I wanted to like this a lot, but the writing and quest design need some work. The style itself is cool, but eventually gameplay becomes very tedious, and the story and dialogue are less than thoughtful.
Reviews for "Wilt: Last Blossom"
This game's story telling is limited by its vocabulary.
And no, I don't mean words. Backing up a bit, the games basic game play is very Metroid like. You explore and kill things, solve simple puzzles, and you get power ups that help unlock new areas, which you explore and kill things and solve simple puzzles. Unfortunately, some of the game play features don't really jive with the post apocalyptic tone. There is these medical stations that *somehow* have survived and run after at least a decade of very run down neglect. Ok, bad enough, but one puzzle is getting medical supplies from the guy, in a shelter that contains one of these magical medical stations. The tone of 'depressing post apocalyptic future' is also somewhat negated by the super human feats your character can do, like jumping Mario high, survive a fall from any definite height (but not bottomless pits) and, after a power up, or two, double jump and more!
Also, sometimes combat ,especially the bosses, felt very buggy. The last in particular had a bad habit of getting stuck in the walls. There was several places where an exclamation mark would pop up, which generally meant interaction, but when you'd press down, all you'd do is crouch, which, incidentally, is a very useless move,
A bit more of an ending would have been nice as well.
Good stuff? Really felt old school, from almost every bit of the aesthetic, really captured that feeling and tone.
Great game. I felt really submerged into the story. The music was excellent, and the game play was fun. I do hope you come out with a sequel expanding on the plot.
I did, however, feel like the ending was a huge disappointment. Please don't take this the wrong way . . . but I wish the main character would have died. I can't recall if he ever had a name, but I did really liked him. It's BECAUSE I liked him so much that killing him off a character who players have an attachment to would have had a much greater affect on people, or at least me. Let me explain.
I wanted some kind of ending that evoked a real emotional response, something that was going to tie the entire game together, but I felt like I never got that. It felt like the game was building up to something very sad yet great and when you finally find your daughter, it gives the illusion of a happily ever after ending which is far fetched in an apocalyptic world with survivors struggling to stay alive. It was a very interesting idea that a man went all this way to save his daughter, simply to learn that no harm was done to her. It felt ironic, in a very positive way, because it if he hadn't have wrecked the lab, the haze mat guys most likely would have found a cure to save people. But I was hoping you were going to expand on this irony. I thought it would have been really "cool' per say if the pollution was making him more ill and when he finally found his daughter, it had caused him to die. But perhaps you did have a sequel in mind, so you held off on that. I personally just would have preferred an ending with more sorrow, instead of pretending like everything was alright. I feel like it kind of ruined the quest of getting there. It felt like "Daughter gets kidnapped. Save daughter. Daughter is fine. Nothing changes and life goes back to the way it was." I just thought the entire thing would have a LASTING effect on the two characters and change life for them
I know I rambled about the ending, but I just wanted to be able to explain my point in an understandable way. I'm not trying to negatively criticize you or undermine your work in any way. I was very impressed with it, and I spent a lot of time with it. I doubt you'll change the ending of a finished product, which is fine, so my only real suggestion to you is that I do wish the effects of pollution were empathized. Not on the mutants necessarily, but on the people. They all looked and sounded so sick, yet it never explained what it was doing to their body. But I think a lot of people would agree that it's better to have a LACK of reason rather than to provide a reason, and it seems dumb and silly. So if you couldn't think of anything good ( which I know is hard ) , I respect that you withdrew information. I'm just glad that this game didn't scream "zombies." When I heard mutants, I was afraid this was another zombie game, but it didn't give that kind of feel.
Very fun. It felt reminiscent of some of my favorite games on Newgrounds, and that was because you did a good job with the plot. If it was just the game play alone, I wouldn't have felt so compelled to keep playing, but you pulled the two together nicely.
Asvegren responds:
I couldn't possibly be offended by such well justified comments! Each game I make is a learning experience. I have lessons to draw from this one too. Glad you liked it otherwise.
this is a great game... but for christ's sake, can we just stick to WASD? its really irritating having to move my hand all over the keyboard, and for me at least it really ruins the whole experience because i am constantly distracted. What is the point of putting jump as A and then not using the up arrow for anything at all? i just dont get it...
Asvegren responds:
Up arrow is used for aiming when you get the gun.
y, wiLt