but you can't deny this game creates somewhat of meta being probably most famous gimmick needle ever and many games follows it for this days still
Anyways, moving on, after floor 21 there's no that much bullshit for a while. Game comeback to chill flow with some nice stuff. Until floor 31 happens
Ok, so floor 31 is not bad at all. Actually i loved this floor very strongly. If you not aware, this floor contains of big hub with many ways to go. It has insanely good vibe and i think the idea executed perfectly. To this days, this is one of the most memorables experience in the needle for me
But even despite my love for this floor i can't deny how fucking heavy it feels to play it sometimes. So there will be my next big issue with this game, once it hits you with floor 31 the game completely forgot what it was until this point. Forget about chill stuff, you will be in huge vortex to the end. The game will almost never gives you some mercy, nah, it will crush you head with insane design and never will lowing degrees. While ones can find that insanely fun and satisfying, other like me will be... washed at the very least. Many people will drop this game probably forever, which is big shame, because the game hides in itself so many wonderful stuff, that really needs to be played by so many people (and many people can enjoy different things in this game, which is also awesome to think about). But no. Pace of the game will destroy you, if you are just not simply one of the guys who can tolerates endless vertigo sense (figurative sense)
For myself, i stop my playthrough several times on this floor
For the stages i can say most of them are fine or even better than regularly fine. Golden Maze was really fucking good for me, but i know some people hates it. I find it pretty interesting as concept and feeling of not knowing where the end of the save is very awesome, even tho i give up at some point, because the difficulty was too much (it's definitely one of the hardest stage on floor 31) and i desperately wanna know how much i need to comprehate. But i still admire message that this stage send to players, feeling of anxiety and confusion is real and i like it, it's not what you can feel often in needle
Bounce Blocks suffers from issue that i describe on floors 19-21, gimmick is really hard to deal with it and saves are never easy. It's very fun area tho, cleverly designed and very good to pull off
Unnamed area is probably most faded area, i simply even can't described as bad or good. It was hard tho, that's all i can remember and it was about some cycles
The Bathouse is pretty decent stage. It gives you a huge variety of water configuration and it's never boring. I also like calm chill visuals of this, this is one of the potential breaks on floor 31, so i recommend to do it after some crazy stuff. It still difficult tho, and sometimes pathing is not that intuitive, but it still decently bearable
Puzzle stage is mixed bag. After pretty fun entry you will encounter pretty dumb screen that somewhat of infamous recreation of Minesweeper. I for this day have absolutely idea how thing works and i have no passion of knowing that. Imo, this is really weak screen, because unituitive sort of minigame is one of the worst things ever. Not only my opinion, tbh, many people considering this screen as worst of the entirety of floor 31. After this screen, there will be really really fun moving apples maze, which i find insanely good. And then, probably best screen in the game with disappearing blocks puzzle. It did everything right, fun to figuring out, fun to execute, just awesome, So, yeah, outsude of minesweeper, great area
Bad House area i find not good. Every single part of it lacks of feeling of somewhat joint, everything feels like big mess (maybe that was intention). Gameplay-wise i didn't also find anything fun here, except maybe Noesis-like screens. Ending of stage didn't affect me in any way, i guess i just didn't share same feeling of artistic vision with Kale or whatever
Triple Jump/Dotkid stage was... alright at the best. Entry to the stage was pretty cool, ngl, but the stage itself is awkward. I really didn't like occasional dead-end penalty screen, feels dumb. I didn't like many saves in this area as well, they were like over-precise sometimes, especially pre-dotkid part. Once you got to dotkid part, things are better, but there's still some nasty saves, that wasn't fun and they were also hard. And also, the another issue that strikes here and that will appears in some late game
This issue is how bad balancing at the some saves is. Okay, you will say it's not a rare thing for needle, like you will easily named needle that unbalanced, then not, i think. It's fine, yeah, but none when your needle is hard and when it has gimmicks. So okay, it might be my issue, but when i see gimmick needle, i expect the main difficulty will come from finding way using my gimmick and that some non-generic stuff will stop me from executed it easily. Like some unusual maneuveres, you know. I didn't expect that i will suffer only from fucking frame-perfect jumps or some non-gimmick occasional hard jumps. I just feel like it's wrong represantion of gimmick needle and i was really sad that this game gives you such stuff. In this stage it's not thaaaat an issue, but it will become in later stuff
