Quick Look: Dandara

This looked not great from the upf.

Angry birds metroid

I really like the looks and the "moving around" part of it, but it's just too hard for me. Still, love seeing games from my country featured here

Continues to look like a mobile game (which it is) and it doesn’t look great.

@humanity: I like it

I feel like this game will create some awesome looking speedruns between all the little movement tricks and ways you could jump around, but the map and movement issues are probably enough to keep me from playing it - those combined with difficulty sound like a recipe for frustration at the game (and not good frustration).

@jonny_anonymous: that’s great to hear!

Looks cool and different to me. Nothing mobile game looking about it.

@orion1189: Yeah, I'm perplexed by the comments for this game. I guess the idea that it looks "Not great" is subjective, although it's a unique idea applied to a tried and true formula that looks well executed. Not sure what else you'd want from a game like this.

But the idea that this looks like a mobile game? I'm not sure how multiple people think that, nothing about this game looks like a mobile game.

Between the UPF and now this QL, I think I would despise this game - I would constantly be looking for ways through those cracks in the platforms and not finding any.

The fact that the game has these big open hallways and only restricts you to the white stuff and a very short-range jump makes this game a big turn-off.

Game's really cool, definitely on my wishlist, too bad my backlog is too big. Love the movement in this.

@humanity: It might be available for mobile platforms but I can't imagine trying to play it on a touch screen. It feels right at home on console/PC. I bought this on a whim without high expectations and it's turned out to be a little gem. More fool you if you miss out on it because "it looks like a mobile game."

Looks neat

I finished this the other day and really enjoyed it. Surprised to see people commenting that it looks unappealing - I like the art, soundtrack, and general feel of the movement quite a bit. Also gets tough but well balanced (difficulty-wise) in the back half of the game. Since you can't spam your shots, you really need to plan your attack.

I think an improved map would push me over the edge to picking this up. It looks neat, but the barebones map and the fact that the screen sometimes rotates would leave me completely disoriented.

It actually moves really, really nicely, IMO. Snappy as hell and just the right amount of forgiving so that you never feel like you're spending too much time looking for a landing point. I'm really enjoying it so far, save for the kind of crummy map system.

I could see myself picking this up if they patch in a no-rotation option or something.

This just looks tedious

"It totally had not occurred to me that this game was more Dark Souls than I realized"

Being limited to one type of movement that's only viable on one type of surface and having to do it over, and over, and over, and over [...] and over again, seems astoundingly tedious/borderline psychosis-inducing. It's like someone refined the egg-throwing mechanic from Yoshi's Island and turned it into a game in itself.

I have no run button, therefore I must run.

If it was merely a mechanic of the platforming -- i.e. if every other room required you to use that sort of sniping movement to quickly navigate a more puzzle-like environment -- I would be all over it, because the design of it is pretty sick. Maybe it's a game that's harder to watch than it is to play?

@brunothethird: As I said in my previous post, I think absolutely this. It is very snappy and doesn't really feel at all as restrictive as you would think. Even in the moments where you have to be more tentative about your placement and jumping, it's not really a factor because you're not really focused on that but rather enemy placement, shot placement, etc...

At first, I wanted to ask what this game gains from this movement restriction. Then, I thought about it the other way: What would this game lose if you could walk in addition to the leaping and clinging?

I'm not sure what it would hurt. Leaping would still be the faster method of moving, but you would gain an additional point of agency when on a surface to help you finagle your position when you land. It would lower the skill floor, but I don't think it would lower the high skill ceiling which I assume is the game's focus.

Am I missing something? Would adding the ability to walk on surfaces harm the gameplay experience in any way? Could tweaked level design and enemy encounters overcome whatever harm walking would introduce to the game?

Fantastic game, one of my favourites of the year so far.

@sethmode: It has started to pique my interest more and more. I've been thinking about this quick look all day, strangely. I've gone from almost belligerent dislike to, "I must know how this plays out."

I've slung it on the wishlist.

This looks dope! Definitely going to get it at some point once I finish up some games on my Switch.

this looks extremely good, and I'm always trying to look for gaming experiences from different parts of the globe, so I think I'm all in on it when I can afford it.

Like.... uh... walking?

@frostmute: No, like walking, running, jumping, double-jumping, gliding, dashing, rolling, sliding...

You know. Metroidvania stuff...?

@brunothethird

Personally, I'd recommend using touch controls. I have no idea how Brad is playing this fast and doing so well with the awkward controller. I guess I just suck at the game. The "aim assist" on the jump suits it. The game is on the Switch and on Mobile as well for like $15.

@mcsundaeguy: I think the super-imprecise-yet-fast-as-hell way Brad is trucking in the video is half the reason it initially clawed at my patience. At my own pace, I bet I would enjoy it much more.

Actually, I'm just going to buy it and play it right now; kill all my speculation dead.

This looks like my sort of game.

Boy the difficulty sure does spike right the hell up in the game.

If you're like me watching this way later, they apparently patched in a "rotate map" feature, and nerfed the damage the enemies output to make the game slightly easier. They also added in Extra Hard mode and Extra Easy mode, which is nice.