Supraland

Better game design than your favorite AAA game.

This is a very brave game, for two main reasons:
1. It's first-person-platforming, which every right-thinking person knows is a crime against gaming
2. It depathologises the average open-world RPG player's instinct of "do every possible side quest and find every secret before inching the main plot along to the next trigger which will cut them off" by forcing you to do every single "side quest" possible to inch the main plot along! It's a futzer's dream.
As with trodding the fine line between genius and insanity, such bold design decisions either result in a game that's complete tosh or an amazing experiences. And I'm pleased to say Supraland is the latter. It's clear the creator(s) put a lot of thought into the design and sequencing of all of the player's actions in the game and it means it plays out rather wonderfully. You're often working on many different "puzzles" at once, with some being easier than others, meaning there's always some kind of constant progression.
I also like the whole "you're a plasticine(??) figure in a sandbox world" aspect. Makes things more fun.
It does have a few flaws, almost all of them graphical:
1. Outrageous bloom, lens flare, motion blur by default. More bold choices, but I think these ones are the wrong side of the line?
2. The camera is a weird fish-eye lens that takes a lot of getting used to. It's mainly skewed in the up-down direction. I think this is intentional to give you that toy-figure sense of scale, and it's ok outside, but it's really disorientating when you're in a closed-in environment like the very first mission in the sewer, as things distort in a way you don't usually see in a 3D game. It's similar to when 2.5D games like Doom try and implement freelock and instead do that gross z-shearing thing.
3. It really ruins the combat once you get the gun, because firing the gun fills up your screen with bright red crap you can't see past.
Design wise:
1. I don't like the game messing with my viewport : i.e. it "turns" your head to look at something. It's disconcerting even with a mouse and keyboard and I imagine if I played this VR I'd puke.
2. I think the map should be given sooner. It's almost right near the end. Or at least a way to make notes of secrets we've seen but can't get right now.
3. Everything to do with the enemy re-spawning. It just became really tedious by the end of the game. (Again, the unlocks for destroying the spawns should be given much sooner). They fixed this in Crash and, from what I've read, the standalone sequels.
ps: Crash is a great DLC, but it has terrible, unskippable dialog sequences. You can't even bring up the escape menu.

One of the best game I've played in years.
Unlike some games that you play in order to kill time, Supraland belong to the category of games you play any time you get the chance to, untill 100% completion.
A pure moment of happines and nostalgia for older gamers like me, who spend countless nights over some of Nintendo's greatests classics.

Best 3D puzzle platformer metroidvania ever.
I can't even count the many moments where I felt like I cheated the puzzle and it turned out to be intended solution. Absolutely devilish level design, and all done by 1 person!

Don't let this game's toy aesthetic fool you, this is the real deal. Great puzzles, secrets around every corner, and a good sense of humor. The game's combat is the weak link for me. Lots of times I'll be working on a head scratcher of a puzzle and be fending off hoards of enemies at the same time, not fun when that happens!
This game is listed as unsupported on steam deck, which is not entirely true although I understand why. The whole game is playable but you have to drop the video settings to get a stable framerate, and there's performance issues regardless. It also chews through the battery. That said, still a good experience.

It's.... it's really fun??? I don't know what the deal is, but it really does scratch some kind of itch in the "upgrade, explore, progress" center of my brain.

an open world puzzle and exploration heavy game , made by someone who understand game design very well , you will need a decent amount of brain cells to finish this game , the challenges are very satisfying to overcome , my only complain that the game only gets harder and it gets very exhausting since it doesn't break its pace by anything else , still a beautifully crafted game overall , and definitely deserves more recognition.