The Blue Tower was flex and it's also one of the rare breaks on this floor. It's very easy in comparison with others, but i still like it, because it gives you feeling of quick progress on floor, which is quire freshing, lol. As well as Bathouse i recommend doing this stage after painful experience
Halls of Brilliance are decent. I don't really know why Kale decides to pick exactly this floors, but they are alright. Pretty chill stuff for the most part and it feels especially good, that Kale callback his previous games. It's nice touch and i really liked that this area had place in this game. This area concludes "break" areas on this floor, because there's no madness here
Madness tho comeback in Capitalism. I absolutely have no idea why this stage named like this, but stage itself was awesome in second half. First half was about jump refreshers panel, not my sort of stuff and it was hard to deal, which brings up floor 19 issue again. Second half was pure gold tho. It's all about cycles with killer blocks (no spikes at all) and it was fantastic experience, tbh. Cool pathing, driving gameplay, good aestethics, feeling that you are dropped in some mechanical artificial world (OST was huge banger and gives additional points to atmosphere, very suitable), because spikes are basically somewhat of homeplace object at fangames, so deprivation of them create strange atmosphere - unusual vibe and i absolutely love it
Wonderful stage is also banger for me. I like puzzle platforming in general and this was pretty fun puzzles with blocks. There's not really much to say about it, tbh, i know many people hates this stage, but i just like it and it was very fun to spend time here. Final save is kinda harsh tho, probably hardest save on floor 31
Green Tower was also very fun, mainly because of RNG ascend. Other saves were decent
With this, floor 31 comes to end. At the end of every stage you will collect letter object; all of them will form "Maxinator235" eventually. This is kinda homage to strong needle player, i don't really know why Kale picks him, but i probably shouldn't. Anyway, the game continues through Boshy stage, lol. Yeah, the next floor is another big homage to classic of all fangames. I like it, i like how Kale pick unusual stage from the game (we all knows what screen usually medley takes from Boshy) and how he reworks it in more strict needle style. The fact that gameplay was like 80 % the same, makes me realize another time how actually good platforming in that Boshy stage was (yeah, i always like stage 10 since my first playthrough). Good stuff
After Boshy, there will be floor 70. So from now, the game back in ordinary floor formula, but unlike CN1 and CN2 rule of three screens per tilest are no exist anymore. Every floor will be different (all of them 1-save per screen), and honestly i really like this idea. Linear progress was actually kinda relaxing after non-linear hub, it gives you feeling that you can actually clear the game, which is nice touch
If we go through floors individually, there was definitely some lowpoints. Issue that i describe at TJ/Dotkid will comeback several times in floors 74 and 87 at full power, those are actually disgusting floors imo with insanely difficulty jumps that are randomly put in middle of saves, just fuck them. Floor 73 is also like that, the ending of it is tedious, dumb and unintuitive. Floor 73 also, as well as floor 89 randomly put up Bounce Block gimmick, which you can simply forget at this point (because like me your playthrough can take forever), which is definitely a moment. I also really really hate balance of this floors, this is definitely weakest part of them overall, because there will be some easy shit followed by some hard shit in row and then again and again. So, yeah, for me pace was really awful
Good things is some floors that were really fun to play. Really like line needle floor 76 and i love floor 71, which being pretty cool pathing needle with awesome gimmick. Floor 75 was pretty cool water maze, floor 80 was fun platfrom action segment, floor 82 was good speedrun section, floor 84 was nice trap needle - those four floors are also somewhat feels gimmick-ish, even tho their stand on standard ground, which is actually awesome, this is probably what i mostly like about needle in general, when from basically nothing extraordinary, people creates insane things (like in some jtool collabs like Back to Basics or Jtool Jamplex). Very good stuff
Floor 85 is the floor that people hates, because it has no gimmicks and it's just occasional hard needle, but for me it was pretty alright, cause the pace of the game makes me appreciate gimmick breaks and i fully enjoyed my time here. Floor 86 was not that great, because first half was just too much grindy, but i like how triple jump here was used in second half. Floor 88 was again nice freshing shower after atrocious 87. Floor 89 was cool, even despite i again had to remember how bounce fields works. Floor 90 was very awesome. I absolutely have no idea why people hates it, it's cool aestetic floor, not that difficult as i expected and backtrack is nice touch for the "milestone" floor, because after this floor there will be stage rush like in CN2
