TharosTheDragon's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fairy Game]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 2 / 10

The visuals are better than nothing, but not by much.

### Originality: 8 / 10

It's actually a pretty great idea having three different types of blocks that you destroy in different ways that all involve clicking. If you use the wrong method on a block, it will take longer.

### Challenge: 7 / 10

Having to juggle the multiple block types is like rubbing your stomach while patting your head. It's a little too hard right from the beginning though, so it really needs to start easy and get harder.

### Fun factor: 3 / 10

One obvious problem is that the game doesn't have any way of measuring your performance, so not only is there no way to win, you don't even get the reward of seeing your own score.

### Content: 1 / 10

Just three destructible block types and one indestructible block type.

### Total: 21 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

Greater-Raisin responds:

That is the best review my games have ever received.

[Santa Delivers An Anvil]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 5 / 10

The pixel art is kind of cute I guess. I'm not sure why Santa has two sleighs and no reindeer. It's too bad the birds blend in with the coins so well.

### Originality: 2 / 10

The only new thing I see here is the idea of Santa delivering an anvil. This actually has a lot in common with my games Strange Thoughts and Dropping Loads, the latter of which was for a game jam where our team's objective was to use "lighten" as a core mechanic. Your game would've served that goal as well.

### Challenge: 8 / 10

It's certainly difficult and increases difficulty well over time, but the skill and strategy involved are pretty basic.

### Fun factor: 5 / 10

It requires a lot of button mashing, which could be improved by allowing us to press multiple different keys so we could alternate. It's also very slow at the beginning so it takes a long time to get up to speed every time we die. Maybe require fewer coins to advance for the earlier gifts.

### Content: 3 / 10

Just one type of enemy, one type of coin, etc.

### Total: 23 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

BroquiGames responds:

Wtf is happening?

[Golf Escape]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 8 / 10

PICO-8 games always seem to look great.

### Originality: 5 / 10

The gameplay is pretty standard but I don't know what's going on with the premise. At first I thought it was gonna be a creative golf game but then I get this weird flesh freak bouncing around saving worms from radioactive waste. Are they your girlfriends or something?

### Challenge: 10 / 10

Nice and tricky, with a difficulty curve to teach you the moves. Sometimes the levels had easy routes especially if you go back the way you came after getting the worm and I'm never sure if that's intentional because it leaves part of the level unused.

### Fun factor: 9 / 10

The game makes sure it stays interesting the whole way through. As soon as water was introduced, I remembered that water mechanics always improve a game's quality.

### Content: 9 / 10

Feels like the right amount of levels to be satisfying.

### Total: 41 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

Davbo37 responds:

Thank you for the detailed review! Glad you enjoyed it :) 😁

[HUMANITY]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 4 / 10

While the maximum-contrast black and white line art certainly has style, it doesn't provide much to look at.

### Originality: 1 / 10

Barely anything new. Just a basic avoider game and a vaguely metaphysical story.

### Challenge: 10 / 10

It's not too hard to beat, but provides an extremely difficult extended goal for special players like me. I see bivn saying below me that he took 8 hours to get the hardest medal, but I took less than one :3

### Fun factor: 5 / 10

Whether or not you're going for the hard medals, this game can feel like a chore at times. You have to push yourself through the game while it keeps punishing you. There's little sense of action. Still, it feels good to learn the patterns and get them right eventually.

### Content: 5 / 10

It's kind of on the short side, but I very much appreciate the inclusion of quality-of-life features to help you get the medals, namely the timer and permadeath options.

### Total: 25 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

Ghilsh responds:

very insightful review, thanks for checking it out!

[9 Cam]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 9 / 10

Cool and creepy. Plenty of decorations.

### Originality: 9 / 10

I can't think of another game like this. It's a great gimmick, splitting your view into a bunch of simultaneous camera angles.

### Challenge: 8 / 10

Very nice difficulty curve, always delivering a nice challenge while never being too hard, requiring you to learn the skills inherent in the game mechanics.

### Fun factor: 6 / 10

While I generally enjoyed my time with this game, it was sometimes too awkward to be fun.

### Content: 8 / 10

A nice amount of levels with great variety.

