KilaFlow

Was very overwhelming to start, but once you learn the game and its objectives its great fun to get into the aptly named flow state. For that and its appealing PC aesthetic, I really admire this game. However, around world 3, gimmicky levels got very frustrating and I don't have fun with the game when I'm not full-clearing objectives. Definitely see the issues people are having with depth perception especially when a lot of levels switch the camera angle or to vertical levels which just don't work as well. I got all the objectives thru world 4. Finishing 4 was such a slog, and in world 5 it felt like more of the same. Decided to drop the game from there, unfortunately.

I am immensely disappointed that I don't love this game, but having gone into it knowing I love 3D platformers, time trials, and speedy setpieces like Sonic and Toree, the sad thing to say is that this game feels unbelievably miserable to me. Movement feels clunky due to needing to spin to get any amount of speed at all, so the flow feels very stop-and-start and difficult to get used to. Depth perception is nigh impossible with how many things are floating around in voids and how sizes often vary and how colorful the game (which, normally a positive, leads to difficulties in judging based on shadow). Boss design is usually extremely jank, and a lot of the gimmicks and mechanics are really frustrating and janky. Going upside-down, magnet and fan hitboxes, instant death enemies, nonsensical pole jumping, too-abrupt teleportation pads, the list goes on. The game being a speedy platformer is fun, but too much precision often winds up being required, making even just beating most of the levels to feel like a chore and a slog, and I cannot imagine trying to replay and perfect a lot of them. I had to give up on time trials, especially with how the times themselves seemed to be completely broken half of the time. The game recording different times for what I actually achieved vs what it saved, certain keyring medals just seeming randomly impossible (or at least, so unreasonably strict compared to the same medal requirements in other levels that it may as well be impossible), and random middling medals just being completely inaccessible for some reason? Not to mention, the game has no explanation of how to get half of its bonus collectibles, leaving it to be exceedingly confusing and nonsensical at the start of the game. I STILL don't have any clue what the darker keys even are, let alone what they do (if anything). There's also a lot of information overload. Arguably it's just a skill issue on my part, but the backgrounds are really busy, to the point where it can be hard to tell what's going on, and in later levels when multiple mechanics are utilized all at once, I got a headache trying to parse what was going on in most stages. You can probably argue a lot of my problems (especially a lot of my unmentioned nitpicks) being skill issues, I'm just not good enough for the game, which is fine. Nicher products that stay true to their vision are something I will always advocate for vs trying to overemphasize accessibility. However, this doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to recommend a game that feels too difficult and niche and expectant of the player, especially when it's so janky and buggy in certain areas and mechanics. If people love the game (and people do), that's great for them, but I can't in good faith recommend playing it unless you're really confident in giving it a try. It sucks, because I really want to love the game. The vibes are great, the aesthetic is fun, the characters are cute, the music is great, it's got a lot of care and love put into the game. I helped kickstart the game, I even know the creator of it, and it's super impressive what Chaoko accomplished with the game. None of its design concepts are inherently bad, either (except maybe the upside-down segments), but it just feels like the execution of mechanics just fails to fully deliver on what it wanted to be. I started out trying to do as much as I could in levels, and got so angry from the first world that I already had to stop and cut down on my engagement with the game, and that only worsened throughout the stages until I was just striving for the bare minimum and STILL barely scraping by. Ultimately, it just doesn't feel like a fun game. And if I view it as a game that just isn't for me, then it still is immensely disappointing and I still can't recommend it because this kind of platformer is my bread and butter and if it's not for me, then, like... who IS it for if not for a player like me?