Quick Look: Horace

Seems neat but the sound effect when you pick up the junk annoys the hell out of me.

Edit: A lot of the sound design is really poor actually. Shame because I love the look of it.

Not. My. Horace.

Maybe this is the gritty reboot like the new tomb raider series.

This game looks like it goes places. I might have to play this.

I saw this being streamed earlier. The TTS narration is strangely charming.
I'm glad Dan had a look at this game - it feels like a lot of outlets are sleeping on this one.

This is a fun video. Celeste and hollow knight soured me on platformers although this story looks fun I don't think if Dan is having problems with the difficulty it would be for me. Horace is a good character though.

I suspect after a while all the rotation of viewpoints would set my motion sickness off, might be one for watching the story on YouTube at some point since Dan seems to think it's the most interesting part of the game.

I'm so sorry to be this guy, but the title screen music is Moonlight Sonata, not Für Elise. Nailed it with Beethoven though ; ) and loved the QuickLook as always.

While the individual sprites are well animated I don't think the art style comes together at all, such a mess of different resolutions, and yeah, that junk sound isn't very pleasant to listen to either.

The style of the subtitles, with the block background and 8-bit font is really giving me old Teletext 888 vibes.

Also, stealth Only Fools and Horses reference in the background at the start.

Oh it's Sans from Undertale with skin!

FYI, Horace is very clearly a reference to Being There. Good movie.

when it cuts into the death animation thing up close it's like 'cheeky streamer platformer youtube video' style and it drives me a bit batty. the rest of it seems really charming, i kind of hate the music and sfx but the text to speech narration and platforming seems somewhat interesting

So this game is emotional Chappie?

Does this take place before or after the heresy?

Horace sounds like Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys.

This is a game I probably wouldn't have cared to check out but for this Quick Look, just based on the way screenshots of the platforming levels looked. The platforming didn't appear to be fun and the backtracking seems unnecessary and annoying, but I felt real empathy for Horace in the snippet of the game we watched. There could be something really special about this game.

Hey, bad prison usually do go to prison. And generally speaking, cops are good. :).

This Quick Look really sold me on this. Just snatched it up. I love unique games like this and this really seems to be its own thing, warts and all. I also think it's one of those cases where the warts kind of make it even more charming.

This one has potential but... needs a little more time in the oven. The platforming looks really rough and the animations are really choppy in a not-charming way. It needs some better transition when you die, like a screen shake or a fast fade to black. I don't recall exactly what Super Meat Boy does but it's somehow punchier.

I love these full cast quick looks!!

He sounds kiiinda like Boyle in Velvet Sundown, the classic quick look.

The trashman!!

This is the definition of a game that I will buy to alleviate the guilt of watching someone play though the whole thing on youtube so that I don't have to play the superfluous parts where it's a video game.

The story is indeed really solid, but wow that gameplay just looks like it drags. They should've made it so you always start a segment with a free hit. As a rule, platformers where there's no leeway to make mistakes suck. (Unless the levels are short like Meatboy or there's frequent checkpoints like Celeste. There are exceptions.)

so this is kind of like chappy but with a likeable robot.

I'd love to see how a speed run of this game would look like :)

@meanstreet: I was going to say, I'm assuming this is British.

There was an old British game series called Horace too (Hungry Horace, horace goes skiing etc)

GET THE CAR

Everyone calling out Chappie as the reference rather than Short Circuit 2, makes me feel very old. Oscar is a bad man.

"I want to talk about clubs, drugs, and club drugs."

Man, I wish they would return to Velvet Sundown.

@ravelle: I don't think they can. Seems like it's down permanently?

https://www.giantbomb.com/velvet-sundown/3030-47135/

Horace for Best New Character

that's chappie

Intrigued by the story and premise but everything about the gameplay and aesthetic is a turn off for me. I would not be able to deal with the rotating camera and I was already bored of the "gravity puzzle" gimmick halfway through this quick look. Seems like a weird thing to focus your game around, especially with half the shit you're sticking to isn't even metal.

That's Austin!

Chappie was the best movie of 2015 for those trying to besmirch the name of Chappie, hell I will go so far to say there hasn't been a better movie with a robot since 2015. Chappie was a masterpiece that will one day sit next to the likes of the Sistine Chapel and Leonardos Medusa.

Huh, this looks kinda great. Checkpoints seem too far apart but I'm digging the rest of it.

@captubaplayer:

Aww, what a shame. At least we still have the Quick Look.

I'm not sure I can forgive vinny for calling Moonlight Sonata "Für Elise"

@someoneproud: This game copies or has a similar idea to an old game 10 years ago called And Yet It Moves. Try that game out for a more nuance take on this twisting of the map idea. In And Yet IT Moves it's more physics based and the entire world can be moved any way you want. It was on PC and Wii

Bought the game after the QL cause it looks so well written, and thought Dan might be going overboard with the platforming... He is 100% right, it just doesn't feel good, several times it feels like the inputs just don't register at all and some of the checkpoints are terrible. It's a shame because the story is real fun.

@topcyclist: Yeah I remember seeing it come out now that you mention it, haven't played it yet but the mechanics do seem interesting and I'm in the mood for something like it now so thanks for the reminder.

With this game it's really more the narrative that appeals to me, seems to be full of surprises if this quick look is indicative of the whole game.

Now that you mentioned it, I really hope they bring that category and the other smaller ones back this year.

Yeah the narrative is probably where it's at. I would watch a youtube thou in that case. Also And yet it moves works well on Wii cause the way motion controls work. Sad wii has some gems just like gamecube and dreamcast. The systems just got outshined by ps1, ps2 and xbox.

now that games are basically on most platforms more people get a chance to try out charming games. have fun if you get to play it. later levels are way too hard. :)