### Total: 40 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

Mantis1 responds:

Thanks! I agree with your assessment.

[JACKSONJUMP]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 5 / 10

Nice color changes between levels. Nice two-frame idle animation. The background is a bit garish.

### Originality: 3 / 10

You made a Jumpking game, but to what end? What's Jason doing here? Why does Jason need to escape? Isn't Jason usually the thing people need to escape from? Why do the skulls look like masks?

### Challenge: 9 / 10

The difficulty level is exceptionally punishing, which can be good but it doesn't always feel fair. I beat the game after much time and effort, and I still don't feel like I have a grasp of how the game reacts when I jump into an obstacle. The inconsistency occasionally made me feel like I just had to get lucky. But mostly I'm happy with the amount of skill involved. Since the meter moves too fast for absolute accuracy, you have to strategize and plan your jumps in order to maximize your margin of error. So you have both the challenge of getting the power meter just right and the challenge of figuring out which jumps to make.

### Fun factor: 7 / 10

With a game like this, it's sometimes hard to tell if I'm having fun or not. I feel compelled to continue, but is it because I'm actually enjoying myself or is it because of the sunk cost fallacy? I think it's ultimately fun in a masochistic kind of way.

### Content: 6 / 10

Just three levels with no special ending after the third. But that third level took me so long that I'm certainly not asking for more.

### Total: 30 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

FreakyDAYZ responds:

Wow thanks for making the time to review my game I 100% agree with what you are saying. the game was a bit of fun and leaning for me I've made so many more games now.. all on https://freakydayz.itch.io/

IM SO HAPPY :) THANK YOU

[CURSE OF THE CANDLE MAZE]

Treasure Hunt review!

### Aesthetics: 7 / 10

Very cute pixel graphics, though the scaling transitions make them "pseudopixels" which generally bother me a little. It's a shame so much of the game has to be played in the dark, and instead of having a cool darkness effect it just looks like my screen's brightness isn't high enough. Maybe the candles should stay lit all the time and just change color or something when you're nearby.

### Originality: 7 / 10

It's ultimately a sokoban game though the particular puzzles are fresh and so are the new game mechanics. In sokoban games there's a question of whether you can push multiple blocks at once or not, and most sokoban games just pick one or the other, so having a special transformation that allows you to switch between the two styles just feels right.

### Challenge: 10 / 10

I almost had to deduct a point because the difficulty curve is so dang steep. It just barely gives you a few tutorial moves and then immediately throws stumpers at you. But apart from that, the challenge level is fantastic. After I got past that first stumper I was able to look around the rest of the game and see what I was up against. There's a very nice red herring that teaches you about the three-candle transformation, and then there are enough clues in the level design to allow you to make a plan of attack with deductive reasoning. It's a perfect logic puzzle and since I know you're curious I'll tell you I'm very happy to have solved it without using the walkthrough.

### Fun factor: 10 / 10

This is the hardest sokoban game I've played since N-Step Steve, and wow does it pay off. Definitely my kind of game.

### Content: 6 / 10

Just a few tiles to work with and a few transformations, with some nice atmospheric music. It's ultimately a small game and definitely leaves me wanting more, but I'm still happy with what I got.

### Total: 40 / 50

(The Treasure Hunt review score is different from the standard Newgrounds review score because it uses different criteria.)

saadisaadi1 responds:

thank you for playing , very happy that you liked the game , I built a tool for making sokoban games, and currently making with it "Happy Color Links" that you may like : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2685450/Happy_Color_Links/
the demo will come to steam this week, hope you enjoy it too

[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

[Lampyrinth]

Hey I found the bonus level in level 10! Interestingly, that made the game put 10 seconds as my best time for level 11. I assume it was supposed to count as one of the three bonus levels at the bottom of the trophy screen.

What the heck are the apple and orange trophies? If they're about getting all the food, wouldn't that just be one trophy?

Veinom responds:

I'm glad you asked. The Apple icon in the Trophy Room, lights up when you gather all the visible food. The Orange icon lights up when you have also have gathered the secret food in a level, and there's always a hidden diamond (except from level 0). There's a lot to discover and also yes, there are 3 hidden bonus levels.