Whoa, using the Ninja Rope in this Worms game feels so good!
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Joke one-liner-type review aside, this game is absolutely solid as an action platformer.
If Celeste was 40% puzzle, 50% execution, 10% reflex, SANABI is more 10% puzzle, 30% execution, 60% reflex.
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(Non-spoilery) Story review
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SANABI has a plot that does a good job of making you wonder what the heck is going on and a heart-warming story that I admit had me a little teary at the end. They were good at timing dialogue cut-offs when the scenes called for it, which does a lot to convey urgency or abruptness.
The translator did a fine job, but you can pick up a few translational hiccups here and there, as well as some mildly jarring grammatical errors that make you go "let me re-read that sentence so I can understand what the character was saying". They were also a little too heavy handed with the stylised font at times; making an entire sentence wave-y or shaky does hamper your ability to read it, as opposed to emphasising certain key words only.
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Gameplay review
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For the purposes of context, I played this game on Hard mode. Without any huge spoilers, the entire game revolves around you using, in essence, a glorified grappling hook. Learning to optimise your movement is downright enjoyable, and if you've played Worms 2 or Worms Armageddon, you've already received a great primer on how to utilise rope mechanics which is central to this game's main gameplay mechanic. Using a mouse felt essential to me, as the game does demand some precision, and I honestly wouldn't know how you would achieve the same precision with a controller.
In terms of polish, there certainly is a good amount of it in this game. They were careful to craft levels with gradual learning curves, and gave you ample opportunity to learn new mechanics in relative isolation before throwing you into pressured environments utilising those mechanics. There are on-screen tutorials to help you grasp basic controls, but most learning experiences come from environmental interactions, which is a huge plus in my book.
Regarding difficulty, while the game does have a relatively gentle curve, there were some spots with sudden spikes which felt a little jarring to me. They put a lot of care in ensuring you can view environmental interactables from a distance away so you can plan out your moves, but there are some levels where a leap of faith is required, which I feel runs counter to how the rest of the game was designed.
A bigger offender is boss design. Some boss patterns or moves felt extremely unfair, and caused a great deal of frustration. I don't often yell at my screen when playing difficult games; I've toughed through my fair share of them, but in SANABI, two bosses gave me a distinct feeling of unfairness during the fight, getting me frustrated enough to yell expletives at my screen and does unfortunately tarnish my perception of the game.
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Soundtrack and sound design
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I'm not the best person to look for regarding soundtrack or sound design discussion. The most I can say about the sounds is that the sounds weren't jarring to me and fit the actions taken on screen (by you or your enemies) quite well. Maybe they could have given gunfire sounds a little more oomph.
In terms of the soundtrack, I have no complaints. It's not absolutely stellar, but it's quite all right. The BGM in levels fit quite nicely with the whole cyberpunk theme, there are tense tracks for tense moments, and there is emotional BGM when the occasion calls for it. Not bad by any means.
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Final words
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Overall, a rock-solid game and an easy recommendation from me for anyone who likes action platformers. I'm not a huge fan of giving numerical scores, but if I had to give one,
This game scores an 8/10.
