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(2 edits) (+4)

If you go into this game expecting a nice little "gotta go fast" kind of platformer, you'll probably be stumped like I was at first. Why aren't there more rooms? What am I supposed to do next? Who am I anyway?

I'd say EMUUROM is more akin to a puzzle game than a conventional platformer. The whole point of the game is to figure out how to use the environment to your advantage so you can fully explore the world. When I finally realized what I was supposed to do, I felt like a complete dum-dum because the answer had been staring at me all along. D'oh!

Some of the 'bugs' I found were actually features that I could use to advance. There's also the built-in potential to screw things up, but never badly enough to make the demo unfinishable. (Unless you manage to clip into a wall or something)

I enjoyed the sense of mystery, funky bleep-bloop music and chill atmosphere, and felt like I wanted to know more about these creatures and the world they inhabit. I did feel like the game could use a bit more hand-holding in the beginning, but on the other hand, that might take away from the joy of discovering things on your own. You are, after all, exploring an unknown world!

Pok-- I mean Emex completion rate currently at 91%. Some day I'll figure it out.

All that said, I think my favorite part is the main menu.


EDIT: Emex 101.75% complete! I give this game a 101.75/100 ;)

(+1)

Wish I could pin comments lol. I mean, it's an actual cohesive review, I really appreciate it!

So yeah! Many of the bugs that can be used to your advantage are indeed totally unplanned, and in many cases discovered by other people than me. Naturally, I've chosen to leave them in, as they double as hidden cool mechanics and speedrun strats! 

Mystery, exploration and getting lost are indeed important themes for me, so I'm quite cautious about adding any hand-holdy tutorials in the beginning, as it might change the tone - as you speculated. THEN AGAIN, I'd like to make this game accessible to as large audience as possible, so I should address it somehow.

Answer for the accessibility problem could be something I've long yearned to make: a game manual! That's the next thing I'm gonna do for EMUUROM: A Retrobiologist's Field Guide, a short journal that explains the UIs, basic mechanics, behaviour of some EMUUROM and tells the backstory of the protagonist. And if you want to go in blind, it would still be possible; you could just read the guide afterwards! 

Btw, I finally embraced the puzzle aspect of the game and added it as a tag. 

Thanks for the feedback, this is valuable data that makes EMUUROM better still (and maybe more importantly, fills me with determination)!