Delicious Fruit
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by eggkid
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by eggkid
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by eggkid
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by eggkid
5 Reviews:
ameliandyou
I wish I enjoyed this game more ;-; review is based on reaching the final platforming screen. The final boss looks extremely hard and I have no intention of clearing, as I have beaten the majority of the game so I am not missing out on much gameplay. There are gameplay spoilers in this review.
"Shadow's Return" is a fangame very similar to "I wanna power" (from what I have seen of that game, i need to play it at some point), in which you collect items to unlock new areas to explore by killing bosses. Most of the abilities you gain don't change the gameplay in any meaningful ways, with the main exceptions being the rock ability and hook ability. This is totally fine, although it would have been fun to see more done with the other abilities.
I am not the biggest fan of the level design. It is basic needle with some gimmicks, however the jumps are often really precise and many of the sections are VERY trial and error focused, which isn't my favorite.
The first area you will likely start with is the rock pushing area. I do not like pushblock puzzles, they are really tedious, and there are multiple saves in this that have precise jumps during or after the puzzle, which makes dying very punishing. If you like pushblock puzzles I guess you will enjoy this, but the difficulty definitely comes from the platforming rather than the puzzles.
You then have the fire boss. Its pretty neat, and I like how you sometimes have to climb up the sides of the arena (i might be misremembering). The bosses in this game are generally pretty good, but they are VERY basic attack wise so they don't really stand out from other fangame bosses or even each other, with one exception.
You then have the ice area, focused on cherry cycles. I always like cherry cycles in fangames, this area didn't do anything really crazy but it was fun. It also had icicles which were used really well.
The next boss was fun. Really similar to the fire boss.
You then do basic needle until you get the bomb ability, which lets you place a bomb.
The next area is more pushblock stuff but in the dark. The jumps were less precise than the first area so I liked it a bit more, I feel like mixing pushblocks and needle usually isn't my cup of tea.
You then fight the rock boss, which felt like used it's arena to its fullest extent. I really liked this fight, but again, it is a really basic boss.
You then have the bubble gimmick. Its fine, but it becomes REALLY learny really quickly, essentially having to memorize the inputs you have to do because it isn't designed in a way that is clear to the player / intuitive at all. Its kinda like the bubble gimmick in celeste, however that game did a much better job of making it clear to the player where they needed to go so it didn't feel so trial and error heavy. I didn't mind it too much, I liked that it was a pretty original gimmick.
You then fight a version of destination, which took me almost a third of my playtime to beat. I actually really liked this boss, its focused around a risk reward system where you need to go in the bubbles to hurt him, but going in the bubbles makes it very hard to dodge his attacks, so you have to plan around when it is safe to get in the bubbles. 2 of the attacks are pretty much copied from the original destination, with one of them even having the exact same weapon. The attacks are very basic, but the 2 new ones did fit the weapons really well, being leaves falling to represent a tree and long bullet lines representing its hookshot attack. The ending attack is really fun and stressful, while being very fair if you are patient.
You then have a section with some spikes and blocks that toggle when you jump. Very learny, but I enjoyed it. There was also some sections with orbs that you shoot to disable spikes of a certain color. I liked how they made the pathing really unique with this gimmick, but it wasn't anything too crazy.
The final part uses both the hookshot and the rock powers, and its a bit of a mess. It expects you to do a lot of inputs in quick succession in ways that aren't fun at all to pull off. Its a shame, because I really like the hookshot gimmick, but with a few exceptions I didn't really like how it was used.
Those are my thoughts on shadow's return. I don't know if I can recommend it, however despite much of the game feeling very similar to other fangames before it, some parts, like the bubble gimmick and destination fight felt quite unique and somewhat enjoyable.
[0] Likes
"Shadow's Return" is a fangame very similar to "I wanna power" (from what I have seen of that game, i need to play it at some point), in which you collect items to unlock new areas to explore by killing bosses. Most of the abilities you gain don't change the gameplay in any meaningful ways, with the main exceptions being the rock ability and hook ability. This is totally fine, although it would have been fun to see more done with the other abilities.
