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Vicctre Tamaj rated Astropods Starside Glaze

A downloadable game for Windows.

Another Kirby inspired game? HELL YEAH! Highly recommend giving it a shot! Worst part about it is I wanna play more . I've been meaning to get to this game for quite some time, and its been really cool to see how it has evolved and changed ever so slightly. 

First off, the presentation and polish are fantastic. Everything looks great and fits right into the dream aesthetic that fans like me love to see. The games general mechanics feel really good, though not exactly beginner friendly. Love all the backgrounds based on food, its just another touch of charm to the whole thing. Sprites for characters are detailed and animate well, thanks to the cute squash and stretch effects added. Attacks feel like they pack a real PUNCH to em, which makes combat so satisfying to do. The movement felt very clean, auto run was def something to get used to, but that aside, having a dash in every direction and dash combo attacks that granted alot of air time and movement options was super fun to mess around with. Both characters felt distinct enough from eachother, and complement their playstyles very well. Arco (Blue) was only really used for getting gold on each challenge, as his movement options were awesome. Hemi, my default, was used for Bosses to make quick work and break through their defenses. Once I understood you could grab enemies and objects, it was SO over for them. Its really fun to grab bosses and toss them around aiming for higher combos scores to stack on the damage.  Each stage having its own time attack built in is also awesome! Its so much fun to go for gold and experiment with badges to make a build that fits your current situation, like adding a triple jump and increasing fast fall speed to get through stages as fast as possible. 

I don't have many complaints here from what I played, when the worst part about a game is that there isn't more to do, then that's a sign that you got something special on your hands. ANYWAYS one gripe I had was specifically with Arco (the blue character) getting stuck on walls frequently. I sometimes would barely graze the lip of a ledge, then he would wall cling, usually leading to me taking damage from an enemy right above me. It caused me to take a lot more damage than I was anticipating. Second, enemies generally had this weird feeling about them. I feel they lack some more readable anticipation to their attacks. I found myself taking damage and sometimes wasn't sure who was hitting who, only to find we traded lol. Its not as big of a deal when having 2 characters basically gives you an extra life to swap to incase of danger. Its was forgiving enough, but sometimes I found it hard to read some enemies, but I am again not sure if that will just come with time playing and mastering the game. They all moved relatively quickly, def quicker than I was expecting, As a faster paced game, it might just have to be something you gotta get used to. 

The game is super well made, and clearly has alot of passion behind it, and I look forward to even more. This is a 4.5/5 from me, but ofcourse Itch wont let me