Entombed

Look: 7/10 What a metal title font!

Butttt other than that, this was far too samey. Only because of the great title screen and the technically-good-look, even if it was overused and repetitive, does this get a 7.

Sound: 7/10 Succcch good sounds in the boulder rolling room where you get the whip. Reminds me of Atari Superman noise music

Buttttt other than that, incredibly annoying. Especially during the corridor segments.

Play: 6/10 Why do I do these things to myself... I know I shouldn't push through this, but I feel like I should give it at least one more try tomorrow. It has a definite adventure feel to it, dreading the backtracking I will have to do (normally I don't mind backtracking, but with clunky and constant combat like this... and I thought Silent Hill 1 was clunky and constant with its combat..! haha... We shall see... I already got to Level 3, and tho the burnout is starting, maybe in chunks this will work right. I remember I wound up dropping its predecessor due to backtracking and clunkiness. This one seems more advanced, less clunky, and more versatile... but those repetitive corridors... and the constant spawning of the enemies (when you have to go left, they will spawn as they damage you, so tacky! eventually you get the rhythm of when they are likely to spawn, but it's still illegit and you will get damaged inevitably sometimes when going left... if only the camera controls were a bit more advanced heh... and nah, there really is no rhythm, it's just cheap spawning. for the most part you don't have to go left, but at times you do... and it's poorly implemented)

Like with its predecessor, I did drop this one. It wasn't tolerable even in chunks. Great on paper, great individual screens and adventure concept puzzles, awful execution. Much like its predecessor, indeed! The idea of Staff of Karnath (the predecessor) was good, too, but wound up being super repetitive and tacky having to go to the same spot to drop off the treasures or w/e it was. And all the ideas, of multiple spells etc., were so vaguely and same-ly implemented, it really wasn't exciting or adventurous at all. That one at least earned a 3 because it had a Feel that made you want to finish it. This one, technically, had that too, I wanted to get to Level 6 to get the item to return to Level 3, but if I heard the corridor enemy sounds one more time... or had to wander to figure out where to go in the corridor segments, which all have the exact same look, one more time... No. At least Staff of Karnath was smaller, I guess haha. Which justified the repetitiveness. This one's expansive repetitiveness feels.. really silly.

Feel: 7/10 I love the Castlevania-esque whip! I am grateful for how the air supply refills. Not so grateful for how repetitive, annoying, and over-used the corridor segments are tho. Didn't feel adventurous because of that, tho there was item retrieval puzzles and backtracking, instead it just felt like frustrating corridor maze navigation to the next action segment screen. rinse, repeat.

Attachment: 7/10 And, indeed, the repetitive corridor segments and their constant enemy spawns ruined it for me. Like Staff of Karnath, I still have this urge to finish it. And indeed, I bet I could if I followed a video playthrough to a t (in fact, now watching through one already gives me that urge to try it again, cuz I see they stop when the annoying enemy spawn sound happens to avoid the cheap damage then, and the game is as I mentioned forgiving about regaining energy with the Black Birds and replenishing Air unlike a lot of adventure games, and I now see where I needed to go to get to Level 3...) Perhaps, if I return to this, this could easily earn a 3 or higher, but moving on for now... Why do I feel bad always when I drop an adventure games lol

Completion: Through Room 2 of Level 2 (the room with the snakes you jump over) Playtime: ~1 hour