I knowww… I did worry about how he’d take it. And I’ve seen some really scathing 1 or 2/10 reviews from big publishers too… I hope he’s doing ok and can see the positives too! Like I said, I DID have some fun with it, and would love to see him make something better in the future
I had no idea what other people thought about the game, so the whole time making this review I was worried that I was being overly critical, and wether I was being too harsh as it’s only a passion project. But as it is being released as a full price title from a big publisher, I decided to review it as I would any other new title.
@@RetroBreak You did the right thing, both for viewers and for the developer. As a fan of games, I understand how impressive the persistence to work on a project mostly solo for 10+ years is, and it's great that the dev has a big following who have been reviewing/promoting the game. Unfortunately, many reviewers who are close to him have given the game overly-positive reviews and it has been disappointing to see that they've glossed over or omitted the obvious technical and design issues the game has, especially as a non-early-access title with a $30 price point. Your review is fair and I hope the developer uses the constructive criticism to help future projects.
@@jimmyeddy What are you on about? Literally every anthropomorphic mascot game could be considered “furry art” if that’s the case, these characters do have appeal to. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
This one of those games that i really want to support...so i bought it twice on steam and on switch...but the technical issues make it bad. Not awful, but bad. The dev has nothing to be ashamed of. Absolutely not. But i do think he has to hire a couple of fresh eyes to polish the rough edges. EVERY game needs to do this. Not just this game. Cheers 🥂
Nice review! With an ever-growing list of retro-inspired new indie games, it's nice to see you check what's there and give us an honest opinion on it. The game looks fun, but it might have been too big for mostly one guy, especially during ten years!
With regards to your point about not being able to keep track of collectibles in a world, there's a (pretty large) signpost at every world's entrance showing how many of the stopwatches and Ancient Stones you've found. Not sure how you missed that? Or do you mean something else?
Despite all the bugs and stuff, still looks like a fun game. Thinking of picking it up, just to play through it. And maybe the patch will the game. Thanks for the review.
Yeah hopefully a lot of the things I brought up can be fixed. The basic game is still fun, can’t really go wrong with collecting stuff :D hope you enjoy it if you do decide to get it!
Honestly I don’t think any amount of patches would save it. It needs re-working from the ground up. It feels like the game is going to break almost constantly
@@RetroBreak Ouch, that’s so bad. I don’t understand how they could put it out like this after so much work went into it. Surely they knew the state it’s in?
There is a swimming section in the first level, but then it was kind of forgotten about.. I spent ages swimming around in the pirate level but there was nothing there!
That’s unfortunate. I always look forward to playing new 3D platformers but I can just tell that this is not one that I’d enjoy… Thanks for the honest review, Nick! Also, did you play the Kao the Kangaroo reboot? I played it on the PS5 and I thought it was a really great time!
@@RetroBreak I had never played the original Kao games either. Saw the reboot on sale and thought I'd give it a shot and it was well worth it I thought!
If you have a PS4 or PS5 and a copy of Dreams, you should give Trip's Voyage a try - it's a professional quality 3D platformer made over the span of roughly one year by mostly one person. It's not the length of a retail release at about 4 or 5 hours of content if you do everything, but the level of polish is fantastic.
Thanks for the great review. This was on my radar for quite awhile. All the faults in the game are extremely disappointing to hear about. You mentioned the game runs at 1080p 30fps, but is getting patched. Is it going to be 60fps? I can deal with 1080p, but I'm completely spoiled with framerates on ps5 at this point. For now, I think I'm going to hold off on buying it. Maybe down the road with few patches, I'll look into it again. Your honestly in the review was greatly appreciated 👍.
Thanks, glad you found the video helpful! The patch includes a 1080 - 60 mode, and a 1440p 30fps mode. I didn't get a chance to try it before making the video though sadly :( It might have helped a lot of my complaints! I don't mind 1080 if it's smooth!
Unfortunate to see; really looks like it could have used some more playtesting and polish before release. Really great and honest review. I admire how well you manage to give both the weak and strong points their due attention, and how constructive your feedback was. Looks like a pass for me (for now), but hopefully a lot of the shortcomings can be smoothed over through patches. I also imagine the developer is a lot more skilled now than when he started, and I'd be interested to see potential future projects from him. Sometimes starting from scratch with more experience can make a tremendous difference.
