Okay so I "beat" it (cleared all levels, which was 2.1 hours), *BUT* I haven't 100% it yet which is going to be doing par times on all levels, doing all levels without killing any enemies, and then... seems most (all?) levels also have a hidden crown? So that will make the game harder, I'm sure. And I get the impression there's an alternate ending if you've 100% the game. But if you are just looking to clear all the levels and move on, well I didn't really find the game Castle in the Darkness hard until the last boss... and then I got the downward thrust attack and it seems to be overpowered (just like it was in Zelda 2).

I really liked Castle in the Darkness and the only achievement I didn't get there was the one for dying I think 500 times? I also got Astalon when it came out and beat it within a week or so I believe, it had some bugs... I'd like to do another playthrough of it at some point, but y'know how it is, a lot of us have massive backlogs thanks to Steam sales.

I didn't feel like the game got challenging until world 5, mainly cuz of the bubble monsters. But Castle in the Darkness was a lot harder right off the bat. Astalon I felt was way easier, this I think is kind of a middle ground between the two, since it brings back one hit deaths (you can eventually buy an item that gives you an extra hit per level, I am not sure if you can get more than 2 hits yet), and has a lot of spikes... but so far it's mostly just been a lot easier than CitD. Each level has is one room and then you're done, I think that's part of why it is coming across as easier, you don't have to memorize a bunch of stuff and then do twitch reflexes in a gauntlet going through hell before hitting another checkpoint. You also see the entire room on your screen, so no getting killed by spikes that fall on you when you move the camera vertically like I remember happening in CitD.

I really like the music! It is chiptune. I know some people plain don't like chiptune. It's what I grew up on, so I can appreciate the effort it takes to compose good melodies and beats in this style. I know some people plain don't like chiptune, they feel like it hurts their ears or something, so... if that's you, you probably aren't going to like this game. It seems each world has its own track that play continuously from level to level. Most levels are over in less than a minute.

The game has a low-res look to it, *unless* you go in the options and turn off soft pixels. I am not sure why they went with the low-res look by default, the low-res look if you went full screen in CitD was one of the things I didn't really like, but that was 11 years ago, I assumed it was just cuz the art wasn't drawn for hi-res... now if you turn off soft pixels it looks sharp, really crisp and really nice art.

The game does have what seems to be either a small frame skip or stutter that happens every now and then. It doesn't make the game unplayable or anything, but it's something I noticed. It has never caused death or anything, but would be nice to have this ironed out. I had a couple other bugs too I encountered on bosses, I don't really want to post them here in case people are trying to avoid spoilers... I did post them in the bug report thread on the Steam forum if you're curious. Only one caused a death. Bosses don't take very long, so if you do die, well... I had patience for it. Since it isn't like it puts you back at a checkpoint where you have to go through a gauntlet to get to the boss again or anything, the bosses are literally their own levels, so if you die, you start right at the beginning of a quick boss fight again.

I also didn't buy any items from the shop until the last boss, and then when I did the last boss got a hell of a lot easier... I didn't grind for pennies (currency in this game) either... so if you hit the shop as you go to get upgrades, the game will be even easier for you.

EDIT: The original version of this review I had said I hadn't bought dash by world 5. I took that out when I edited this review... well it looks like someone saw the review before that edit and is accusing me of lying, that it's mandatory to have dash by world 3. Well, I definitely ended up beating the game without dash... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L31XIoHQ_ls

I tried very hard to love this game. I mean, just look at it. Artstyle is amazing! Music is gorgeous! Humor is good too! But gameplay...

There's no fair difficulty in Lovish. Don't get me wrong, the game is really easy. But you'll die over and over again because you moved 1 pixel left while trying to squeeze between two small blocks. Or because you miscalculated timing of spikes, platform movement, and enemy direction all at the same time. Or because fire enemies or bubbles suddenly started to move at a random direction right in front of your face. Or because you land on a platform that sprouts spikes, the existence of which you have to keep in mind from the very beginning. The entire game is about cheap deaths like this. It's not hard or challenging, it's just a waste of time.

On top of all that, the levels are repetitive as hell. There are no fun gimmicks, no new game mechanics, even the enemies are the same. I saw only three memorable levels in the entire game — the one with rising water, the one with the dragon, and the one with ghosts. That's it! Everything else is just same-ish spiky rooms. Why didn't they at least draw something other than spikes? I don't believe that people who draw a bazillion random gags couldn't draw some lava, acid pools or at least circular saws or whatever. I mean, c'mon - even Super Meatboy have unique obstacles and gimmicks in each world and it was released 15+ years ago!

I regret buying this game.

非常好玩 剧情有趣 收集比较有成就感 另外这游戏有点像FC上的所罗门之匙！