I bought this game a couple years back, and there it rotted in my library along with several other games until a few months ago, when boredom struck me like it never had before, and I decided to play it.
It was exactly as advertised. Unbelievably hard, punishing, and rage inducing. The controls felt awful and unresponsive, I would always fall and lose all my progress in the stupidest ways imaginable. It was atrocious. one of the worst experiences I've ever had playing a video game.
Then the most bizarre thing happened: I kept playing it.
I don't even know why I did. Hell, I practically hit an unpassable wall in the game. Its the part of the mountain with that narrow.. tunnel? (or however you'd describe it) where you need to pull yourself up using the little lamps coming out of the rocks. It had already easily taken me thirty minutes to get there, but this next part seemed genuinely impossible. It took multiple hours and several play sessions of just trying the same part over and over again.
But eventually, somehow, some way, I did it. I made it past. Now, at this point, I would have liked to say that the rest of the game was a breeze, that with my newfound skill and precision, all the rest of the challenges set before me were a piece of cake.
But you and I both know that's not true.
In fact, the rest of the game was even more challenging. It remained a slow and gradual trudge up the mountain. But slowly, surely, I did in fact trudge to the top of that mountain.
And as I propelled myself up into space, and watched the credits roll, I didn't jump out of my seat, pumping my fists in the air in celebration, I just leaned back in my chair and let out a long sigh of relief.
At that point, though, I didn't put away the game for good, casting it back into the pit of my neglected steam games. I just.. started a new game, and played again.
Because something happened along that first climb. I began to enjoy it. Immensely. The satisfaction of effortlessly clearing obstacles that once seemed impossible was thrilling. It was addictive. I couldn't just beat the game once, I had to do it again, and again, and again. To prove that I had truly mastered it. To spit in the face of the developer of this hellish, awful experience.
He thought he could deter me with the.. "difficulty." HA! Don't make me laugh! This game has gotten so easy, I completed my latest run (12th win) in just thirteen minutes! In your face, Bennett Foddy! your notoriously grueling and needlessly difficult game that usually takes people an average of five hours to complete? I completed it. in thirteen. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. minutes.
Phew, I got a little heated there. Point is, the game is really fun once you get good at it, and you won't want to stop playing. I do intend to get that third achievement. I will beat this game fifty times, just as a massive middle finger to Bennett Foddy himself.
With that being said, Thank you Bennett Foddy, for making this game. I'm sorry It took so long for me to finally play it.
