Horoscopicus

Libra? Libra?? Don't make me laugh. Leo is the true evil. It's Leo. Or brain damage. One of the two.

Fun little platformer, controls are good over all, though the ledge grab takes a bit to get used to. Overall would recommend.

Really enjoyable game, even if i'm only a few levels into this i've been enjoying my time as a die'n'retry fan. Music is fitting, pace is relaxing, and the artstyle is lovely! If you like platformers and retro-themed games, this game is for you!

rly good for first polished game love the ost.

This was quite the enjoyable experience. This game is about a spherical little knight that loves jumping, slashing and petting cute animals. The story is quite simple and there is not much of it. Spherical Knight goes in adventures in levels that are themed in Zodiac signs and fights some mighty, fearsome(and adorable) monsters. The level design of this game is really well thought out. The levels hold elements of each sign that there are based on...Like how the Taurus level is full of bulls or the Cancer level has some crab enemiies that hoot bubbles at you. All level feels unique with its own gimmick and special characteristics, this gives a sense that all these levels are unique in their own way and so these become quite memorable. The gameplay is of a pretty standard platformer, inspired by the classic old school platformers of the NES and SNES eras. The pmovement in the game feels fluid and good and so do the controls. The jumping physics work well and are consistent with the flow of the game. The combat and the platforming itself can feel very simple (which is understandable, considering the style of the game) but hacking and slashing feels satisfactory and the platforming alsofeels good. This game also adopts the Megaman method of level selection in which you can pick whichver the order of levels you wnat to complete, which is great in my book! The only complaint I have about the gameplay is with the inconsistent difficulty. Some levels feel very relaxing and chill...kind of like you are playing a Kirby game that just wants you to have your all mighty powerful spherical hero having a wholesome and easy time specially since the levels have checkpoints and have unlimited lives..... AND THEN there are 2 levels that feel like the "DARK SOULS OF PLATFORMING GAMES" where you have to be very precise in your platforming and sword swings and a simple mistake can make you have to do a big segment of the game again. I mean.. you can pick the order of the stages which can kind of combat the problem of the consistency in difficulty but if you do a random order of the stages, you will surely get some fun surprises. Being a 2D platformer inspired by old school games, the 2D graphics are very cute. The game has lots of colors and the stages feel vibrant withy some beautiful landscapes.The game loks very good and it made me much more curious in learning more about this game's world. I loved the enemy design and the "Goombas" of this game (the happy little stars) are lovely. The game also has a feature I found to be very neat in which you can change the colors and the look of the frame around the game. (as you can see in Horoscopicus' pictures on is game page) The music of this game is VERY good. It is relaxing in most times and it conveys the feeling of a relaxing and whimsical adventure. I l enjoyed the Gemini and Aquarius stages the most. I can see myself going back to the game to listen more to these songs. All in all...While I did recieve the game for free, I think 5€ for this game is a very good deal. The game is around 4-5 hours long (and some more hours if you want to do all the achievemnts. I recommend this game if you like Old School platformers with (mostly) chill vibes and cute graphics! If you feel like this is your jam, please do give Horoscopicus a try! :D

Its really fun and decently challenging! my only complaint is that there isnt more!

As a guy who doesn't usually like platformers, this game was surprisingly highly enjoyable. It reminds me of Shovel Knight, which is another exception to me, and it's why I was somewhat more interested in this to start with. TLDR: Buy it if you like platformers and are willing to kill some time. Start with the Libra level if you're not a coward. Now, this game's very short, and someone more accustomed to platformers will most likely complete this far faster than me, but there are some neat collectible pets to find, so it does encourage looking around and making the most of this short adventure. However, I believe the quality of time spent matters quite a bit, and I feel like all the time spent on this was meaningful. I had fun all the way through, even when I got stuck on a particular platforming section, because I knew it was all my own fault, and not some cheap gimmick the game's throwing at me. So, with that considered, it may be short, but the price is fair for the experience given. Next, the gameplay! This is honestly what I dreaded the most going into this. I am not a fan of platformers, and especially not platformers where I feel like my movement isn't quite right. The last thing I want to play is a game where I have to face off against the game's enemies and obstacles, but also my own character's clunkiness. And I feel as though platformers that try to be "retro" suffer the most from this. BUT! This game surprised me in a very pleasant way! The knight has jumping that feels pretty easy to control, ledge-grabbing mechanics that are somewhat fickle but work just fine when you get the hang of them, pretty good air maneuvrability and the ability to actually swing a sword in more than just the direction you're facing. This combines into a game that plays much more fluidly than it looks! With the movement being so natural, it becomes so much more fun to practically speedrun through the levels, if you're good enough. Finally, I'll talk about level design. This once again reminded me of Shovel Knights at certain points, like the bull-riding levels being comparable to the beetle-riding in SK, but this might just be an inevitable coincidence from different level theme tropes. Honestly, overall, level design isn't frustrating or anything, so I'll say that overall, nothing too outstanding, but still fun to play through nonetheless. WITH ONE EXCEPTION. A level that stands out so much, I have to talk about it. What I consider to be the hardest level in this game: LIBRA. I believe the developer had a traumatic encounter with someone of the Libra horoscope, because this level hurts. It hurts in a good way. It's utterly genius, as it takes the typical stupid platformer shtick of "haha, there's this column/wall that comes down and crush you if you don't move at the right time" and makes it actually fun and not this complete garbage concept that only serves to waste the player's time that I've seen in other platfo- okay, getting off track. It's similar to the concept I described, but instead of it based on a time interval, forcing you to wait, the objects move up and down every time you jump! This grants the player complete control over the entire pace of the level, and I LOVE that! Because when you inevitably fail due to how tricky it is, it's not the game's fault. It can't be the game's fault. It is your fault. No one else's. I started with this level, and it took me a while to beat due to its difficulty, and I was thus led to believe that the rest of the game would be that difficult. I was ready to spend about a couple days on completing everything with that assumption! However, turns out, that's just an unnatural difficulty spike. One could take this as a negative: if the rest of the game is fairly simple but one section in particular jumps up a few layers of Hell, isn't that kind of inconsistent? Sure, but...in my opinion, this just makes the game far more memorable and made me appreciate the ability to absolutely glide through the other levels. In Libra, I was born and turned into a warrior. Every other level was absolutely a blast to destroy afterwards with my Spartan training. This game was cute and fun in its own right: Libra made it special. It made me realize that while I had gotten the hang of the movement, I did not master it. And it forced me to. ...Anyway, yeah, that's it, really. Oh yeah, a final critique, since I've been a little too nice so far: Libra, once again, beautiful level that makes you dictate the pace of it. I expected the rest of the game to follow suit, and...sure, everything else was fine, for the most part...except Sagittarius, kind of. I feel like the non-aiming bows should fire based on motion detection, not on an interval. If they already are and I just didn't notice it, ignore this entire paragraph, I guess, but I'll keep going with my point anyway: it would follow the same cool "set your own pace" philosophy if you could juke out the bow into firing, giving you the window of time to slip right in. Rushing in would be punished just like it currently is, but without the added annoyance of having to wait for the thing to actually let you pass. OK, now I'm done. Overall, 10/10 because there was a Terraria bunny easter egg and I am biased.