By charging and striking them, the orbs ricochet around the environment to activate machinery, earning you energy to open the chambers and activate the consoles to bring the machine to life.Īll the while, the titular Creature blinks at various points in the darkness, delivering eerie, creepy and threatening monologues and developing the story.
Set in a dungeon crawler framework, the whole “pinball with swords” mechanic is two-fold: you can both hit energy orbs, which act as the game’s currency (of sorts), while you can also charge them in groups. Then you realize your character can move from the off, the game signals that it’s not going to hold your hand, but it doesn’t really need to. Once you follow the prompt and hit A to start the game, nothing happens the logo remains on the screen and you’re expecting something to load or appear. It does it so well, it might take you a few seconds to realize you’ve even started the game.Ĭreature in the Well surrenders control to you from the first minute, using the power of suggestion to show you how it works. It’s tied together with the intelligent but no less beautiful storytelling manner of Journey.Īt risk of sounding like I’m already breathlessly fawning over Creature in the Well, it really manages to grab you with minimal story exposition from the minute you begin playing. There’s a huge emphasis weird, wonderful technology from a past era that you learn about very slowly, akin to Horizon Zero Dawn and It deploys a pinball mechanic in a well-worked but surprising genre, much like Yoku’s Island Express The world itself combines the isometric beauty of Monument Valley with the desert-bound surroundings of Cosmo Canyon from Final Fantasy VII, or Borderlands It uses bright, crisp and regularly thematic color schemes like Void Bastards
It’s a game that’s not like anything else you’ve seen if anything, it’s a struggle to even compare elements of it to other games.
Yet Creature in the Well is so much more than that. Trying to solve your way through a tough puzzle can easily net you 50K energy without even trying, which allows you to skip entire stretches of dungeons and diminishes the challenge that some of these rooms may have - The respawn system doesn't make sense in the context of the game.The story’s not immediately as clear as the game’s store summary suggests, but you soon find yourself in an experience ostensibly described as a “pinbrawler” and “pinball with swords”.
#Creature in the well upgrade#
The upgrade system is extremely bland, but having a Good: - The dodge and swing mechanics feel fluid - The art style is great Mixed: - The upgrade system is extremely bland, but having a more complicated system would have probably been a hindrance to the rest of the game - The story has an interesting premise, but plays it very straight to the bitter end - A pinball hack and slash in a unique gimmick, but the random element that comes from hitting the ball around leads to countless frustrating moments - The way that camera flys around while traversing dungeons adds some more style to the game, but makes using the minimap very challenging at times Bad: - Very little ability to pull yourself out of a tight situation, as the dodge doesn't grant any invincibility (no clue if there is a hidden item that enables this) - The energy you collect throughout the game isn't finite and is retained between dungeons. Good: - The dodge and swing mechanics feel fluid - The art style is great
0 kommentar(er)
