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Cthaere
For: Extreme Depths 2
For: Extreme Depths 2
This is, perhaps, the game I found to be most true to its name. On the surface level, it is a decent needle game with some production value kicking it up a notch, which feels like a homage to nang but not quite as good. Certainly a respectable needle game, even if it feels like it's right out of 2014 (which it sort of is) but not a spectacular release by any means. However, the deeper you dive from there, the better the game gets.
And therein lies my problem with it. It is hard to divorce the game from the maker, and when I think Watson, I think of games like Cute Jump, Vibe with the Gods, or Lockpick. Cute jump, building spectacularly on an existing game and exploring new concepts at a comfortable yet rapid pace; Vibe with the Gods, zapping between multiple different screens sampling all kinds of ideas before landing on the final boss, a fantastic closure taking most the previous screens into account; Lockpick, hailed as the game keypick should have been, due to not only exploring the concepts better, but more importantly dropping all the filler content. Filler is precisely the issue here; No recent Watson game feels as full of filler as this game does, including the game in which "forced waiting" is an integral core mechanic!
While I did want to get this bit of frustration out of the way, once you do get to the good parts, boy are you in for a ride. Insanely fun input soup Dustforce gimmick with a screen of non stop aerial movement; Cycle needle concepts that outdo even the current masters of the craft; And a true final boss to rival NANC2, built upon the concepts that the any% boss introduced. The game also gets a massive boost to visuals here, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. In every aspect, this part of the game is absolutely worth playing, and had the rest of it been up to the standard being set here, it'd easily be a 10 and would likely have earned a spot in my top 10 fangames.
But it's not.
In any capacity, I would still completely and absolutely recommend this to everyone so long as they have the patience to sit through the start to get to the end. It is still on all accounts a brilliant game, just one I have my own minor frustrations with.
[2] Likes
And therein lies my problem with it. It is hard to divorce the game from the maker, and when I think Watson, I think of games like Cute Jump, Vibe with the Gods, or Lockpick. Cute jump, building spectacularly on an existing game and exploring new concepts at a comfortable yet rapid pace; Vibe with the Gods, zapping between multiple different screens sampling all kinds of ideas before landing on the final boss, a fantastic closure taking most the previous screens into account; Lockpick, hailed as the game keypick should have been, due to not only exploring the concepts better, but more importantly dropping all the filler content. Filler is precisely the issue here; No recent Watson game feels as full of filler as this game does, including the game in which "forced waiting" is an integral core mechanic!
While I did want to get this bit of frustration out of the way, once you do get to the good parts, boy are you in for a ride. Insanely fun input soup Dustforce gimmick with a screen of non stop aerial movement; Cycle needle concepts that outdo even the current masters of the craft; And a true final boss to rival NANC2, built upon the concepts that the any% boss introduced. The game also gets a massive boost to visuals here, and it's absolutely gorgeous to look at. In every aspect, this part of the game is absolutely worth playing, and had the rest of it been up to the standard being set here, it'd easily be a 10 and would likely have earned a spot in my top 10 fangames.
But it's not.
In any capacity, I would still completely and absolutely recommend this to everyone so long as they have the patience to sit through the start to get to the end. It is still on all accounts a brilliant game, just one I have my own minor frustrations with.
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 70 70
Mar 10, 2022
YaBoiMarcAntony
For: Extreme Depths 2
For: Extreme Depths 2
(Ratings based on 100%, otherwise it'd be around a 7 and 65 difficulty.)
It's always fun to think of the original that came before a sequel when talking about said sequel. Extreme Depths 1 is a nothing special needle game with just a hint of the charm and ingenuity that Watson's future productions would have in spades, even having the ever-present Gamemaker Lite logo in the top left, hanging over like Damocles' sword - yet, the disaster of a shitty game doesn't come is as it's rather decent, all things considered. With that game in mind, how does Extreme Depths 2 fare in comparison?
Well, it's bigger, infinitely more visually impressive, featuring more interesting and enjoyable needle as well as a few fantastic bosses to boot, not to mention a killer soundtrack that keeps the energy up at all times. In short, it is a massively superior game; in long-form, it is a game that somehow manages to expand upon its original iteration in a way that makes you wonder what in God's name could have led to the growth of the Giant Sequoia of Extreme Depths 2. Should you track the lines, the conclusion is clear: take the bricks of the original, and make them a rainbow!
The game is broken up into 8 main stages, 7 of which hold a secret each, a boss that opens the way to an extra stage (which is fully unlocked with those 7 secrets), which upon completion leads you to the TRUE final boss of the game, an outrageously good conclusion to what is already a damn good game. This description, then, acts as a mere façade of the tower that is Extreme Depths 2, and should you take a look beyond these colorful bricks, you'll find yourself a game that both revels in its simplicity and teems with creativity. On the one hand, should you pull back the layers and layers of visual flair in the main stages, you'd have a lot of super simple platforming that, while satisfying to play, does not exactly excite me, having seen more creative and enjoyable platforming elsewhere. All the same, the charm and excitement of the game elevates this simplistic platforming to a degree that allows the game to differentiate itself from more simplistic and basic needle games. All you need to take your platforming to the next level is some style, so says the adage I made up on the spot.
Even so, this "problem" of simplicity can be safely defenestrated upon entering the eight stage, though perhaps do the deed at a lower stage so that it may survive upon impact with the ground below, eight floors would be a mighty fall! In any case, the eight stage introduces more unique and interesting gimmicks, a pattern which persists well into the extra stages beyond, these making up the best bulk of the platforming in the game. I enjoyed each stage greatly, but I think my personal favorite may have to be the cherry cycles stage, as basic as it may be to say. Nonetheless, you're not starved for high quality content once you break into this part of the game.
