Balthazar's Dream

Ehh. The best part of the game is when the dog gives you a thumbs up at a checkpoint. 3/5

I got it for free

Der Hund ist der beste Freund des Menschen. Ein Paltformer in schöner Pixel Grafik. Die Musik untermalt die rührende Geschichte zwischen dem Hund und dem sterbenden Jungen. Der Schwierigkeitsgrad ist auf Normal und sollte keine Probleme bereiten. Negativ: Gegen Ende kommen einige Space Shooter Level. Da hätte ein Level gereicht. Kam mir irgendwie vor als ob da einfach nur was in die Länge gezogen werden sollte. Da Bilder mehr als Tausend Worte sagen. Hier mein Let´s Play zum Spiel: https://youtu.be/gMwc_nXSP6Y

Toporne sterowanie, intro przed startem gry najlepszą cutscenką (przynajmniej na tyle na ile poznałem zawartość). Są lepsze zapchajdziury.

Absolutely love it, love the art-style. the controls are tight, jump is on key-down and not key-up (so many games muck this up). The game is endearing, it grabs you right from the start. The game play keeps varying, plenty of different enemies. Nice little cut-scenes. And for the price it doesn't have to be long, I think it's a steal. I'm surprised this game has negative reviews, this is one of the best platformers I've played for a long time. You will die a lot, this is balanced out by there being regular check points, when you die, you don't go back far. A small criticism is that there are many leaps of faith, but that's just the style of the game, you run, die and you learn how not to die.

Really great game, I enjoyed my time with it. Got some laughs and feels. Art style is Great, The music is great as well! Though not for the feint of heart. Difficulty is based on the players ability to have patience. You get hit once, you reset to the last checkpoint/begining of the level. One thing I think is worth mentioning- Sometimes it felt the hitboxes were too big or not matching of the sprite. But in most cases was fine. A solid 2:30:00 game. Worthy of its price.

I'll start off with the cons, because that's how the game starts: the very first chapter (out of ten) is undoubtedly the worst. Even though the story, music and pixel art are already great from the very beginning, the gameplay feels unfinished and almost unbearable. Luckily, there are many checkpoints and infinite immediate respawns. But still, I almost gave up on the game (like many did, if you check the negative reviews). But I'm glad I didn't, because it does gets better in both gameplay and story - and the later sections and ending are surely worth the while. To my own surprise, I actually ended up finishing the whole game in one sitting (which took me around 3 hours). The game is weirdly divided into 10 so-called "chapters" of varying lenght, but there are actually around 4 "levels". I'll try not to spoil them, because the third one is especially great (both gameplay and storywise). But it goes like this: 1- HOUSE LEVEL: the very first, supposed to be a tutorial of sorts but actually the hardest and worst of them all. Some good ideas but badly executed. It feels like the game is going to be a mess and it takes way too long. Luckily, it does eventually end and the real game begins. 2- FOREST LEVEL: the second level feels like the first true level of a proper story-driven plarforming game, and there's a little twist in the story that makes it even better. There are still bad sections with weird difficulty spikes, but there are also great moments that got me immersed and felt properly manageable. I stopped dying for weird, unfair reasons, and it finally felt like it dependend on my own skill. The ending for that level is pretty great. 3- UNEXPECTED LEVEL: after the fast-paced finale of the previous level, there's a gameplay twist that come just in time to slow things down a little. It's still challenging, but it still feels a little like resting after what came before. Later on, there's another gameplay twist and things get fast again. It's just nice game design. However, I gotta say the fast-paced finale of this level may take a little too long and is not as cool as the previous one. But it's not bad either. Also, at that point, the story has changed from its darker dreamy tone to something a little more fun and lighthearted. 4- FINAL LEVEL: the final level has a few different sections and a few nice epilogue-style moments. It's also refreshing in terms of story and environment. However, gameplay is a little uninspiring at first. But it does get better and the ending of the story is just great. It's not as serious as I imagined at first (that forest level is kind of gloomy), but it manages to be both emotional and funny. The whole thing is just a nice payoff for the adventure. (P.S.: the final challenges may be a little too easy compared to the struggles in the early game, but I actually liked it better that way - I was engaged in the story conclusion, but not really willing to have a super final challenge at that point) All in all, its surely an indie project that could use some polishing, but it did have many nice things to keep me going after the bad start. I'd say the core of the game is in the second level (the challenges of the dreamy forest etc.), but it was a nice surprise to see the changes in tone and gameplay towards the end. By the time I finished the game, I had good taste in my mouth. I can't believe I'm saying this after almost giving up in the beginning, but I actually kinda miss the game already. I don't think it should be any longer (it could actually be a little shorter), but I'd surely play a sequel to those dreamy doggo adventures. It was a nice experiece overwall and I do recommend it for those who like indies and dogs, which is surely my case.

The game mechanics are somewhat irritating. The ending is hella dumb. It felt much longer than it actually is. Honestly, I kind of hated it. I still felt compelled to complete it though. If you really like dogs and 2D pixel indie platformers, you'll probably find some enjoyment in this and the price per amount of content is fair. So overall, I'll recommend it.