I actually really like this game, but on Switch at least, the amount of loading screens to get started is ridiculous. The black screen lingering for a few actual minutes before the logos start and the one that’s just to load the time travel animation are especially excruciating.
Thanks for the review! It’s a shame that this game has been reviewing the same way on all platforms. I was really looking forward to the games release.
What a shame. I don't understand how one can go 10 years developing a platform game without realizing the controls and camera need work. Those are fundamentals in a game like this!
I don’t understand either, surely he went back and played some of the games he got inspiration from? It’s immediately apparent… maybe it’s a case of working on it for so long that you become blind to the issues? Or it was too late to fix because it would have meant re making levels for the new controls?
If you ask me, Woodle Tree 2 is the better game. This game here is just unfinished, and I don't think any amount of extra time would've helped. This is an example of a project that desperately needed more people working on it.
I don’t understand how it’s in this state after so long, and with a big publisher giving support. Surely they could have helped with the issues? They must have play tested it? Releasing in this state is going to look bad on them too
This game is absolute dogshit with some bitch arse Trophies because of its janky platforming. I think the guy needed 10 more years to finish the game before he released it.
I feel so sorry for Rob 🥺 i imagine he is heartbroken with the reception
I knowww… I did worry about how he’d take it. And I’ve seen some really scathing 1 or 2/10 reviews from big publishers too… I hope he’s doing ok and can see the positives too! Like I said, I DID have some fun with it, and would love to see him make something better in the future
I had no idea what other people thought about the game, so the whole time making this review I was worried that I was being overly critical, and wether I was being too harsh as it’s only a passion project. But as it is being released as a full price title from a big publisher, I decided to review it as I would any other new title.
The art style looks like furry fan art, that alone is enough of a deterrent. The characters have no appeal unlike the old PS1 and N64 mascots.
@@RetroBreak You did the right thing, both for viewers and for the developer. As a fan of games, I understand how impressive the persistence to work on a project mostly solo for 10+ years is, and it's great that the dev has a big following who have been reviewing/promoting the game. Unfortunately, many reviewers who are close to him have given the game overly-positive reviews and it has been disappointing to see that they've glossed over or omitted the obvious technical and design issues the game has, especially as a non-early-access title with a $30 price point. Your review is fair and I hope the developer uses the constructive criticism to help future projects.
@@jimmyeddy What are you on about? Literally every anthropomorphic mascot game could be considered “furry art” if that’s the case, these characters do have appeal to. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
This one of those games that i really want to support...so i bought it twice on steam and on switch...but the technical issues make it bad. Not awful, but bad.
The dev has nothing to be ashamed of. Absolutely not.
But i do think he has to hire a couple of fresh eyes to polish the rough edges. EVERY game needs to do this. Not just this game.
Cheers 🥂
Rob sould be proud on what he created!
There are some studios who cant make a game like this and he did it all alone!
Absolutely! Although I wasn’t too keen on some of the design, it’s still an incredible achievement!
Nice review! With an ever-growing list of retro-inspired new indie games, it's nice to see you check what's there and give us an honest opinion on it.
The game looks fun, but it might have been too big for mostly one guy, especially during ten years!
13:12
Just smile and wave, boys
Just smile and wave
With regards to your point about not being able to keep track of collectibles in a world, there's a (pretty large) signpost at every world's entrance showing how many of the stopwatches and Ancient Stones you've found. Not sure how you missed that? Or do you mean something else?
It was a commentary on how pointless the checklist is if you can’t see anything on there
Despite all the bugs and stuff, still looks like a fun game. Thinking of picking it up, just to play through it. And maybe the patch will the game. Thanks for the review.
Yeah hopefully a lot of the things I brought up can be fixed. The basic game is still fun, can’t really go wrong with collecting stuff :D hope you enjoy it if you do decide to get it!
What a shame, I was looking forward this game, maybe I’ll wait for a discount or a bug fix update..
Yeah, I was really rooting for this game. Do you think these issues are patchable?
