TharosTheDragon's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cascade Cascade]

Okay so it looks like you weren't kidding when you called it endless. Games like this need a way to ramp up the difficulty to prevent players from going on forever. I stopped at level 103 with a score of 2267 because I could see it wasn't getting any more difficult. In PACTIME, I prevent players from playing forever by steadily incrementing across 21 levels of difficulty, and level 21 is so difficult that I don't imagine anyone can last very long. I'm not sure what variables you can change to increase the difficulty over time, but for example the thermometer could refill more slowly making you need better shots to get more hits.

[2-Bit Explorer]

This gives me Cursed Travels vibes and I love it. So much to do and explore. Very nice pixel art.

I think I did everything, though I never figured out what the upgraded torch is for. The only hint I really needed was waiting on the unstable floor. I thought I was supposed to make the floor collapse by walking a lot rather than waiting. I think you should switch it from 30 seconds to 15 seconds. Also it was nice to look up some reminders about where the temples are in FCPXAV's review. This game could really use a map, especially one with either automatic or manual markings. I found all the Valac shards without any help so I'm proud of that, and I tried to uncover all optional dialog and Easter eggs like turning the shade to gold.

Also, I accidentally lost progress a few times by ringing the bell to get the Twilight Zone ending. The first time, I didn't have a habit of saving very often so I was really lucky that I saved maybe 10 minutes prior because otherwise I would've lost over an hour of progress. You should really make sure that when an ending is triggered, the autosave is right before that ending.

[Orphanarium]

Yay, got all endings! 7 endings, 7 items, 7 crayons.

Men lust over Ucogi's boobs while women act like she's a bimbo. Never would've thought she had such a traumatic backstory.

Veinom responds:

Very impressive!
And now you know everything! xD

[DARK SWORD: The Light of Ainn]

This is a strong candidate for best of the month. It's nice to see a full-fledged game rather than just demos and game jam entries, etc. I definitely think goldenPiGames went too hard on this. There are plenty of normal enemies to fight, and even when there aren't the exploration and secret-hunting are still fun.

The main problem I had was that I got soft-locked out of finishing the game. When I defeated the heart of darkness, the game froze on the statue-crumbling screen and the statue didn't crumble. I assume something special was supposed to happen because it was the last statue and that's what crashed the game. I tried three times with different weapons and the same thing happened each time.

The other major bug I found is that you're able to run while holding the hammer if you switch from the ranged weapon to the hammer while you're already running. It's an exploitable bug of course so I'm reluctant to report it :)

MrDoth responds:

Thanks mate!!!!!!!!!!! The game is not made by goldenPiGames, but anyway thank you <3 :D

[Los Tostadores]

Toast of War riding the Brave Little Toaster

[Hexpress]

I love the isometric pixel art

[Dwarf Planet One]

Looks like a great game, but it started lagging too much after I expanded the universe by feeding the bug to the alligator. None of the options in the menu seem to help, nor does disabling graphics acceleration.

[Voiceless Demo]

I remember playing Songbird Symphony thinking it was the only rhythm platformer I knew of. Now there's another one! And you leaned a lot more into combining the rhythm with the platforming.

My main problem with this game is that it tends to punish exploration rather than rewarding it. The level design should probably be tweaked so that you're making a definite choice between linear and adventure platformer. If you don't want the player to go exploring then there should be no way to venture outside the path(s) you've laid out. If you do want the player to go exploring then there should be collectibles or something

[Contract Rush]

There were a couple of upgrade balls I couldn't reach :(

[Knight and Prison of Ice]

I agree that the execution needs work. It seems like you were going for a roguelike. It needs more permanent upgrades, more loot drops, more variety, and faster progression. It's way too tedious to go through the same old identical rooms fighting the same old identical enemies over and over