Darkless

⠀

It's alright for a free title. It offers 4 levels, some secrets and some basic plot. It's not bad by any means, but it's not necessarily good either. I think for a free title, it's a recommended, but if it was to ever be changed to a priced game, it would be not recommended.

A fine looking platformer flickering between fun and frustrating. There is a good contrast between the strong and bright colours and the more dim lighting, so everything reads quite well. Platforms and obstacles are decently visible most of the time through their prominent shapes. Additionally there are details in the environment and background that are nice yet don’t distract from the platforming. The music fits the setting very well having a bit of a Halloween vibe to it and is pleasant to listen to while playing. Plus I can always appreciate voice acting, especially if it’s done well as is the case here. Onto the gameplay the controls are responsive and allow for some fine-tuning of the movement such as high and low jumps and precise landings. Each level also has a gimmick of sorts, which given that there are only four levels is good. The boss fights too are all different and consist of little arcade fights, which mix things up nicely. However there are also some negatives, which while not being that many in number, they are rather big ones that notably impacted my enjoyment of the game. My least favourite level hands down is the second. Not being able to see while having to restart the whole level if you lose all three lives, which is quite easy to do if there are a lot of spikes around that you can’t see properly just isn't very fun. It was fine for the picking the path without spikes puzzles, but the one towards the end with the moving spike block was quite annoying to get past. During the final boss fight I encountered a bug where I had to essentially beat him hitless or my shots wouldn’t fly past their spawn point anymore, which was doable but is still a significant bug. Additionally the narration after the final boss showed the same text as after the second boss. Unfortunately there is no option for a middling rating as this game is pretty mixed in my opinion. It is overall fine, it looks nice with its charming family-friendly style, voice acting is an easy bonus point and the levels and boss fights are nicely varied. But it also has those two spots that just made it quite bothersome to finish especially after the trouble that was the second level, which led me to give this a negative review. It’s still playable, enjoyable enough for roughly two thirds of it and free too, but if you are prone to getting frustrated easily I wouldn’t recommend it.