I didn't mention some floors in range of 70-90, but that's mostly because there's nothing truly to say about them
So stage rush was brilliant. Like in Halls of Brilliance where Kale refers to his games, here he refers to Crimson itself. Four stages, four screens, four colors, four devils. Everything feels right about exposition and i really like that Kale decide to not put boss in this game, the way he recreate this devils in unique (personal for each being) needle is awesome. I like every of them conceptually, and gameplay-wise i had massive fun in every of them, maybe aside of Red one, because i didn't really like ending there. Yellow was second best screen in the game for me (only floor in the game, that while remaining hard, didn't give me headache, while exploring new gimmick), Blue and Green were very strong, also love them
After beating them there will be final ascend, that actually reminds me of CN1 (which i also liked, because i fucking love callbacks and feeling of unity of this games) because of style and symmetry and also because of false ending. Like there's no way people can believe this is actual ending, it feels so distinct from the game (which i like), and the issue why it reminds me of CN1, because this ending feels wrong and you will think is this really the end? Answer is no, there will be way way better end, and like CN1 was overtaken by CN2, that did everything better. I probably overthinked it, but this was my feelings all the way through
So yeah, to achieve actual ending you will need to collect secret items, that are located in floor 31. Teleports will allow you to reach them fast. Secrets are well-hidden, so beware. How are they are gameplay-wise? Well...
Ok let's start with absolute shithole first. Infamous Halls of Brilliance secret with notorious save of 4 Double Diamonds in row. Kale did very wrong thing in CN1 with 92F, and this is pretty much the same tier. I can understand why he add this, but man, did i enjoyed it? NO. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it
Other secrets are way way better. Best one is Good House (Bad House secret), insanely vibing area, i'd say. Has charming visuals and fun gameplay in most straight way. Like, seriously, this thing is actually made me smile because of how it's maded, i can't resist it's magic
Also wanna admit Green Tower secret, where you need to speedrun several screens in row, which are basically taken from another Kale game - I Wanna Thank You Thenewgeezer. It's hard to explain how i like this concept, but i think it's really cool what Kale did by taking entire fucking game into another game and force you to beat in strict amount of time. It's so rude and fits tone of the game, that is actually awesome. Really like that i decided to play original game itself first after reaching the secret, it somehow makes experience totally right
Some other great secrets are Bathouse one, which is crazy gravity flip madness (probably best gravity flip needle i've played ever), Bounce Blocks one, which is just goofy trial-and-error maze, good on it's own and Triple Jump Dotkid one, which is exactly what it is - really really long and hard needle save with good jumps for the most part. I didn't really enjoyed Capitalism secret (maybe because it's just was for me like copy of floor 80, which is similar, and i played 80F firstly) and Unnamed area secret (just needle, idk, feels exactly faded as the stage itself)
Once you collected all 8 secrets, the final 10 floors will be unlocked and you can reach true ending now. They are starts with floor 91, which is hard line needle. I actually dislike it because it was filled with uncomfortable 16px pits, tbh, absolutely not fan of this floor
Then floor 92... Weeeeell, if you played first two games, you know there will be always something here, lol. Here Boys Back in Town at their whole shine, to say at least. And of course combination of 92 gates as well. So i might be wrong, but i already was so many times in this review, so it doesn't matter, but i actually think this is glorious floor. Good represantion of meme, good jumps (yeah) and i never get tired of atmosphere. Really cool stuff
Floor 93 is long and hard tower ascend, very cool floor, nice vanilla needle break after Boys
Floor 94 is once again Bounce Block gimmick. I disliked this floor because of one specific jump, which is just too much precise for how far it's on the save. Hot take, but this is hardest and also the worst save out of final 10, excluding final floor
Floor 95 is Stumble-like screen with some cool jumps and some not cool jumps. Mixed bag, shortly
Floor 96 is kinda good, but as 94F strikes you with over-precised jumps here and there. But it was more fun to execute i would say
Floor 97 gives you new gimmick, lol, yeah. This is so CN3 thing to gives you new stuff 4 floors before the ending, it's actually cool, tbh. It's water that gives you jump, but you can't stay in it more than one jump, basically disappearing water. Tbh, gimmick is pretty good, but i didn't like many jumps here and the beginning was too grindy, so basically i dislike this floor