@@tr1co0 yes they will probably fix some permormance issues
Honestly I don’t think any amount of patches would save it. It needs re-working from the ground up. It feels like the game is going to break almost constantly
@@RetroBreak Ouch, that’s so bad. I don’t understand how they could put it out like this after so much work went into it. Surely they knew the state it’s in?
Interesting that they added water physics and swimming and then do nothing with it!
There is a swimming section in the first level, but then it was kind of forgotten about.. I spent ages swimming around in the pirate level but there was nothing there!
@@RetroBreak That's a weird omission!
That’s unfortunate. I always look forward to playing new 3D platformers but I can just tell that this is not one that I’d enjoy…
Thanks for the honest review, Nick!
Also, did you play the Kao the Kangaroo reboot? I played it on the PS5 and I thought it was a really great time!
No I haven’t, never played the original Kao games either! Are they worth playing? They look fun!
@@RetroBreak I had never played the original Kao games either. Saw the reboot on sale and thought I'd give it a shot and it was well worth it I thought!
@@gabocarina96 I recommend TinyKin, It's inspired by Banjo Kazooie, Jak and Daxter.
If you have a PS4 or PS5 and a copy of Dreams, you should give Trip's Voyage a try - it's a professional quality 3D platformer made over the span of roughly one year by mostly one person. It's not the length of a retail release at about 4 or 5 hours of content if you do everything, but the level of polish is fantastic.
It’s heartbreaking that a game with 10 years of development ends up flawed. I can imagine getting a 3D plattformer to “feel” right is complex.
Yeah it must have been challenging, but it should have been the first thing to get right before building a game around it
Thanks for the great review. This was on my radar for quite awhile. All the faults in the game are extremely disappointing to hear about. You mentioned the game runs at 1080p 30fps, but is getting patched. Is it going to be 60fps? I can deal with 1080p, but I'm completely spoiled with framerates on ps5 at this point. For now, I think I'm going to hold off on buying it. Maybe down the road with few patches, I'll look into it again. Your honestly in the review was greatly appreciated 👍.
Thanks, glad you found the video helpful! The patch includes a 1080 - 60 mode, and a 1440p 30fps mode. I didn't get a chance to try it before making the video though sadly :( It might have helped a lot of my complaints! I don't mind 1080 if it's smooth!
Unfortunate to see; really looks like it could have used some more playtesting and polish before release.
Really great and honest review. I admire how well you manage to give both the weak and strong points their due attention, and how constructive your feedback was.
Looks like a pass for me (for now), but hopefully a lot of the shortcomings can be smoothed over through patches. I also imagine the developer is a lot more skilled now than when he started, and I'd be interested to see potential future projects from him. Sometimes starting from scratch with more experience can make a tremendous difference.
I actually really like this game, but on Switch at least, the amount of loading screens to get started is ridiculous. The black screen lingering for a few actual minutes before the logos start and the one that’s just to load the time travel animation are especially excruciating.
That's a shame I was looking forward to this game, hopefully the devs fix the floaty controls and camera on a future update
I like that 3D Platformers are in a major revival, but too many lean towards just going "Hey remember the 90's?????" to where that gets old and quick.
Algorithm munch munch algorithm happy
Thanks for the review! It’s a shame that this game has been reviewing the same way on all platforms. I was really looking forward to the games release.
Maybe you’ll still enjoy it, like I said near the end there is still some fun to be had despite the issues!
What a shame. I don't understand how one can go 10 years developing a platform game without realizing the controls and camera need work. Those are fundamentals in a game like this!
I don’t understand either, surely he went back and played some of the games he got inspiration from? It’s immediately apparent… maybe it’s a case of working on it for so long that you become blind to the issues? Or it was too late to fix because it would have meant re making levels for the new controls?
As a developer, you get used to that kind of thing. Having thorough testing is extremely important
If you ask me, Woodle Tree 2 is the better game. This game here is just unfinished, and I don't think any amount of extra time would've helped. This is an example of a project that desperately needed more people working on it.
I don’t understand how it’s in this state after so long, and with a big publisher giving support. Surely they could have helped with the issues? They must have play tested it? Releasing in this state is going to look bad on them too
- 10 years
This game is absolute dogshit with some bitch arse Trophies because of its janky platforming. I think the guy needed 10 more years to finish the game before he released it.