Below Kryll

Below Kryll has been a very pleasant surprise for me. This is one of those games that sneaks up on you right at the moment when you realize just how big the gameworld and possibilities really are.
From a graphics standpoint, the game has a very retro-feel. The graphics aren't flashy, but they certainly do the job, creating a pixelated world to get lost in. The soundtrack is average, but I don't play these kinds of games for the soundtrack anyway, so that's not really a negative for me, though it is definitely relevant to a review like this.
The control scheme is better than average, advertising partial controller support, which is accurate. The control settings offer both standard and emulator keyboard settings with an ability to remap controls and built-in gamepad support for forward motion, jumping, dashing, wall-jumping, and other combat moves as these are unlocked with game advancement. Players will likely need to use their keyboard for menus, inventory, character stats, and maps.
Where Below Kryll really excels is in the content department. Between the regular developer-made levels, side quests, collectibles, and achievements, sandbox mode, and the player-developed worlds, there's a whole lot of content to both see and create here.
Gameplay is not complicated, but it is challenging, and it's certainly not boring. Just when you think you've got everything figured out, new levels, items, quests, and abilities unlock opening up new adventures and possibilities.
There are some cerebral components to the game, too, especially with timing, agility, and the creativity component.
Problem-solvers and experienced gamers are very likely to find a challenge here in the form of collectibles, items, abilities, and additional content, while casual gamers can very easily enjoy the game even without experiencing everything the game has to offer.
Regardless of what type of gamer you are, if you enjoy platforrmers, puzzle-platformers, RPGs, Ninja combat styles, collectibles, achievements, and player-developed content, such as that created in the Steam Workshop, I'd recommend giving Below Kryll a try.

This is, from what I've played of it so far, a cute and infinitely extensible user driven platformer.
However, I hate Episode IV of the story missions so much I may never actually play it again. It combines my least favourite things in a mission (stealth, instant failure, no waypoints) in a form that has me swearing at pixellated ninjas.
THe rest of the game is wonderful, but I hate that mission so so so so much.

I've only got a bit of time in this game so far, but I can already tell it's going to be perfect for me. Why? Because it perfectly appeals to the ADHD gamer in me. It's got a very slick engine with tight controls that feel just perfect with a keyboard or gamepad, but what's really astounding is the content.
Oh my god. So much content. From the developers and users.
I mean levels based on music, pixel art museums, stories, quests, you name it, it's in here, and it's FUN. You can rate levels once you're done with them, and even make your own. Your ninja gains levels and skills while exploring all these adventures as well, so it's a perfect carrot and stick combination.
I'll be playing this game for a very long time to come, and you should totally check it out if you like platformers, creation tools or just fun gameplay.
Oh also, you can try a browser version for free to get a feel for it:

Below Kryll is an amazing game.
It plays very much like Super House of Dead Ninjas, but what makes it truly unique is what lies beyond the first few tutorial levels : a whole world made by the players themselves !
Featuring a very easy-to-use and friendly level editor, Below Kryll allows you to go crazy and make any kind of level you want. A complicated adventure with a twisted plot, spanning across several levels ? Yep. A torture chamber filled with deadly traps ? Why not ! A pixel art gallery that you visit on a moving platform as player-made music plays ? Definitely !
The game feels rewarding both as a player and as a creator, as several good ideas were used.
As you complete levels and gather the shurikens scattered around them, your character will level up and unlock new moves (sword attacks, flying tricks...) and you will be granted access to deeper levels.
When you create a level, people can play through it, apply tags to it from a list, and leave a comment. And you, the creator, get trophy points that you can spend to buy new things to use in your levels.
All in all, it's a very addicting and creative game that you can explore in various ways depending on your mood.
Greatly recommended ! :)

