Into The Underdusk

Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
Is this game a masterpiece? No.
You play a little guy with a plague doctor mask, finding memories from his life, in a cute yet somehow creepy precision platformer. You walk around rather slow but can enable “always run” in the options. Your character still isn’t very fast, but at least he doesn’t appear to fall asleep at any time anymore. Beautiful pixel art, very strange inhabitants of the underworld, tough jumping sequences, big levels (but there is a map and fast travel), hidden secrets. Boss fights are without weapons, you just must reach certain places in a level without getting killed by the boss. Get touched by anything (any monster, any trap or other hazard) in this game, and you die. The bosses (and some mobs) have weapons, of course, and it is sometimes a bit hard to predict where they will shoot their projectiles. I did enjoy the platforming, but I began to hate some of the mobs because they can sometimes kill you quite fast (one hit is enough) and unexpectedly. Contrary to most precision platformers, you are not running through level after level just trying to reach the exit alive, but the world offers different routes and you have to explore them, which includes quite a bit of backtracking. I wouldn’t call this a Metroidvania, though. More like a precision platformer with exploring. In the beginning, you cannot do much, just jumping. It does get more interesting when you have found the dash powerup and the double jump. Dying (and you will die a lot) brings you back to the last checkpoint, which can be some distance back. Gamepad worked fine.

Conclusion:
Little precision platformer in great art style but with some annoying enemies. You will also die a lot.

A QUICK REVIEW:
This is a non-linear platformer that encourages you to explore, with a tough challenge that can be made to be as forgiving or as masochistically hard as you like. The trials ahead still remain the same, with very tight timing to dodge enemies, their attacks and environmental obstacles, but the difficulty levels offer a range between infinite lives to a very limited amount, and decently spaced check-points lessen any frustration.
With responsive controls and pretty slick execution its mostly on the side of being a fair test for your reflexes. Do note that I said "mostly", as it can be frustratingly hard at times, and for every point where you can admire and enjoy its design there will be another where you're cursing it.
Story-wise its a bit darker and deeper than the relatively cute 8-bit style graphics suggest, and is a surprisingly engaging meditation on love, loss, life and death. I enjoyed it and hated it in equal measure, and I can only recommend it if you want something pretty hardcore. If you want a tricky metroidvania, or an old-skool retro challenge, this will scratch that gaming itch. If you want something accessible and forgiving...well, this isn't it.
7 out of ten, cautiously recommended!
THE NOT-SO-QUICK-REVIEW:
Into The Underdusk tells the story of a world consumed by a mysterious fog that has destroyed everything it touched, and you are the last survivor. As the memories fade of what you used to hold dear, you set out on a journey to retrieve a locket that holds a picture of someone you know you once loved but can no longer remember.
So begins a surprisingly melancholy, yet thoughtful, adventure which isn't really suggested by it's cute looking 8-bit style pixel art. It isn't grim, but nor is it the fluffy romp you might imagine it to be. That I'm even starting this review by giving so much time to setting the scene is testament to how effective it is as a narrative.
Whilst the graphics may seem a step removed from this dark reality they nonetheless get the job done and serve the tone well enough, ably aided by ambient music that builds a lonely and cold atmosphere. It may not be especially memorable in the sense of getting your foot tapping or your head nodding, but to be honest if the music had more presence it would end up very distracting as the game tries to kill you every 30 seconds. In terms of the presentation this gets it very right and is a confident effort.
The game-play is a bit harder to pin down, at least early on. It's a metroidvania, so yes! After all that build-up you might be thinking "eww! yet another one!!!" but there's something distinctly old-skool here which feels kind of refreshing. For a start: it's a challenging platformer, yet you can't attack enemies. However: No-one seems to have told the games enemies that, and although most can be avoided easily enough, there are times where progress relies on you dodging past opponents that either move very quickly or have quite fast ranged attacks.
So it has traded the relative complexity of the modern genre for something much purer, yet remains exciting without the clumsiness of the 8-bit games it apes. The controls are pretty precise and responsive, so whilst it's tough it usually isn't unfair. I will elaborate later on why I put "usually isn't unfair"
It takes one hit to die, either from enemies or fatal obstacles like spike-pits and pools of water. It could be irritating being this powerless, but it fits thematically and the game has well placed checkpoints with a reasonably forgiving way of handling death.
On casual (which I recommend you start with) you can die an infinite number of times, and you will die a lot. Like, seriously, huuuuuge amounts of times. On Brutal difficulty you have a limited amount of "lives", though to be honest I couldn't figure out how many you have, or if you can get more, as the game is rather vague on that front. I do know you'd have to be utterly insane to try and finish this game on that difficulty level.
Something will catch your eye and you'll wonder if you can get to it, with the classic caveat that maybe it requires some clever thinking, or maybe it needs a skill you haven't found yet. There are certainly much more intricate (or infuriating, depending on your skill level and patience) examples in the genre (like the Ori titles, if you absolutely want to get so enraged that you smash your pad or keyboard) but this nonetheless scratches that itch for discovery and reflex-driven tests.
You go one way and get stuck. You go off in another direction...and get stuck. Then you find something to aid you and begin hunting down all those areas that were previously out of reach. Its a tried and tested format done with enough skill, and its own style, that I was sucked into it quite thoroughly, despite it being nothing new.
In a way that's almost why I liked it, as it doesn't attempt to outdo these games that have got just a little bit insane in how hard they push the player with crazy set-pieces. This instead chooses to give bite-sized chunks of excruciating pain before soothing your furrowed and fevered brow with a nice check-point (though you know that is just the calm before the next storm)
For the most part this is an admirable low-budget attempt at a genre that had been claimed by A+ indies, the likes of which could deliver snazzy set-pieces and slick cut-scenes. Into The Underdusk is a bit rougher than those but does a reasonably good job of capturing their spirit and has plenty of heart.
Where it falls down, well....you will need a huge amount of patience and tenacity, as it is brutally hard. Were it to play as slickly as it is designed then this wouldn't be an issue, yet it has some flaws. Some enemy behaviours can be a bit too random for the pixel-perfect jumps and split-second timing that the level design calls for, which can make your death inevitable time and time again as they refuse to fit with the muscle-memory required for everything else.
When it gets the balance right, it is fun. When it gets it wrong, it is infuriating. It took me 17 hours to finish and I must have died close to 1000 times...It is so close to perfection, but in the end is a bit too flawed for me to recommend it without some hesitation.