Floor 98 is menacing floor that focuses on catching the riding platform. It's actually pretty epic floor in many ways, and while being really hard, it gives my good vibe and i like gameplay here
Floor 99 is basically floor 99 from CN2 but with twists of traps and triggers. I'm big fan of CN2 99F, so i was worried how this will go, but it was alright, even good i'd say. Changes were clever and i like final twist here
And then... The End Of It All. Final floor is peak point of CN3 in many ways. Difficulty-wise it's by far hardest thing in the game, nothing even stands close; it's five screens of needle, that explores many gimmicks that you already saw in the game, basically all five screen contains of jumps, that were in the game previously, which is absolutely fucking awesome. It's also color callback to crimson, Red-Yellow-Green-Blue and then the final will be Purple, new color, which is fitting, because CN3 did huge job at pushing limits, so ending with Blue is definitely not the right thing to do. All of the screens are hard, but what is good, that they are all gets consistent after while, the way you build up your muscle memory for victory is rewarding and nice. I would say the final stretch tho is not really comfortable to do, because Purple screen is far from easy, and it can be mentally depressing to make attempts to it over and over, especially if you not have good experience with extremely long save grinds. I guess i was somewhat prepared, my 22 hours on this floor went alright and after 107 hours on timer i managed to actually beat it and finish my playthrough
Wow, this was a journey, for sure. After all, i'm not actually surprised how many i remembered, despite trying to beat this game for longer than 2 years. Game makes such a great job at being memorable and unique, and i appreciate it. I appreciate and respect design of this game, and the pace of it that was very challenging for me, causing me struggles and pain, but i got my reward with playing of the most awesome needle saves i've ever seen. Did i got what i expect? Yes, pretty much, actually. Did i find my experience good? Yes. Did i find my experience flawless and always bring me positive? Hell, no, and i don't think i need to rewrite my issues. Did i recommend this game? If you open to unusual and potential mind-blowing in many ways journey - definitely yes. Did i done with this review? Yes, even tho i still think i probably forgot something, but that's how life and CN3 works
[3] Likes
As much as giantic this game with feeling that i would never beat it, exactly same thing happens when i decided to write review on it. So the first of all, this is so far longest fangame that i've beaten in terms of real time duration. Almost 2,5 years (i'm started this game when i only beat Kamilia 2 and by the time i cleared it i've done a long journey in many ways since beating Kamilia 3) journey finally comes to the end and i need to express some important thoughts about this whole thing
When i started this game i alredy knew it will be not usual. I was awared how deeply the gameplay will be changed in comparison with first two games. I'm actually was kinda curious how this game will work for me. Unusual hard needle is not the thing you oftenly saw in fangames, tbh. Modern days the things getting better, but for it's time this is definitely monumental game in every ways
So yeah, i actually fully agree this game deserves it's glory. My expectations about how large and unique this game will be were pretty correct. I think even nowadays there's no worthy rival to this game on their field. This game never stops to amaze you with something
But obviously just looking at my rating, which is quite not highest i can get, you can imagine game... sometimes kinda not hit me in the right way. The same thing you can find in others review on this game, players usually illustrated this as "flaws" or even more fittable word "lowpoints" that are understandable for the game that is so huge and long. I will on my side show them more particularly and speak about content of the game as well while doing it
The game starts with actually what you can expect from 100f game. The game follows formula of first games, but actually kinda breaks it from the start. Tilesets are way more juicy and colorful, gameplay is way more diverse even despite it staying on standard ground. Like in first two games you will not notice much variety among the floors, but here wherever you are you will feel something different. That's what i really liked about this floors, tbh, they are not a waste of space and they are creative. It's very good start of the game imo and probably the part that literally everyone can enjoy. Game also did quite good job with roadblocking complete novicers for their own good (with very first save)
There's some bad thing with this floors tho. I actually didn't enjoyed at all 19-21 floors. Imo, they not bad at idea about them, but the way game just gives you warp gimmick without indulgence of making jumps easier than previous floors (because obviously dealing with somewhat unintuitive gimmick already makes things harder by it's own), in opposite some of the jumps here are really really hard!
