Dandara

I was really hoping this game would be good because I would love nothing more than to see Brazilian art excel on the global stage, so I'm glad this didn't disappoint me lol. The central conceit of the game felt really satisfying to play, it reminded me a lot of VVVVVV, which is already one of my favorite games, in that it has one core, unique mechanic that's been labored over extensively and being good at the game depends mostly on dominating that mechanic. I found the exploration very fun, I'm not accustomed to Metroidvanias but I'm hoping that other games in the genre feel as satisfying to go back to previous areas after you unlocked new abilities. The puzzles were also intricate and intriguing and the difficulty feels fair so far.
Most of all I was very impressed by the artistry of it. The game is filled with breathtaking and awe-inspiring moments, enabled by the fluidity of the gameplay allied to the beautifully evocative soundtrack and visuals. Each area is unique in its atmosphere with all of them being equally gripping in different ways.
The only underwhelming aspect of the game is the story. I believe other reviews have pointed out it's very simplistic, with an unearned sense of gravitas for how little meaning it actually has, but I don't have much issue with that, I see it as mostly the type of cheesy melodrama I already associate with retro games. My problem is moreso with Dandara's implicit mission statement of representing Brazilian history in broad strokes, which in tandem with the aforementioned oversimplification I find to have been done in poor taste. There appears to have been a hackneyed attempt at making a generalized statement about "freedom" by drawing parallels between colonial slavery and slave resistance to it (that's what Dandara - the real one - is known for after all) and the censorship of artistic expression by the military dictatorship of the 70's and 80's and subsequent artist resistance to it. Maybe this is just me being too sensitive but, huh, those are not the same thing lol. It would be one thing if the game highlighted more the aspects of the dictatorship related to types of violence more comparable to slavery - as they did happen! - but it's like the game is trying to avoid making the tone darker by delving into these much more clearly gruesome topics while still wanting the sense of importance of using a figure of resistance associated specifically with the struggle against slavery. On some level I wish they had committed more to either option and either gone full retro cheese or gone full historical drama. As it stands the story kinda feels like a missed opportunity.

This is probably the most unique game in the metroidvania format because of its movement mechanic. Instead of free movement, you can only jump to specific static positions. They give you a bit of aim assist to make it all pretty fluid. Eventually you're so used to it that you're just bouncing around everywhere like it was second nature. The other major element to this game is its soulslike difficulty both in challenge of combat and the very low number of check/save points. You get something like the estus flasks to keep you alive between checkpoints and if you die you potentially go back a long way and lose your "salt". If you die before you collect your salt, you lose it just like in souls games (the salt is used as exp to level you up at checkpoints). The good thing is that certain changes you make to the world are permanent, such as flipping switches, so you can still make progress.

Exploration and variety of locations is pretty good. Some challenges are pretty annoying but not so much that I ever felt like rage quitting the game forever. Most of the bosses are very hard. There are a few "cheat"/accessibility options that permanently mark a save file unable to get certain achievements should you elect to use them.

There's a bug or two here and there but nothing that interfered with playing the game (after I was able to initially get it to recognize my controller inputs). The art is pretty good IMO and the story, while a little out there, doesn't hinder the game. This is a very imaginative and well-realized game. The developers tried something new and it works surprisingly well. Having the game be so hard probably limits the audience significantly but this is otherwise an extremely underrated game. If you like 2D metroidvanis and a higher than average difficulty then you're not going to go wrong with this game

The game is a little fetch-questy in the late game when it comes to fulfiling the conditions for the true ending, but other than that this is a beautiful and fun game. The art and music are gorgeous and the mechanics and lore are inspired. I started and finished this right after the 2024 election so playing a game where you fight as the literal avatar of creative freedom against an oppressive regime really hit for me and cemented that freedom and art and expression are something that's always worth fighting for. 8.5/10

I recommend playing this on a tablet or smartphone. The movement is much more intuitive using a touchscreen. Worth playing if you want a unique Metroidvania experience with beautiful pixel art.

Probably the most unique platformer I have ever played. The control snaps to the closest platform, making platforming quick, snappy, and intuitive. The combat is maybe a little too easy, save the secret final boss (excellent boss BTW). The story is OK, but works well with the environment to produce some pretty good immersion. There are a good amount of secrets and the upgrade system is really good.
Overall a good game worth its price tag.

Really fun Metroidvania. The art style is fresh, and the boss fights are pretty awesome. The movement system in this game is really cool, and makes movement itself a puzzle, which is really unique.
Unfortunately, as the game goes on, a lot of the enemies and areas get more tedious and annoying to fight. A lot of the time these enemies would have been fine in a normal platformer, but due to the unique movement system end up feeling unintentionally difficult both due to the often janky auto-aim, and just the overall feeling of having too many plates spinning at once. Thankfully though, there's a built in "cheats," menu that let me cheese the last boss & mini-boss, because I'd probably just shelve the game before suffering through fighting them "the right way."
All in all though, fun game, beautiful art, great music, would totally recommend.

HIghly recommended to be played with a controller.
Awesome music, awesome artstyle, awesome themes.
It is a baragaign for the price and should be tried out for the fun gameplay.
HIghly recommended.