With that said, the highlight of the game lies with it's bosses, and seeing as this comes from someone that is primarily a needle player, that should stand as VERY high praise! In particular, the final boss is beyond spectacular, being made up of three super interesting phases with (relatively) high difficulty to boot, leading to a rather tense finale that had me wiping sweat off my brow. I won't speak too much on this boss as I just don't feel like using the spoiler function (though I've already stated some spoilers here in the first place, so perhaps it's a bit of a moot point), but suffice it to say, it is definitely one of my favorite fights ever.
I have espoused the virtues of Watson as a maker time and time again, and with the release of Extreme Depths 2, I find myself leaning towards taking it further, going on to say that Watson could very well be the most consistently brilliant maker out there. No one has his consistency in quality and very few could ever hope to match the ingenious nature of his design. While he has produced none of my absolute favorite games, I would not be surprised to find him releasing something sooner rather than later which matches the quality of my absolute favorite games. Here's to you, Watson, the man of the hour and the man that, for me, defines this brilliant modern era of fangames. Congratulations on getting this game out here. The love and care you put into it is clear to me and it was well worth all the effort.
[5] Likes
It's always fun to think of the original that came before a sequel when talking about said sequel. Extreme Depths 1 is a nothing special needle game with just a hint of the charm and ingenuity that Watson's future productions would have in spades, even having the ever-present Gamemaker Lite logo in the top left, hanging over like Damocles' sword - yet, the disaster of a shitty game doesn't come is as it's rather decent, all things considered. With that game in mind, how does Extreme Depths 2 fare in comparison?
Well, it's bigger, infinitely more visually impressive, featuring more interesting and enjoyable needle as well as a few fantastic bosses to boot, not to mention a killer soundtrack that keeps the energy up at all times. In short, it is a massively superior game; in long-form, it is a game that somehow manages to expand upon its original iteration in a way that makes you wonder what in God's name could have led to the growth of the Giant Sequoia of Extreme Depths 2. Should you track the lines, the conclusion is clear: take the bricks of the original, and make them a rainbow!
The game is broken up into 8 main stages, 7 of which hold a secret each, a boss that opens the way to an extra stage (which is fully unlocked with those 7 secrets), which upon completion leads you to the TRUE final boss of the game, an outrageously good conclusion to what is already a damn good game. This description, then, acts as a mere façade of the tower that is Extreme Depths 2, and should you take a look beyond these colorful bricks, you'll find yourself a game that both revels in its simplicity and teems with creativity. On the one hand, should you pull back the layers and layers of visual flair in the main stages, you'd have a lot of super simple platforming that, while satisfying to play, does not exactly excite me, having seen more creative and enjoyable platforming elsewhere. All the same, the charm and excitement of the game elevates this simplistic platforming to a degree that allows the game to differentiate itself from more simplistic and basic needle games. All you need to take your platforming to the next level is some style, so says the adage I made up on the spot.
Even so, this "problem" of simplicity can be safely defenestrated upon entering the eight stage, though perhaps do the deed at a lower stage so that it may survive upon impact with the ground below, eight floors would be a mighty fall! In any case, the eight stage introduces more unique and interesting gimmicks, a pattern which persists well into the extra stages beyond, these making up the best bulk of the platforming in the game. I enjoyed each stage greatly, but I think my personal favorite may have to be the cherry cycles stage, as basic as it may be to say. Nonetheless, you're not starved for high quality content once you break into this part of the game.
With that said, the highlight of the game lies with it's bosses, and seeing as this comes from someone that is primarily a needle player, that should stand as VERY high praise! In particular, the final boss is beyond spectacular, being made up of three super interesting phases with (relatively) high difficulty to boot, leading to a rather tense finale that had me wiping sweat off my brow. I won't speak too much on this boss as I just don't feel like using the spoiler function (though I've already stated some spoilers here in the first place, so perhaps it's a bit of a moot point), but suffice it to say, it is definitely one of my favorite fights ever.
I have espoused the virtues of Watson as a maker time and time again, and with the release of Extreme Depths 2, I find myself leaning towards taking it further, going on to say that Watson could very well be the most consistently brilliant maker out there. No one has his consistency in quality and very few could ever hope to match the ingenious nature of his design. While he has produced none of my absolute favorite games, I would not be surprised to find him releasing something sooner rather than later which matches the quality of my absolute favorite games. Here's to you, Watson, the man of the hour and the man that, for me, defines this brilliant modern era of fangames. Congratulations on getting this game out here. The love and care you put into it is clear to me and it was well worth all the effort.
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: 70 70
Mar 10, 2022
wndfl_heaven
For: I wanna ←
For: I wanna ←
Tagged as: align_maze
[1] Like
Rating: 8.8 88
Difficulty: 86 86
Mar 10, 2022
Oothwophen
For: I wanna A147
For: I wanna A147
NO second jump by the platform :(
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 5.0 50
Difficulty: 50 50
Mar 10, 2022
Oothwophen
For: I wanna XYZ Spike
For: I wanna XYZ Spike
decent
Tagged as: Needle
[0] Likes
Rating: 6.3 63
Difficulty: 59 59
Mar 10, 2022
ferrarityy
For: Extreme Depths 2
For: Extreme Depths 2
Tagged as: domu_game
[0] Likes
Rating: N/A
Difficulty: N/A
Mar 10, 2022
entoned
For: I wanna be the Butterfly Eternity
[0] Likes
For: I wanna be the Butterfly Eternity
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.0 70
Difficulty: 70 70
Mar 10, 2022