And that's where i going to more big picture, because i think this is the one of the main issues with the game for me. I in general didn't find any fun in getting through hard gimmick needle without proper explanation level of it. This goes to some later areas that i will mention also later. I think the main reason why fangames can be fun, is because you can build up your muscle memory and insight of what's going on through some easy stuff. But the thing is CN3 gives you some things that you can find only here or... in some other hard gimmick needle, lol. Basically it's endless loops of inside gimmicks that are never got easy and you need to actually painfully break through them to make at least somewhat understanding of it
I think this issue what is pushing so many people from gimmick needle actually. I'm not really blame this game for it, but you can't deny this game creates somewhat of meta being probably most famous gimmick needle ever and many games follows it for this days still
Anyways, moving on, after floor 21 there's no that much bullshit for a while. Game comeback to chill flow with some nice stuff. Until floor 31 happens
Ok, so floor 31 is not bad at all. Actually i loved this floor very strongly. If you not aware, this floor contains of big hub with many ways to go. It has insanely good vibe and i think the idea executed perfectly. To this days, this is one of the most memorables experience in the needle for me
But even despite my love for this floor i can't deny how fucking heavy it feels to play it sometimes. So there will be my next big issue with this game, once it hits you with floor 31 the game completely forgot what it was until this point. Forget about chill stuff, you will be in huge vortex to the end. The game will almost never gives you some mercy, nah, it will crush you head with insane design and never will lowing degrees. While ones can find that insanely fun and satisfying, other like me will be... washed at the very least. Many people will drop this game probably forever, which is big shame, because the game hides in itself so many wonderful stuff, that really needs to be played by so many people (and many people can enjoy different things in this game, which is also awesome to think about). But no. Pace of the game will destroy you, if you are just not simply one of the guys who can tolerates endless vertigo sense (figurative sense)
For myself, i stop my playthrough several times on this floor
For the stages i can say most of them are fine or even better than regularly fine. Golden Maze was really fucking good for me, but i know some people hates it. I find it pretty interesting as concept and feeling of not knowing where the end of the save is very awesome, even tho i give up at some point, because the difficulty was too much (it's definitely one of the hardest stage on floor 31) and i desperately wanna know how much i need to comprehate. But i still admire message that this stage send to players, feeling of anxiety and confusion is real and i like it, it's not what you can feel often in needle
Bounce Blocks suffers from issue that i describe on floors 19-21, gimmick is really hard to deal with it and saves are never easy. It's very fun area tho, cleverly designed and very good to pull off
Unnamed area is probably most faded area, i simply even can't described as bad or good. It was hard tho, that's all i can remember and it was about some cycles
The Bathouse is pretty decent stage. It gives you a huge variety of water configuration and it's never boring. I also like calm chill visuals of this, this is one of the potential breaks on floor 31, so i recommend to do it after some crazy stuff. It still difficult tho, and sometimes pathing is not that intuitive, but it still decently bearable
Puzzle stage is mixed bag. After pretty fun entry you will encounter pretty dumb screen that somewhat of infamous recreation of Minesweeper. I for this day have absolutely idea how thing works and i have no passion of knowing that. Imo, this is really weak screen, because unituitive sort of minigame is one of the worst things ever. Not only my opinion, tbh, many people considering this screen as worst of the entirety of floor 31. After this screen, there will be really really fun moving apples maze, which i find insanely good. And then, probably best screen in the game with disappearing blocks puzzle. It did everything right, fun to figuring out, fun to execute, just awesome, So, yeah, outsude of minesweeper, great area