Long before Mario Maker, there was Gamestar Mechanic. And somewhere between the two lies Below Kryll. Fans of both will feel at home with its level editor, allowing you to make an amazing variety of stages with even the simplest of elements. If design isn't your thing, then challenge hundreds of community made stages and see how many you can perfect. There's something here for beginners and experts alike. Where Kryll loses its footing, however, is a sparse active player community (as of the time of this review), a neglected plot-line, and a long lag between updates, including consumables that still carry a "coming soon" description. But if you can look past those imperfections, then a rich experience still awaits you in Kryll.
Pros
+ Straight-forward tutorial to teach you the basics
+ Hundreds of levels. Adding the sandbox mode, seemingly endless playtime.
+ A level-up system that not only grants additional player abilities, but restricts how many floors deep you can go, which allows for a somewhat consistent difficulty curve
+ In-game text chat and also on-screen drawing tool!
+ Great soundtrack. Only limited in number of tracks, and some can't be chosen in player-made stages.
+ Sizable creation kit, not the least of which includes:
++ Pixel Art (one player recreated the Mona Lisa using multiple stages as murals!)
++ Races (Set a start and endpoint to challenge other players within 24hr period, winner keeps the pot of gold)
++ Logic Gates (Allows you to create storylines and gameplay challenges. Player creations include Quizzes, Word-searches, Memory games, and so much more)
++ Mutators (Powerups and Powerdowns - jumping, attacking, projectiles, dashing, etc)
++ A controllable mecha. Adds a few specific mechanics impossible to player character alone
++ Musical Notes - There are recreations of popular tunes in some stages
Cons
- Difficulty to find other players online. Small population. And this leads to another huge problem:
- Expensive creation tools. Your tools are limited by level and trophies, the latter earned by other players liking your stage. No players = no likes. And there's also the question of whether you can build a likable stage with limited tools to begin with.
- Limited stage tags. Incorrectly tagged stages. Kaizo-Mario par stages.
- Story is not the game's focus, but what story is there is both level-gated (thus easy to forget) and incomplete. At the time of this writing it still says to be continued, years after release.
- Unimplemented creation tools and limited options. Surprisingly, there are still only 5 NPCs to choose? Likewise, there is quite a small number of enemies. This creates a lot of repetition across stages.
- No key rebinding. Subsequently, difficulty for foreign language keyboard users. Use a gamepad if you can.
- Hidden mechanics not taught explicitly in the game. Some of the advanced player stages are built around these, and they don't want to "ruin the surprise", so good luck figuring them out. Sometimes there are hints in the stage guestbook, otherwise you have to DM other players and hope they still log in anymore.
The above list is by no means complete! You could probably write a short novel getting into all of the nuances of Kryll, both in game mechanics and in level design tips and tricks. And that's what makes it so great - you can get out of it as much as you put in.
If you do decide to pick up Kryll, by all means, try to grab a friend. While players cannot interfere or assist each other directly (you appear as shadows to each other in the same stage), you can communicate via drawing on-screen and text chat. I enjoyed this game most when I had a partner working out the hidden collectibles in the story stages. Both of us found pieces the other didn't, and together, we were able to perfect them all.
Achievement Hunters: As you work toward 500 perfected stages, you'll probably obtain everything. The only tricky parts are:
1. Finding all secrets in the hub zones (look for any NPCs with triggers over their heads)
2. Dodging death for a couple minutes (look for a passage zone and pray at the shrine to spawn him)
3. Win in a race (need another player within 24 hours to participate)
4. Completionist (there is an error - you need 6, not 5, perfected story stages)
I believe the game can be 100% in about 20 hours, provided you cut every corner possible, and target only easy stages as much as you can. But hey, it's your adventure, so you decide...

I love this game, the puzzles and creativity made by everyone is great fun.
Sometimes you end up in a musical land, other times it's a frustrating a puzzle. Each thing is different. It has action, exploration, and the ability to make your own levels.
The designer is great and lets you come up with lots of creative ideas and concepts. I hope they will develop an item that can teleport a user from one location on a map to another, but they keep developing new things so it's certainly getting better and better!

I think it might be best to start this review with the following message: If you at all enjoy action platformers and/or games which focus upon player-created content then Below Kryll is absolutely worth the asking price.
I have easily spent several dozen hours on Below Kryll (most of which is from before its Steam launch) and even after having spent this much time with the game it is difficult for me to find much in the way of fault with it. The game has a neat, unique look to it and Mitsu, the main character, animates particularly well without prioritizing animation over input. The music and general sound effects are also well-made, though there is not at this time too much in the way of track variety.
Gameplay and exploration are the parts where Below Kryll really shines. Mitsu has quite a bit of momentum to his movement to the point that the controls take a bit of getting used to and they might initially feel overly slippery when trying to do more precise platforming. However, abilities such as an air dash and kunai throwing (which completely stops Mitsu's momentum) as well as a few other tricks allow you to both move quickly and precisely.
Speaking of tricks, Mitsu has quite a few of them as experience is gained from completing areas and new abilities are unlocked along the way. In addition to dashing both in the air and on the ground as well as throwing kunai to stun enemies (not to mention several other skills), Mitsu can jump and slide off of certain walls, grind rails, perform a downward diving attack, and even chain together multiple dashes and jumps by killing enemies in the air; the playerbase has also found quite a few creative ways to utilize Mitsu's varied skillset and maps generally do a good job of both teaching and incorporating these skills, such as using the downward thrust to slightly extend the horizontal movement of a jump to create a 'long jump'.
This extensive skillset is particularly important largely because of just how much freedom it gives players when creating areas. If it is not already apparent, the vast majority of the content in Below Kryll is created by the playerbase and incorporated into a giant interconnected metroidvania-style grid with each area being a single rectangle on the grid. As Mitsu's skillset is so varied and flexible, areas which focus upon combat, platforming, and/or puzzle solving are all equally viable and can range anywhere in difficulty from trivial to insanely hard
As for the creation side of things itself, it is handled well and making a new area is simply and intuitive. Upon reaching an unclaimed rectangle on the grid, players can pay some gold to reserve it and start building. Which enemies, traps, and objects can be placed in a room are determined by just where on the map you are placing your room as more dangerous or tricky objects and enemies are reserved for deeper floors. Otherwise, creating an area is largely a matter of clicking and dragging to clear or create terrain and to place objects and logic gates.
Lastly, there are a lot of little touches in Below Kryll which serve to give it the polish which many similar games lack. Reviving at the most recent checkpoint after dying requires the press of a single button and is otherwise instantaneous; players can even reset the stage completely or warp back to a checkpoint without dying at any time. If a stage has pits, players can quickly toggle between treating them as death pits or as paths to a new area. Although players cannot yet directly interact with each other, there are chatrooms and players can see the shadows of each other in real time when moving through the same area.
All of this adds up to a game which is not only a unique and interesting concept, but one which is executed very well in practice; as the content is primarily community-made not all of it is great and there are some parts of the game, such as the main storyline, which are still being worked on, but Below Kryll excels in all the most crucial areas and is simply a joy to both play and to create in.