Exoder

Fever Dream Gameworks definitely love to inject high difficulty into their games because god damn is this game absolutely remorseless. The first stage actually took me longer to beat than any other stage in the game. I'm not gonna lie, I don't usually play these types of games much but it was still a rather fun (with some frustration mixed in) experience. Shame that your score gets set to 0 if the abomination that is coming for you does catch you because I was doing pretty damn well before stage 5 (where the difficulty ramps up a fairy bit from then onwards)if I do say so myself which is when I finally got caught. Positives - -Art style- What can I say, I love the aesthetics, it's why I was drawn to Marrow (Their other game) in the first place. It's so gritty and raw, I love it. -Soundtrack- Really great soundtrack, some heavily atmospheric pieces and some which get the adrenaline pumping. I'm listening to some tracks now after just beating the game. -Gameplay- Very fast paced, v...

I tried writing a review for this game and it ended up becoming so long I hit the steam review character limit while I was still describing the first level. I think I'll try another way of sufficiently describing my thoughts on this game. But for now all I'll say is, this game is pretty beautiful. It blew my expectations away for a super unknown indie game I had never heard of... though to be fair, I love that stuff. The art and general vibe of the game definitely drew me in pretty hard with its retro style, its difficulty, its beautiful visuals and sound. The small bits of story I gleamed from it were also very interesting and hit pretty well into what I like in narratives. I love the art and music a lot. The developer has an incredible art style, it's very sort of raw and grimy yet in the cool retro way (the cover art is also very impressive! Maybe a weird thing for me to point out but I like doing art myself and am a bit of a nerd about that). The in game pixel art gets especially...

[h1][b]The good:[/b][/h1] - Upbeat retro music and visuals - Some neat design ideas and concepts - Challenging bosses [h1][b]The bad:[/b][/h1] - The checkpoint system can end a run - Seizure-inducing flash and strobe effects on certain stages - Extremely annoying level design and enemy placement with bullets everywhere - Bugs and weird hitboxes - The first level of the is one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever had since the days of Atari and made 85% of the players give up before even facing the first boss [hr][/hr] After finishing this game, I can say that Exoder got some neat concepts and ideas that would be enough to turn it into a hidden gem, but unfortunately it falls ways too deep into the masocre genre with some strikingly bad decisions. Let's start with the elephant in the room: the entry bar. Beating this game or unininstalling, it all depends on wheter you are going to have a Budda-like patience to beat the first level or not. And the first level of Exoder is remark...

TL;DR If you like VERY difficult games with no difficulty ramp up, feel free to give it a shot, but just be warned that prior to this I ALSO thought I liked very difficult games. I unironically rage quit this game 6 times within 20 minutes, and then as i started writing a negative review each time i thought "ehhhh it's too soon, let me just try 1 more time", but no.............no more times. I like hard games, but oh my god this game is obnoxious RIGHT from the very start. Character movement and gravity feels like I'm playing at 2x speed, projectiles move so fast you have literally no time to react most of the time, all while trying to jump from tiny platform to tiny platform "jump king" style. Even "rage games" like boshy have at least some kind of difficulty ramp up and learning phase. If this games first level is as easy as it gets then no thank you lol sorry. The UI is a bit odd, but otherwise visually the game looks cool. If you like INSANELY difficult games, feel free to give...

Flawed and chipped, but a gem, in it's own way. Beat the whole thing in one go, since I was not sure if it had a save function. Turns out it does, presumably after beating an area. Tutorial almost put me off due to how bad it was, but there's a bit to enjoy here. The game has no difficulty curve, more or less. First stage will be a showstopper for most people, but if you can make it past that, you can beat the whole game. IMO game caters to masochistic players, since a lot of attacks can be very hard/impossible to avoid. First stage started to click once I started using dash more and bouncing off enemies to other platforms. + Good OST + Varied levels/bosses/enemies + Well priced + Easy mode, although it limits content if you use it * Story is ??? * Got used to keyboard controls but they are questionable, gamepad is recommended - Rarely unclear hitboxes, sometimes even unfair - Some jank - Explains very little about obstacles/some key mechanics - Design often expects you to get hi...

This game is ten gallons of creative level design crammed into a 5 gallon bucket, or litres for the folks across the pond... FDGW knocked it outta the friggin park with this game and it oughta be pretty much at the top of everyone's list. If you're fence sitting on Exoder, do yourself a favor and gird your loins (cuz the game can be crazy tough at times) and conquer it! It's truly a journey worth the effort!

Just like Marrow, it took 2 playthroughs for me to really start appreciating this game. Gameplay is more focused on precision platforming than the dev's previous work, and the goal is to beat each level as quickly as possible so you don't get caught by the Wanly's shadow. Most enemies can't be killed, and your melee attack is instead used for destroying or reflecting projectiles, and also bouncing off enemies to gain additional height. One of my favorite things about Exoder is how different the areas are: every stage looks different, introduces unique mechanics, and has an entirely new set of enemies to keep you on your toes. Bosses are easier than the stages, but are pretty interesting and fun overall. Exoder herself also controls well once you get used to the movement, although, just like Marrow, the game is missing out on some basic modern features like control rebinding. At least this one included a pause button (and the keyboard+mouse controls work just fine). In terms of diffic...

While the game is brutal, often unfair, and very hard to understand, it is always fun to play

Great Soundtrack. just this.