Bad House area i find not good. Every single part of it lacks of feeling of somewhat joint, everything feels like big mess (maybe that was intention). Gameplay-wise i didn't also find anything fun here, except maybe Noesis-like screens. Ending of stage didn't affect me in any way, i guess i just didn't share same feeling of artistic vision with Kale or whatever
Triple Jump/Dotkid stage was... alright at the best. Entry to the stage was pretty cool, ngl, but the stage itself is awkward. I really didn't like occasional dead-end penalty screen, feels dumb. I didn't like many saves in this area as well, they were like over-precise sometimes, especially pre-dotkid part. Once you got to dotkid part, things are better, but there's still some nasty saves, that wasn't fun and they were also hard. And also, the another issue that strikes here and that will appears in some late game
This issue is how bad balancing at the some saves is. Okay, you will say it's not a rare thing for needle, like you will easily named needle that unbalanced, then not, i think. It's fine, yeah, but none when your needle is hard and when it has gimmicks. So okay, it might be my issue, but when i see gimmick needle, i expect the main difficulty will come from finding way using my gimmick and that some non-generic stuff will stop me from executed it easily. Like some unusual maneuveres, you know. I didn't expect that i will suffer only from fucking frame-perfect jumps or some non-gimmick occasional hard jumps. I just feel like it's wrong represantion of gimmick needle and i was really sad that this game gives you such stuff. In this stage it's not thaaaat an issue, but it will become in later stuff
The Blue Tower was flex and it's also one of the rare breaks on this floor. It's very easy in comparison with others, but i still like it, because it gives you feeling of quick progress on floor, which is quire freshing, lol. As well as Bathouse i recommend doing this stage after painful experience
Halls of Brilliance are decent. I don't really know why Kale decides to pick exactly this floors, but they are alright. Pretty chill stuff for the most part and it feels especially good, that Kale callback his previous games. It's nice touch and i really liked that this area had place in this game. This area concludes "break" areas on this floor, because there's no madness here
Madness tho comeback in Capitalism. I absolutely have no idea why this stage named like this, but stage itself was awesome in second half. First half was about jump refreshers panel, not my sort of stuff and it was hard to deal, which brings up floor 19 issue again. Second half was pure gold tho. It's all about cycles with killer blocks (no spikes at all) and it was fantastic experience, tbh. Cool pathing, driving gameplay, good aestethics, feeling that you are dropped in some mechanical artificial world (OST was huge banger and gives additional points to atmosphere, very suitable), because spikes are basically somewhat of homeplace object at fangames, so deprivation of them create strange atmosphere - unusual vibe and i absolutely love it
Wonderful stage is also banger for me. I like puzzle platforming in general and this was pretty fun puzzles with blocks. There's not really much to say about it, tbh, i know many people hates this stage, but i just like it and it was very fun to spend time here. Final save is kinda harsh tho, probably hardest save on floor 31
Green Tower was also very fun, mainly because of RNG ascend. Other saves were decent
With this, floor 31 comes to end. At the end of every stage you will collect letter object; all of them will form "Maxinator235" eventually. This is kinda homage to strong needle player, i don't really know why Kale picks him, but i probably shouldn't. Anyway, the game continues through Boshy stage, lol. Yeah, the next floor is another big homage to classic of all fangames. I like it, i like how Kale pick unusual stage from the game (we all knows what screen usually medley takes from Boshy) and how he reworks it in more strict needle style. The fact that gameplay was like 80 % the same, makes me realize another time how actually good platforming in that Boshy stage was (yeah, i always like stage 10 since my first playthrough). Good stuff
