With its incredible presentation, dynamism in its movement and layers of depth, EarthNight has swooped in to stab at the dragon's jugular of what can make the autorunner interesting. An auto-stunner.

Sight an' fall.

Yes. Get it. Or play it on Apple Arcade. This is such an interesting one.

This weirdness. A seven years in the making autorunner from a studio whose founder said of the genre 'People got bored because it's boring.' THAT'S where you need to start when you're aiming to upend a genre. Also, a title pitched to bring mobile gaming its own Spelunky. You could say it was unpunctual to that aim given the releases we now see on the small screen or, perhaps, just in time for Apple Arcade's mainstreamification. In any case, what a mission statement; what a millstone of expectation and prospects round a studio's first game's neck. How'd it do?

EarthNight blazes into being with the exact one-two punch phlegethon - of music that slaps and visuals that punch - it needed. Although the opening shot of a dive onto a dragon's back before stabbing it to death is anything but starting slow, it's the controlled free-fall to Earth around a sea of dragons that truly steals the show. Each new atmosphere layer shocks with hand-drawn brilliance. The autorunner is epic now. The most fundamental way of improving on the genre, perhaps.

This Deal's Getting Worse All The Time.

As a big fan of Spelunky, it's that influence I enjoy most here. The roguelike progression, the lack of hand-holding, the secrets, the layer of depth to the mechanics, etc. Even when you feel you've peeled off the mystery, EarthNight is always a challenging platformer. In spite of compelled autorunner movement, there's a freedom in your control and definite dynamism to your movement. You can control your speed, soar/launch forwards, dive down, stomp down, bounce, slide, double jump and triple jump. It's thrilling stuff.

It's a challenging, but very consumable rogue-like. You free-fall onto dragons' platform-strewn backs to collect items whilst avoiding/defeating enemies until you reach the dragon's head for a head-stabbing Shadow of The Colossus-reminiscent meta-game. Landing on and killing dragons is largely optional, but critical to accessing power-ups that grant anything from triple jumps to shields, amassing water for upgrades/purchases or perhaps simply assaying to regain some health via skilful enemy-bopping platforming. Collecting eggs along the way - often hidden along different platform pathways - helps fill your dragon-kill meter before you're shaken off, but equally you need to employ a specific technique to your tapping for different dragons. It's this kind of layer of depth to proceedings that makes EarthNight so compelling. It's a game to learn and master.

Attack its weak point for massive damage.

Yet, like a Spelunky, conquer it sufficiently and you can Games-Done-Quick it in under ten minutes. Better yet, the completely optional nature of landing on dragons - especially when you've already killed all the types and unlocked all the items - at least half-solves one of the biggest problems with rogue-likes. Once you've beaten content, you never need encounter it again on another run. This would be yet more true if you got to bypass the first dragon landing and another dragon landing half-way (this can only be skipped via a secret). Unfortunately, these gallingly stand out as repetitive blocks to progress that rob EarthNight of true commitment to to this otherwise plus in its favour.

I didn't realise until quite late that the two playable characters, Sydney and Stanley play dramatically differently. Sydney with her double jump and dives has vastly more air-control, whilst Stanley with his swords is much better equipped to resist enemies but has some frustratingly constrictive platforming by comparison. His ability to kill dragons also seems strangely borked given his lack of charge-up damage. It would be great if each character was best equipped for tackling different dragon types, but I don't believe this is the case. A strange oversight, perhaps?

As mentioned, Earthnight's painterly-style and Cuphead-liked dedication to animation has more than survived its lengthy development. Its chiptune tracks, although they feel limited in number, are burning-hot quality. My only complaint at all with EarthNight's presentation is that its cuddly exterior might make some onlookers dismiss it. The balloons and the 'scraps' you trade-in for water currency, which include teddy bears, burgers, cookies, etc, have a childish air to them. You have this collision of cuddly appearance with the fiction of collecting resources for refugee ships. Then again, you also have the protagonists free-falling from space, so it's hardly my want for it to look gritty. I just hope no one passes on it because of an assumed audience. Its sheer premise has such a zing of creativity that it would be criminal.

Why build a wall when you can have a floating city?

EarthNight seemingly arrives just as auto-runners are getting interesting. Summer Catchers come to mind. Not to mention Super Meat Boy Forever is on the horizon. Yet EarthNight has swooped in to stab at the dragon's jugular of what can make the genre interesting. With its incredible presentation, dynamism in its movement and layers of depth, I think EarthNight has elevated the auto-runner to celestial heights.