Death and Bonemarrow - therealcarott

Final Score: 5/5 Stars

This page is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all I've reviewed today. It reminds me of the old Blogspot pages, it's so well decorated, and something about it brings immense comfort.

The fact that the game has a solid and well-constructed story already increases my overall appreciation for the game. Not only that, but the fact that the creator made most of the assets used shows a significant effort to deliver a good experience to the player.

Upon opening the main menu, I'm faced with a dark, atmospheric menu, with a simple options menu, but the simplicity alone is immensely better than not having one at all.

The first clip before starting shows the love that went into the game; a simple cinematic, but one that already helps immerse the player.

One thing I noticed during the key binding test is that there's no block key, which, whether you like it or not, eliminates the idea of parrying and riposting.

The attack animations aren't the best. And it's possible to attack normally while the character is in the air, which is a bug that could easily be fixed.

Despite appearances, I couldn't get my controller to work with the game, either via Bluetooth or USB. Therefore, I consider controller compatibility nonexistent.

The game's art direction has its own charm; some things seem janky, others not so well-crafted, but something here brings a strange comfort, as if I already knew this game. It manages to mix what isn't so beautiful and turn it into something nostalgic.

I had to low the music extensively, considering it's a loop of at most 1 minute, which becomes irritating very quickly.

BUG: AFTER KILLING THE SLUG WHILE MAINTAINING A LOCK-ON ON IT, AS SOON AS IT DIED, THE LOCK-ON SYMBOL GOT STUCK IN THE AIR.

The pause menu actually pauses the game, another positive point.

The death system doesn't really punish the player for their own death, only taking them back to the last checkpoint. This somewhat alleviates the player's apprehension about taking risky actions or thinking about combat.

At least with the first few enemies, combat becomes rather tedious, because in addition to the animations not being the best for either side, there aren't enough combos or variety to make the combat fluid.

There's really no way to change the Lock-On between enemies, which slightly worsens the fluidity of combat with multiple enemies.

The second type of enemies (the skeletons) is better designed, having faster attacks that force the player to roll more frequently.

The lighting is by far one of the best things this game has to offer visually. The contrast of greens with grays and blues, and the overall lighting, whether artificial or not, is very well done.

The foot IK is a small detail that many don't notice, but to the eyes of a detail-oriented person, it's something that doesn't go unnoticed.

Compared to the skeleton with micro swords, the skeleton with the sword becomes much more predictable and easier to dodge without pressure, since it's as slow as the slug, but adds more combos to the attacks.

The first boss is very predictable, again due to the animations being of poor quality. Not only that, but the boss has a very small repertoire of attacks, with very recognizable patterns.

BUG: IF WE DIE TO A BOSS, UPON RESPAWNING, THE FIGHT DOES NOT END AND THE BOSS'S LIFE DOES NOT RESET. IT CONTINUES EXACTLY FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF.

I was expecting a slightly longer gameplay in line with the story, an expectation that was unfortunately not met.

In general, it's noticeable how much the creator loved both the game and games in general. It's a project that still has a lot of work to do before it becomes truly fluid and replayable. But it has both a very well-planned Art Direction and Game Loop. What leaves something to be desired, I think, is the game's combat itself. While it's not fluid or well-crafted, I find it fun.

Overall, I had fun with the game and didn't find myself counting down the seconds until I could switch to another game and review another, as has happened before with other games I've reviewed.

I'm giving it a much higher rating than the others, not because it's the game of the year, but because it's genuinely fun and the love that went into it is evident.