After Boshy, there will be floor 70. So from now, the game back in ordinary floor formula, but unlike CN1 and CN2 rule of three screens per tilest are no exist anymore. Every floor will be different (all of them 1-save per screen), and honestly i really like this idea. Linear progress was actually kinda relaxing after non-linear hub, it gives you feeling that you can actually clear the game, which is nice touch
If we go through floors individually, there was definitely some lowpoints. Issue that i describe at TJ/Dotkid will comeback several times in floors 74 and 87 at full power, those are actually disgusting floors imo with insanely difficulty jumps that are randomly put in middle of saves, just fuck them. Floor 73 is also like that, the ending of it is tedious, dumb and unintuitive. Floor 73 also, as well as floor 89 randomly put up Bounce Block gimmick, which you can simply forget at this point (because like me your playthrough can take forever), which is definitely a moment. I also really really hate balance of this floors, this is definitely weakest part of them overall, because there will be some easy shit followed by some hard shit in row and then again and again. So, yeah, for me pace was really awful
Good things is some floors that were really fun to play. Really like line needle floor 76 and i love floor 71, which being pretty cool pathing needle with awesome gimmick. Floor 75 was pretty cool water maze, floor 80 was fun platfrom action segment, floor 82 was good speedrun section, floor 84 was nice trap needle - those four floors are also somewhat feels gimmick-ish, even tho their stand on standard ground, which is actually awesome, this is probably what i mostly like about needle in general, when from basically nothing extraordinary, people creates insane things (like in some jtool collabs like Back to Basics or Jtool Jamplex). Very good stuff
Floor 85 is the floor that people hates, because it has no gimmicks and it's just occasional hard needle, but for me it was pretty alright, cause the pace of the game makes me appreciate gimmick breaks and i fully enjoyed my time here. Floor 86 was not that great, because first half was just too much grindy, but i like how triple jump here was used in second half. Floor 88 was again nice freshing shower after atrocious 87. Floor 89 was cool, even despite i again had to remember how bounce fields works. Floor 90 was very awesome. I absolutely have no idea why people hates it, it's cool aestetic floor, not that difficult as i expected and backtrack is nice touch for the "milestone" floor, because after this floor there will be stage rush like in CN2
I didn't mention some floors in range of 70-90, but that's mostly because there's nothing truly to say about them
So stage rush was brilliant. Like in Halls of Brilliance where Kale refers to his games, here he refers to Crimson itself. Four stages, four screens, four colors, four devils. Everything feels right about exposition and i really like that Kale decide to not put boss in this game, the way he recreate this devils in unique (personal for each being) needle is awesome. I like every of them conceptually, and gameplay-wise i had massive fun in every of them, maybe aside of Red one, because i didn't really like ending there. Yellow was second best screen in the game for me (only floor in the game, that while remaining hard, didn't give me headache, while exploring new gimmick), Blue and Green were very strong, also love them
After beating them there will be final ascend, that actually reminds me of CN1 (which i also liked, because i fucking love callbacks and feeling of unity of this games) because of style and symmetry and also because of false ending. Like there's no way people can believe this is actual ending, it feels so distinct from the game (which i like), and the issue why it reminds me of CN1, because this ending feels wrong and you will think is this really the end? Answer is no, there will be way way better end, and like CN1 was overtaken by CN2, that did everything better. I probably overthinked it, but this was my feelings all the way through
So yeah, to achieve actual ending you will need to collect secret items, that are located in floor 31. Teleports will allow you to reach them fast. Secrets are well-hidden, so beware. How are they are gameplay-wise? Well...
