Lasting Dreams

Overview:
A fun game that is rough around the edges. No score is given due to the rushed and incomplete feeling I got playing through the game. This review contains full spoilers be warned.

Level Design:
It can be very confusing where to go some of the time. Other times like on the mini map and the village its clear where to go. After the spider boss, the player has to search for a switch. There didn't appear to be any hints as to where it was. Also you have to look down for the switch which is the first time that mechanic is introduced. I almost quit because I couldn't find the switch.


Combat:

The two hand mechanic either doesn't work at all, or is very poorly communicated. Also when I was setting up my controls at the beginning of the game it was a little unclear what was going on. Having to switch weapons for running out of ammo was frustrating as well. You also add new items/weapons at a breakneck pace. I suggest adding some more gameplay segments between these items to get the player introduced to all the ways they can use the weapons.


Story:

Feels a little weird. At the beginning of the game you are some nameless pirate, and then you are an outlaw and the king of the world is after you? I don't really see why? Why does he kill the old man? Really doesn't make much sense. Now you have to save the world. Cool!


Atmosphere:

Amazing, strongest part of the game right here. Almost nothing negative to say. Maps look great. Sound/music is also pretty great. Enemies backgrounds for boss fights look great as well.

Game Play:

Ship combat was fun once I figured out that holding the fire button slowed the ship down. Once I did I was able to figure out how to line up enemies and kill them. Leveling up the ship was very strange and poorly communicated. There is no way to know what gives exp, and how much exp you need to level up. Also when you level up you can miss what you got for it. Unless you have airship style boss battles I'm unsure that leveling up the ship is ever necessary.

The spider boss fight was very frustrating because I couldn't use two weapons at a time. So I had to pause, swap and try and shoot with the limited ammo I had. Also it took me depleting my ammo to even realize that I could only hurt the boss when its mouth was open. I suggest being a little more generous with ammo drops. And/or introducing the mechanic with mini spiders some where else before the boss fight.

The flame pillars move to fast. It is unclear what you are supposed to do to get past them. It seems that you can hit it away with the hammer, turn into a skeleton, or even some other ways. There should really only be one good way to interact with the flame pillars and that should be clearly communicated.

I had to stop playing when I couldn't beat the flame boss. He and his room are very cool however he seems to do his move set at random. Couple that with the fire that gets put on the ground it makes it hard/impossible to hit him enough to kill him. I suggest having him get stunned after he is done spinning in the flame pillar and give the player a free chance to damage him. Or make him take damage inside the pillar.

I tried to kill the pillar boss about 10-15 times. The results were wild with me almost winning sometimes and getting wreaked other times, when he would just spin nonstop and throw fire everywhere.

Final Thoughts:
A cool custom made engine and gorgeous levels make for a shooting star type of game. Wonderful until it burns out.