Connie and the Essence of Chaos

A great rayman-inspired game that really understands the core of what made the original charming and fun, creating a new experience that wears its inspiration on its sleeve without being a carbon copy with a new coat of paint. I've had a blast with it so far and can't wait to see what the late game has in store! (Played through the first world and part of the second as of leaving this review. Most was from the demo shortly before release so I have ~2 hours of playtime more than what's listed above)

I like it. As of writing this, I'm still playing it. The aesthetic is too girly and Connie's design is kind of gooner-coded, but these things won't deter me. Sound effects are too loud out the gate; I turned them down in Options, but the circus level's sound effects were still loud which was both annoying and amusing because, like, how appropriate that the circus would be uncompromisingly overstimulating. The platforming is fun and tight with many nods to its predecessors like Rayman and Donkey Kong Country. The arcade has actual mini games on the cabinets. Nice touch. The platforming section in the first village was a fun difficulty spike. I hope to see more of that in the late game. The 3D overworld is really nice, reminds me of The Adventures of Cookie and Cream.

I haven't played the game much yet, but I've totally fallen in love with it. The graphics, animations, and gameplay are so awesome. I definitely recommend it.

I'll admit from the start that I've never played a Rayman game, 2D or 3D (or even Rabbids!) for more than a few minutes, so I can't speak at all to the comparisons to that series. With that out of the way, Connie and the Essence of Chaos is very good! It's a very traditional sort of 2D platformer, focused on enemies, level gimmicks, and a number of special power-ups gained over the course of the game that add new types of challenges. The control is simple and very tight. Connie is not particularly fast under normal circumstances, but the game's levels handle it well and don't make you waste time walking with nothing happening. Bosses, too, work pretty well, largely because it's up to you to rain punches on them at any time in most cases rather than waiting for weak points to appear. It's a nicely challenging game; there's no lives, so you only have to survive from checkpoint to checkpoint, but the game pretty quickly starts testing your skills over the core jumping & punching mechanics and the various "Essence" power-ups gained across the game. Be patient with yourself and the game! It's also quite a nice looking game. The environments are the main visual standout, and have a clean pixel art look with great color choices. The characters, between enemies, bosses, and other NPCs are as charming as they need to be for a game like this. My main pain point of this game would have to be its music. Honestly, a lot of it isn't very good. Now, the instrumentation is largely fine; it has that classic feel of mid-90's games that didn't use full CD audio, where it's all sequenced instrument samples. The problem is that the compositions are extremely lacking. More specifically, the melodies are uninteresting, with no real progression to speak of, nor interesting use of backing instrumentation to shift the tone of the song as it moves on. I ended up turning the music off entirely at some points because I was just that sick of songs that had an okay backing beat underneath a melody that basically never went anywhere, notes in a scale just plonking around with no purpose. Some of it manages to feel okay enough, especially later in the game, but it can get very tedious. (Also one level had an extremely loud rendition of Entrance Of The Gladiators, the famous public domain circus song, that I had to mute immediately because I knew it would drive me to violence if it lasted any longer.) A lot of platformers in this vein go far with really memorable soundtracks, so it's a bummer that Connie fumbles in that regard. As of now I've completed the main game with 83% according to my save file, and I do not plan on making that 100% because I generally don't do that. It's a fun and fairly lengthy 2D platformer that will put you to the test, and if you can put up with the sedate music I definitely recommend it.

A brutally difficult, slow paced and exploration-based platformer inspired by the gameplay of Rayman 1 and the personality of Kirby (though the humor is a lot more mature than what the art style would make you think!), that's not afraid to show its teeth and push mechanics to their absolute limits. Its difficulty is not for everyone, and the game does occasionally show some rough edges on its 100% process. But as a fan of Rayman 1 this was a very welcome experience and I'm glad this type of gameplay can finally find its footing in a modernized product. Easily one of my new favorite platformers!

A very, very solid platformer that understands what makes its inspirations so great. Connie never quite blew me away, but it never bored me either- save for a somnambulant World 1 that pulls its punches way too much, the two dedicated water levels which were extremely boring AND frustrating, and the consistent drudgery of revisiting this game's massive levels to find missed collectibles. The ability to re-enter a specific section rather than having to go all the way from the start would be greatly appreciated. My biggest disappointments lie in the presentation. Rye's art is still a little amateurish (though vastly improved from Rayman Redemption), but my real gripes are in the design of the world. After relatively clever takes on "bitter" and "salty" worlds, the realms of Cuisinia quickly dip into the giant sweets typical of food themed video game levels- I was willing to forgive it in the "sweet" world, but I was very disappointed when the obligatory ice world was full of ice cream despite supposedly being "savory". Meanwhile, the "sour" world, despite having a fundamentally clever idea (a casino themed after fancy alcohol) buries it beneath typical casino level trappings for the most part. I was hoping to be much more endeared to this little universe than I ultimately was. Then there's the music, which... ok, I wasn't banking on it being good given Redemption's soundtrack was, to put it generously, less than stellar, but... man, what an uneven soundtrack. World 1 and 2 bombard you with clown honking, boring at best and unlistenable at worst, until things start being serviceable in world 3 and continue to marginally improve from there. Heck, there were some songs I sorta felt like coming back to! It's all programmer music through and through, but you can hear Rye start to figure out what goes into a good song as you go along. I just wish he could've gone back and re-done some of his earlier stuff with his newfound skill. The writing in a game like this is not important in the slightest, but I still found it odd how awkward and stunted the whole thing is- very clearly ESL. Having natural feeling conversations and effective comedy isn't a must for this sort of thing, but for a game with so much dialogue and flavor text, it certainly would've been nice. I still ended up quite endeared to Connie, a certified girlypop with a devil-may-care attitude that bounces nicely off the various maniacs and scumbags she runs into, but I unfortunately can't say the same for her extremely bog-standard fairy companion Plum. (side note- why is Plum always visibly following Connie when she has zero gameplay relevance?) If you're just here for a good ass platformer, Connie will comfortably deliver. if you're here for something truly exceptional... well, keep an eye on Ryemanni. Such a graceful leap into the indie sphere will surely be followed with even grander accomplishments.

Genial! Súper recomendado.

Okay I grew up playing Rayman, it was literally one of my favorite games ever as a kid, so this caught my eye immediately. And it honestly feels like such a love letter to Rayman. Gameplay wise it's got that jumping, collecting, fighting combo like Rayman, and it's just really fun and cute to play through. Even the little bunny enemies are so cute, I love them. Connie is honestly the cutest, she's so girly, I'm obsessed with her whole design. The art style is SO pretty, I'm obsessed with the colors. Every single environment is so different and gorgeous, like each world has its own whole aesthetic instead of feeling repetitive. If you grew up loving Rayman like I did, you need to play this one