the end of my journey is at hand. finally... the last jam game to review. i will not take it lightly
starting off we have a compact but elegant file setup, all three major operating systems included, and for mine of choice, i am presented with nothing but an exe and a pck. clean. direct. so direct that i can immediately understand that the game is made in godot, the underdog engine i'm only seeing more and more. fascinating.
starting the game, i am presented with a simple but effective title screen. i've seen buttons of this design once before in the jam. is it a godot default? fine ones to use, even if it is. much more pleasant than the garish light grey squares of unity. the title itself is a black and red retron 9000, although known under other names as well, contrasted to a dark blue sky and garnished with thematically relevant iconography, although i can't say i recall elly ever using such a cool scythe. ah, and after waiting here so long, what is that but a bit of bad apple deftly woven into the exciting track playing in the background? i cannot wait to get started
ah, first thing i see, dithered background. a wonderful, if not more recently seen as archaic, technique for getting the most out of a gradient without endangering a pixel aesthetic. our heroine, elly nolastname seems to be comfortable enough to fight and move without so much effort necessary as to lift a finger or toe. it is a jam, after all. one must make the most of what assets you have and nobody can complain about a bit of mode seven. her attacks are a mite stilted but clearly powerful, especially with the corkscrew swing follow-up
after a quick tutorial of slashing some chumps that i can only assume are youkai monsters and not makai-native natural animals, we set off. just as soon, i realize elly's strikes are not just immobilizing as a weakness, they provide an otherwise impossible immobility; halting aerial movement. it's a wonderful technique that gives me such a cartoon-esque opportunity to yield gravity itself to reorient myself before landing
ah, and struck down for the first time. there is no indication of health, so i will assume the satisfying bounce is my punishment. right down to the ground, but so long as one has the determination, anything is possible, no? i climb the stairs and attempt once more, this time barely scraping out an escape past the monsters.
that's it then, short and sweet. a classic flash-era ending drops me in a room empty of all but a reset button. it is unusual for me, but i will take that kind open door up on the opportunity. a last hurrah, may it be.
...that was a lie. i'm sorry. i just wanted to see if i could get outside of the map by holding left as soon as i'm dropped in the empty map since i noticed i spawned above it. woe as it is for our dear protagonist, such is the case.
yet i do not regret it at all. keep at it, fellow jammer, and the day may come where elly can escape the abyss