I am not the biggest fan of the level design. It is basic needle with some gimmicks, however the jumps are often really precise and many of the sections are VERY trial and error focused, which isn't my favorite.
The first area you will likely start with is the rock pushing area. I do not like pushblock puzzles, they are really tedious, and there are multiple saves in this that have precise jumps during or after the puzzle, which makes dying very punishing. If you like pushblock puzzles I guess you will enjoy this, but the difficulty definitely comes from the platforming rather than the puzzles.
You then have the fire boss. Its pretty neat, and I like how you sometimes have to climb up the sides of the arena (i might be misremembering). The bosses in this game are generally pretty good, but they are VERY basic attack wise so they don't really stand out from other fangame bosses or even each other, with one exception.
You then have the ice area, focused on cherry cycles. I always like cherry cycles in fangames, this area didn't do anything really crazy but it was fun. It also had icicles which were used really well.
The next boss was fun. Really similar to the fire boss.
You then do basic needle until you get the bomb ability, which lets you place a bomb.
The next area is more pushblock stuff but in the dark. The jumps were less precise than the first area so I liked it a bit more, I feel like mixing pushblocks and needle usually isn't my cup of tea.
You then fight the rock boss, which felt like used it's arena to its fullest extent. I really liked this fight, but again, it is a really basic boss.
You then have the bubble gimmick. Its fine, but it becomes REALLY learny really quickly, essentially having to memorize the inputs you have to do because it isn't designed in a way that is clear to the player / intuitive at all. Its kinda like the bubble gimmick in celeste, however that game did a much better job of making it clear to the player where they needed to go so it didn't feel so trial and error heavy. I didn't mind it too much, I liked that it was a pretty original gimmick.
You then fight a version of destination, which took me almost a third of my playtime to beat. I actually really liked this boss, its focused around a risk reward system where you need to go in the bubbles to hurt him, but going in the bubbles makes it very hard to dodge his attacks, so you have to plan around when it is safe to get in the bubbles. 2 of the attacks are pretty much copied from the original destination, with one of them even having the exact same weapon. The attacks are very basic, but the 2 new ones did fit the weapons really well, being leaves falling to represent a tree and long bullet lines representing its hookshot attack. The ending attack is really fun and stressful, while being very fair if you are patient.
You then have a section with some spikes and blocks that toggle when you jump. Very learny, but I enjoyed it. There was also some sections with orbs that you shoot to disable spikes of a certain color. I liked how they made the pathing really unique with this gimmick, but it wasn't anything too crazy.
The final part uses both the hookshot and the rock powers, and its a bit of a mess. It expects you to do a lot of inputs in quick succession in ways that aren't fun at all to pull off. Its a shame, because I really like the hookshot gimmick, but with a few exceptions I didn't really like how it was used.
Those are my thoughts on shadow's return. I don't know if I can recommend it, however despite much of the game feeling very similar to other fangames before it, some parts, like the bubble gimmick and destination fight felt quite unique and somewhat enjoyable.
Rating: 6.5 65
Difficulty: N/A
Oct 7, 2025
bantsmen
Cool metroidvania style game where you collect new abilities from a boss in different areas. There's a good variety of gimmicks and the pushblock puzzles are honestly pretty well done. The final area mashes a lot of the gimmicks together and can create a bit of finger spaghetti at a few points but it never got unbearably bad. The bosses are pretty decent, they start off really simple, but some of the later ones can get pretty tanky, the stone golem in particular comes to mind. The final boss is a bit learny but is honestly pretty fun when you get the hang of it. The only real issue I have is that one part of the final phase has revenge-attacks but it isn't communicated very clearly.
Overall, this is a pretty decent adventure game and I look forward to what this maker makes next.
[0] Likes
Overall, this is a pretty decent adventure game and I look forward to what this maker makes next.
Rating: 7.3 73
Difficulty: 68 68
Sep 29, 2025