Dark Water : Slime Invader

Mixed feelings. It could be a perfect journey for me if shorter. It is an interesting platformer with bullet-time archery shooting, each stage is well crafted, the gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. The gran and girl idea is very cool, just like Kratos and Atreus, Amicia and Hugo, we carry someone which seems a burden at first, but once we are ready to take care of each other, we may find they are really good companions. There are in total 46 stages, it clicked for me after 12 stages, kind of a slow beginning. It does introduce new powers and mechanisms gradually, but still slow, after 25 stages, it becomes complicated, but more importantly, it seems the develop doesn't want to miss any idea and ends up adding too much content, which inevitably makes some levels lengthy to me. For example, the throwing grandma part, the giant slimes, it is not difficult in terms of puzzle or action, just slow me down. It is a stage-based game, not metroidvania, but we sometimes have to go back to searching for stars without map, let alone there is no hint which stage has abilities. Arrow charge is slow, which requires waiting. Orb absorbing ability is hidden in later levels. These all harm the fun of a stage-based game. I wish I could see more stages like the one grandma is able to dash, fast and fluent. Like other stage-based platformer, it has limit checkpoints in stage, but I don't understand why some boss/final scene has no checkpoints nearby. There is no game saving midst stage, we have to finish each stage in one sit, it is frustrating after 30th stage, when there is more time-limited chasing. Some basic problems. 1. Can't rebind input, not a good idea for an action-heavy game. 2. Can't drop manually when we hold on to platform edge. 3. Met a bug in 45th stage, one platform disappears sometimes.