Ok let's start with absolute shithole first. Infamous Halls of Brilliance secret with notorious save of 4 Double Diamonds in row. Kale did very wrong thing in CN1 with 92F, and this is pretty much the same tier. I can understand why he add this, but man, did i enjoyed it? NO. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it
Other secrets are way way better. Best one is Good House (Bad House secret), insanely vibing area, i'd say. Has charming visuals and fun gameplay in most straight way. Like, seriously, this thing is actually made me smile because of how it's maded, i can't resist it's magic
Also wanna admit Green Tower secret, where you need to speedrun several screens in row, which are basically taken from another Kale game - I Wanna Thank You Thenewgeezer. It's hard to explain how i like this concept, but i think it's really cool what Kale did by taking entire fucking game into another game and force you to beat in strict amount of time. It's so rude and fits tone of the game, that is actually awesome. Really like that i decided to play original game itself first after reaching the secret, it somehow makes experience totally right
Some other great secrets are Bathouse one, which is crazy gravity flip madness (probably best gravity flip needle i've played ever), Bounce Blocks one, which is just goofy trial-and-error maze, good on it's own and Triple Jump Dotkid one, which is exactly what it is - really really long and hard needle save with good jumps for the most part. I didn't really enjoyed Capitalism secret (maybe because it's just was for me like copy of floor 80, which is similar, and i played 80F firstly) and Unnamed area secret (just needle, idk, feels exactly faded as the stage itself)
Once you collected all 8 secrets, the final 10 floors will be unlocked and you can reach true ending now. They are starts with floor 91, which is hard line needle. I actually dislike it because it was filled with uncomfortable 16px pits, tbh, absolutely not fan of this floor
Then floor 92... Weeeeell, if you played first two games, you know there will be always something here, lol. Here Boys Back in Town at their whole shine, to say at least. And of course combination of 92 gates as well. So i might be wrong, but i already was so many times in this review, so it doesn't matter, but i actually think this is glorious floor. Good represantion of meme, good jumps (yeah) and i never get tired of atmosphere. Really cool stuff
Floor 93 is long and hard tower ascend, very cool floor, nice vanilla needle break after Boys
Floor 94 is once again Bounce Block gimmick. I disliked this floor because of one specific jump, which is just too much precise for how far it's on the save. Hot take, but this is hardest and also the worst save out of final 10, excluding final floor
Floor 95 is Stumble-like screen with some cool jumps and some not cool jumps. Mixed bag, shortly
Floor 96 is kinda good, but as 94F strikes you with over-precised jumps here and there. But it was more fun to execute i would say
Floor 97 gives you new gimmick, lol, yeah. This is so CN3 thing to gives you new stuff 4 floors before the ending, it's actually cool, tbh. It's water that gives you jump, but you can't stay in it more than one jump, basically disappearing water. Tbh, gimmick is pretty good, but i didn't like many jumps here and the beginning was too grindy, so basically i dislike this floor
Floor 98 is menacing floor that focuses on catching the riding platform. It's actually pretty epic floor in many ways, and while being really hard, it gives my good vibe and i like gameplay here
Floor 99 is basically floor 99 from CN2 but with twists of traps and triggers. I'm big fan of CN2 99F, so i was worried how this will go, but it was alright, even good i'd say. Changes were clever and i like final twist here
And then... The End Of It All. Final floor is peak point of CN3 in many ways. Difficulty-wise it's by far hardest thing in the game, nothing even stands close; it's five screens of needle, that explores many gimmicks that you already saw in the game, basically all five screen contains of jumps, that were in the game previously, which is absolutely fucking awesome. It's also color callback to crimson, Red-Yellow-Green-Blue and then the final will be Purple, new color, which is fitting, because CN3 did huge job at pushing limits, so ending with Blue is definitely not the right thing to do. All of the screens are hard, but what is good, that they are all gets consistent after while, the way you build up your muscle memory for victory is rewarding and nice. I would say the final stretch tho is not really comfortable to do, because Purple screen is far from easy, and it can be mentally depressing to make attempts to it over and over, especially if you not have good experience with extremely long save grinds. I guess i was somewhat prepared, my 22 hours on this floor went alright and after 107 hours on timer i managed to actually beat it and finish my playthrough
Wow, this was a journey, for sure. After all, i'm not actually surprised how many i remembered, despite trying to beat this game for longer than 2 years. Game makes such a great job at being memorable and unique, and i appreciate it. I appreciate and respect design of this game, and the pace of it that was very challenging for me, causing me struggles and pain, but i got my reward with playing of the most awesome needle saves i've ever seen. Did i got what i expect? Yes, pretty much, actually. Did i find my experience good? Yes. Did i find my experience flawless and always bring me positive? Hell, no, and i don't think i need to rewrite my issues. Did i recommend this game? If you open to unusual and potential mind-blowing in many ways journey - definitely yes. Did i done with this review? Yes, even tho i still think i probably forgot something, but that's how life and CN3 works
Rating: 8.0 80
Difficulty: 88 88
Jun 13, 2023