SomnaBuster

SomnaBuster is a great one-night platformer kind of game. Took me 3 and a half hours to beat, did it all in one sitting. With the Sega soundchip OST and the spinning broom jumps you can do, this felt like an old Sonic the Hedgehog game, just with less emphasis on speed and more on platforming. The levels are designed pretty compact, but throw around a lot of different Sonic staples like springboards, grind rails, and the like. Difficulty was around challenging for me: levels are relatively easy and give you an opportunity to grind up your life count, then bosses can end up being somewhat difficult, but if you've managed to build up a good life stockpile, you should be able to take them down after a handful of tries. At first, I wasn't sure how to think about the game. The first world is easy, as it should be, but still a little too lax. Then the second world comes in, gets a little too excited to throw bottomless pits everywhere, and the boss is a little too spicy when compared to the first boss. Still, the further in I played, the more impressed I was with mechanics and level design, all the way up to the finale. I also wasn't expecting to like the story as much as I did, viewing it as little more than an excuse at first, but again, as the finale started getting closer, it gets more interesting and the very last bit of it all was satisfying. If I had any complaints, it would be that there should've been a way to pan the camera up or down like in other classics so you can tell if there's more above or below you, as there were a little too many leaps of faith as a result. Or maybe, just have the ability to pull the camera out a bit. While the broomburst move is quite fun, using it too liberally will often mean careening into an off-screen obstacle. Overall, very fun, though I got it on sale. $15 USD is maybe a bit high of an ask for a bit less than 4 hours of gameplay that I don't plan to replay, so exercise your own judgement on whether to buy it if not on sale.