I wanna explore the map

Creator: EchoMask

Average Rating
9.1 / 10
Average Difficulty
69.8 / 100
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Tags:

Needle (7) Gimmick (6) FASF2024 (6)

Screenshots

  • by Janex06

11 Reviews:

Anuj
I never really got when game reviews said something along the lines of "I started this game at 5pm and then little did I know, 10 hours had past and it was 3am". It was never believable to me, whenever I play games I'm CONSTANTLY looking at the time to see when it's time to stop the session. However, this actually happened to me whilst playing this game, I just never wanted to stop playing, I didn't even want to look at the time because I constantly wanted to see what was coming up next. Every time I would beat a screen, I just had to keep playing and see what Echo had in store.

The difficulty balance in this game is really well done! The gimmicks at first may seem overwhelming but Echo never takes it too far and none of the saves feel too precise. The gimmicks are always really well done in this game and never feel like a hindrance nor do they feel too complex to understand.

The game has overlapping areas and different paths I could have taken at various points, which really adds to the sense of journey from this game, something that many needle games fail to do! Now, obviously needle games don't need branching paths to create the feeling of a journey, but in this case it adds really nicely to the progression that is usually missing in a lot of needle games.

There is one complaint I have with the game, which is not a fault of EchoMask but instead of a fault of me, the player, and that is that I want more. That's not to say this game feels incomplete, not in the slightest, this game feels like it is absolutely finished. But I enjoyed this game so much that I just want more, I spent many hours playing this game and yet I just want more. I think there's this underlying feeling of greed in the fangame community where nothing will ever be enough, this EchoMask game should definitely be enough and I am satisfied with it, but I want this x10. I hope it's understood that this is a compliment and not an ungrateful comment, but really I shouldn't even be thinking this, and should just be happy with the game as it is. There is a stark difference in wanting more from the maker, and wanting more from the game, in this case I absolutely want more from the maker because of how much I enjoyed this game.

Anyways! This is one of my favourite needle games, and with that probably one of my favourite fangames in general, very nicely done Echo.

Some spoilers up ahead! I didn't plan on writing too much in specifics about the game, but there are sections that I feel like I have to talk about in greater detail.

The section with the falling platforms from Super Mario World, I believe they're called 'Count-Lifts' was my favourite in this whole game, I actually think the first save in that stage might be one of my favourite saves in any fangame ever. It flows really well and feels sight-readable, which is really hard to do in a section like that. If this is the first use of that gimmick in a fangame, it has been done extremely well and I would literally just play a whole game where it's just that gimmick explored more and more.

Upon first entry of the plant stage, it seemed like it wouldn't be up my alley as the gimmick did not interest me that much, but how Echo expanded this gimmick with different types of plants and created this excellently flowing needle was insane. Some of the screens towards the end of this stage were extremely fun! They flowed incredibly well and they didn't really tend to have traditional progression but instead having very cool pathing which made those screens even better.

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[3] Likes
Rating: 9.6 96       Difficulty: 69 69
Aug 21, 2024
KingSlendy
I really really enjoyed this game, it's really good and satisfying

Sadly apparently the maker stated that I hate everything I play so... 0/10 I guess?

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Tagged as: Needle
[1] Like
Rating: 8.0 80       Difficulty: 70 70
Sep 6, 2024
mushcat
I really hope this game is longer

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[1] Like
Rating: 9.8 98       Difficulty: 73 73
Aug 20, 2024
cryflake
Peak of modern needle.

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[1] Like
Rating: 9.5 95       Difficulty: 70 70
Aug 20, 2024
Peddy
A truly great piece of work! Despite some crazy designs, the game made me forget how long I'd been playing.

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Tagged as: Needle Gimmick FASF2024
[0] Likes
Rating: 8.9 89       Difficulty: N/A
Aug 26, 2024