5 Reviews:
moogy
Collaboration game with a lot of different platforming styles and a boss fight with Marisa at the end.
I'm going to go against the grain and say that Taoshu's stage was the most fun. The tileset is problematic (non-square blocks), but all of the jumps are interesting and every save is exactly the right length to feel satisfying without becoming a grind.
The rest of the game was at worst inoffensive, mostly quite fun. I would like to see something like Rong's stage expanded into a full game; I think there's a lot of unrealized potential with the way it alters pathing based on what you pick up.
I enjoyed the boss for the most part. The fact that both Marisa's teleport locations and the ghost spawn positions in the first phase are RNG can make for some kind of bullshit scenarios, but it's generally pretty manageable with practice and none of the attacks themselves are unfair. Less of a fan of the second phase, since it eventually degenerates into just micrododging in a corner, but it's pretty short and easy so whatever.
Overall a pretty solid game as long as you don't hate mostly-needle platforming.
[1] Like
I'm going to go against the grain and say that Taoshu's stage was the most fun. The tileset is problematic (non-square blocks), but all of the jumps are interesting and every save is exactly the right length to feel satisfying without becoming a grind.
The rest of the game was at worst inoffensive, mostly quite fun. I would like to see something like Rong's stage expanded into a full game; I think there's a lot of unrealized potential with the way it alters pathing based on what you pick up.
I enjoyed the boss for the most part. The fact that both Marisa's teleport locations and the ghost spawn positions in the first phase are RNG can make for some kind of bullshit scenarios, but it's generally pretty manageable with practice and none of the attacks themselves are unfair. Less of a fan of the second phase, since it eventually degenerates into just micrododging in a corner, but it's pretty short and easy so whatever.
Overall a pretty solid game as long as you don't hate mostly-needle platforming.
Rating: 7.5 75
Difficulty: 60 60
Jan 12, 2021
shign
Mediocre collab supposed to be halloween themed even if most stages don't feel halloween themed at all. It's a sequel of I wanna play with Mr. Ghost, also an halloween collab that aired last year and most makers are similar to both collab, and for the better and the worst those makers made a very similar stage in both game.
-Rong : exactly like his stage in Mr. Ghost, it's a maze where you have to seek for keys and exactly like his previous stage the concept is cool but the execution is very mediocre with generic and plain needle. The only difference is that in this one you loose your ability to climb vines and your djump instead of seeking for them.
5/10
-Taoshu : bad precision needle with a lot of annoying jumps, the fact that blocks aren't squares doesn't help at all
3/10
-Jushi : enjoyable needle with some break between the 2 parts. Not sure why he choose to do such things but it was a good stage overall.
7/10
Qinchui : I was surprised to see a trap stage here, with a huge emphasis on fake and invisible blocks. Enjoyable but some parts were a bit cryptic and some others a bit annoying.
6.5/10
Zeroyume : exactly like in the previous collab, it's a chill pure neelde. Not much to say, it was good.
8/10
Wujian : by far the best stage of the collab, and a really incredible one with some great use of water for pathing. I could recommend this game only for that stage. It's also easier than what it looks like.
9.5/10
The boss : sadly the boss is a disaster, very RNG based. The fact that he randomly tp on the screen and same for the ghost makes the fight luck based and super frustrating. It has also an horrible second phase with a luck based last attack.
Overall a very heterogenous collab, I personally don't recommend to go for the boss because it's more frustating than anything.
[0] Likes
-Rong : exactly like his stage in Mr. Ghost, it's a maze where you have to seek for keys and exactly like his previous stage the concept is cool but the execution is very mediocre with generic and plain needle. The only difference is that in this one you loose your ability to climb vines and your djump instead of seeking for them.
5/10
-Taoshu : bad precision needle with a lot of annoying jumps, the fact that blocks aren't squares doesn't help at all
3/10
-Jushi : enjoyable needle with some break between the 2 parts. Not sure why he choose to do such things but it was a good stage overall.
7/10
Qinchui : I was surprised to see a trap stage here, with a huge emphasis on fake and invisible blocks. Enjoyable but some parts were a bit cryptic and some others a bit annoying.
6.5/10
Zeroyume : exactly like in the previous collab, it's a chill pure neelde. Not much to say, it was good.
8/10
Wujian : by far the best stage of the collab, and a really incredible one with some great use of water for pathing. I could recommend this game only for that stage. It's also easier than what it looks like.
9.5/10
The boss : sadly the boss is a disaster, very RNG based. The fact that he randomly tp on the screen and same for the ghost makes the fight luck based and super frustrating. It has also an horrible second phase with a luck based last attack.
Overall a very heterogenous collab, I personally don't recommend to go for the boss because it's more frustating than anything.
Rating: 5.9 59
Difficulty: 65 65
Jan 11, 2021
CeleCele
Decent collab game.
I found the stages to be very varied in quality and difficulty. I really liked the trap stage and the top right stage. One of the stages had a squished drop gate kinda thing, atleast that's what i did since i couldn't find the intended way.
The final boss was neat but i didn't like the first phase that much, since the witch can teleport to some annoying places either wasting a lot of time or just straight up killing you.
[0] Likes
I found the stages to be very varied in quality and difficulty. I really liked the trap stage and the top right stage. One of the stages had a squished drop gate kinda thing, atleast that's what i did since i couldn't find the intended way.
The final boss was neat but i didn't like the first phase that much, since the witch can teleport to some annoying places either wasting a lot of time or just straight up killing you.
Rating: 7.1 71
Difficulty: 60 60
Jan 11, 2021
Cthaere
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