Pilfer: Story of Light

Can't wait for Pilfer 2: Tale of Two where Pilfer meets his female counterpart.

Imagine a cheap knockoff of Super Mario Galaxy you bought off Temu, and you have this game. The game doesn't even try to be original at times, like how the second world is beehive-themed... I can't see any reason to play this over Super Mario Galaxy. The physics and everything else just feel so cheap and dull.

[H1][b]Pilfer: Story of Light[/b][/h1] [H1][b]Time Played:[/b][/h1] 11.3 Hours (At least 4 of these were in the last two challenges, though :|) [H1][b]Last Played:[/b][/h1] 21st of September, 2025 (Earth, Wind, and Fire Day) Admittedly, I was expecting this to be a breezy, fun, romp, and while I did get that for some of the game, the experience both delughted...and infuriated. [H1][b]Yay:[/b][/h1] + I love how nonchalant the wisp was about the whole “friends trapped in crystals” line. No urgency, just, as matter-of-fact as “sunny skies today” + Gets up and running quickly with minimal cutscenes. + Those that were present reminded me of Kirby 64 + Hub World + Several of my favourite level archetypes are represented. + ...and the art is quite charming to me. + One of the later worlds was absolutely gorgeous to me. + Seeing the hub world change as you beat levels was also very interesting. + Appearance customisation. + Not all bosses were a “Wait until you can damage it 3 times” affair. + Lumi can light various torches, and other sconces. This serves no purpose outside of personal amusement, but amused, I was. + While initially heavily-derivative of the 3D Mario games, the latter sections introduced some things I don't remember from that series. + Secret surprise after beating the game [H1][b]Meh:[/b][/h1] ~ No option to lock the camera behind you, and have it rotate with your character. ~ Sound mixing is not the best. ~ The last option in the Graphics tab is off-screen, but I find the lack of being able to see it more amusing than frustrating. ~ As stated above, the game is derivative of the 3D Mario games, but as none of those are on Steam, that means this is as close as you can get. ~ I Sometimes could not use Lumi/attack immediately after landing, needing to jump dash to use them again. ~ You need to hold the direction away from the wall to jump, meaning you can't just tap A to do so. ~ Slides are incredibly slow, making jump dashing the better controlling, faster option. [H1][b]Nay:[/b][/h1] - Given the labelling of them as “Challenges” rather than “Tutorials” I assumed they were supposed to be beaten after the game. This is not the case, and they teach you moves that are not taught elsewhere. Thus, I had to figure out they were able to be done when watching a video of someone getting the “Flightless” achievement. - You also unlock these challenges via optional pages hidden in the levels. Completionists would likely already have them, but if you only care about achievements, of which none are present for grabbing all of said item, you'll probably think Flightless impossible, as it is without those moves... - No indication the globe-created environments are timed until you fail one. - They also don't give you a timer in any way, or it was otherwise too quiet to hear. No flashing/colour changing to indicate this, either. - What are supposed to be high-impact ground pounds have neither weight, nor impact behind them, and are missing a lead-up. You do fall slightly faster, but that's it. - Hard to gauge where you are, due to the shadow beneath you being quite small, and not visible on some things. - When you see the “Lumi can be launched at this” indicator, they do not lock onto it, meaning you can miss, which causes undue frustration. - You also have a cool down, so when you miss something due to being slightly off, you can't immediately dive back on. - No indication whatsoever you're supposed to use Lumi to make platforms solid in one of the worlds, making the activation criteria stumbled upon, rather than told, or figured out. - Sometimes, jumping on rail will see you sliding back to where you just came from, rather than forward. - While some ledge climb is present, it's very inconsistent, and you sometimes need to jump at a wall, jump off it, turn around mid-air, double jump, then dive atop it fort things that look like they could be mantled. - You get stunned on taking damage, so invincibility frames are almost up before you can even move, leading to double damage. - Final boss, and ending was a total anti-climax to me, and ending, contrived. - My coin count, which I didn't spend a single coin of, as I was waiting for the post-game to do so, resets after beating the game - This, little did I know, was the prelude to the game becoming absolutely unplayable. Challenge 3 is all about B-hopping, however, the first real challenge of said stage requires momentum that is completely impossible to build. Sure you can get to the end by crouch walking across the side-face of the spikes... - ...but once that obstacle is exploited past, you figure out how wildly-inconsistent slide jumping is, because the same inputs at the same place suddenly see you sometimes losing all momentum for no reason at all, much less a good one. Thankfully, lowering things to 30 FPS, made the momentum from dashes seem greater. Challenge 4 though, was almost-impossible, and my getting through it seemed like dumb luck more than skill. - As such, these are examples of the game demanding precision the game does not give you. - The difficulty spike here also betrays the tone of the game. - Also, this is your reward for grabbing all the pages: pain, suffering, seemingly-untested levels, and bad design. [H1][b]Verdict:[/b][/h1] Were it not for the end challenges, I would likely have recommended this, and while I still do to non-completionists, if you must get all achievements, and grab every item, stay as far away as possible. As I am one of those people, I cannot give this a thumbs up, pained though I may be. In spite of that, though, I am still very much avoiding placing this in the negative categories as a result of the good. [H1][b]Placed in:[/b][/h1] 3: Merit-Mixed

I've been sleeping on such a gem of a game for FAR too long. Mario 3d world, a splash of Mario galaxy, indie spice, and movement tech bundled up in an adorable package of a lil raccoon? I was sold from the start. This game doesn't hide that it's influenced at all either, it opens with a storybook and musicbox before bringing you to the hub which has an orchestra. Additionally, it fills out more and more with colourful characters as you visit and complete different worlds! The movement takes a bit of getting used to but once you learn that the dive resets built up momentum and is better used as a precision tool where the slide [b]is[/b] your momentum building tool, a lot more of the game's shortcuts open up. If you like cute 3d platformers in the style of Mario 3d world I [i] HIGHLY [/i] suggest giving this gem a try. My only gripe is the lack of OST anywhere for me to listen to, I want it so bad.

Overallp, this game was genuinly suprisingly good and definitively reminded me of mario galaxy alot ! my main issue with it is how a lot of the lvl feels too "samy" in deisgn and the some movement could feel a bit more responsive (mainly sound-wise) , otherwise its worth it

Adorei o jogo!!! Ele tem claras referencias em ao Mario Galaxy, aposto que ele deve ter tentado fazer os planetas em algum prototipo. A progressão dele é aquilo colecione X itens para pode desbloquear a fase Y, um tipo de progressão que gosto muito. Cada fase apresenta um novo desafio e praticamente todos interessantes, só teve um desafio que achei chato, o de se equilibrar em um tronco boiando. As lutas contra chefes são ok, o combate nesse jogo é nada demais, mais os momentos de plataforma são ótimos. Talvez vc estranhe a lentidão do personagem de inicio, mais com o tempo vc se acostuma e não faz falta o a pouca velocidade dele. Agora um problema serio do jogo é que em vários momentos vc tem que acerta uns objetos com seu ataque, o jogo tem auto mira, só que ela me deixou na mão várias vezes. Excelente jogo, parece que esse desenvolvedor já fez jogos semelhantes vou seguir ele agora.

Painfully underrated.

"Mom, i want Mario Galaxy" "We have Mario Galaxy at home" Haha. But in all seriousness, it is fun and the new levels introduce some new platforming mechanics that did help me wanna keep going. It's a budget platformer, and there is nothing wrong with that. Give it a try for a short collectathon.