Really good, VERY CHALLENGING platformer. So far it reminds me a bit of a mix of the original castlevania and metroid. Make sure to play this with a controller. The jumping timing needs to be on point to get through these challenges. Super excited to finish. So far a blast. It's worth double the price.

Only just exploring the world, but it does some really interesting things with the "dead" world. Enjoying it so far! Looking forward to playing some more.

I haven't spent a really long time on the game yet, but what I have played so far I have really enjoyed, and can't wait to explore more.
Reminds me of a mix of Shove knights art and Hollow Knight Metroidvania gameplay added with a creepy vibe, the game drops you into its dark world with only a single goal in mind, you must explore and found your way with what looks like very little hand holding with some challenging points that haven't felt unfair.
Its been fun making mental notes of places I will probably need to return to once I unlock more powers, having only unlocked one so far.
Exploration is key to this game, with more story being told as you find and collect more.
If your a fan of metroidvanias, I would say give this lovely game a go!

Enjoyed it much more than I expected I would. Exploration based metroidvania with no combat (you can only avoid enemies and their attacks) that managed to hold my attention throughout the entire ~10h it took me to beat it. As fun as it was there were a few issues constantly hampering my enjoyment:
- Way too RNG based. Enemies move in random patterns, shoot projectiles in random directions and at random intervals. In rooms full of them, finally managing to beat them comes down to mostly luck and feels like bashing your head against the wall, which is really weird for an otherwise pin-point precision platformer.
- Very annoying and tedious to sit through death screen. You're meant to die in this game. A lot. To keep retrying. And instead of instantly teleporting you back to the checkpoints, as most games like these do, you have to sit through a short cutscene, which is also pretty loud. Wasn't a fan.
- Can be hard to figure out where to go sometimes. You do get occasional vague tips, but even with them I'd get lost every once in a while, or complete an area, at the end of which was an object I couldn't interact with yet, forcing me to re-do it later. Didn't mind it that much but I suppose some could.
Other than that really enjoyed my time with the game, huge recommend from me for 2d platformer fans.

This is a challenging game and worth my money. I am only 2.5 hours into the game and can't wait to beat it! i don't like the spiky guys that spit stuff out of their head. i will conquer this game. teehee