Dungeon Gals

A fantastic game brimming with heart and unapologetic love. The swapping mechanic initially worried me, having heard horror stories of DK64's tag barrel, but the mechanic itself is purposeful and iterated upon, really wowing me in one of the later segments. It helps that the way they tag out is cute, too. The fireside chats are an authentic highlight, and it's easy to identify with and admire the ways they struggle and support each other. They're fleshed out and well loved, even in the mechanical gameplay. Each character's abilities get equal love and importance (Though Izzy's charge move became a quick favourite), and the pacing is excellent. If I had to find something critical to say about the game, it'd be that certain mechanics or interactions, especially in bosses, sometimes lack telegraphing. A simply lovely experience!!

I'm glad we're having a Wario Land-like renaissance right now because it means we get fun *** like this. It's more Wario Land 2 & 3 than Wario Land 4 in terms of game design, but that's fine by me since I do like those games too. I love the idea of a puzzle platformer where you're constantly shuffling characters to navigate through levels, and I would say this game pulls it off well. There are some iffy bits (namely the swinging puzzles and some movements they expect you to nail with Isabella's dash attack), but they aren't iffy enough that ruined the experience and kept me from finishing. Basically every character is fun to play and it's fun to shuffle them around to figure out puzzles/maneuvering. I gotta say that I love the dynamic between the three gals (and this isn't just bias from me being sapphic). The writing nails depicting a healthy polycule relationship without sacrificing the fact that all three of them have their minor (and major) flaws as individuals. It's grounded in a way I wasn't necessarily expecting from a game like this. Another thing I wasn't expecting but was pleasantly surprised by: story context as to why you're in the levels you are. A lot of platformers just shove you wherever and say "go to town." I don't mind that they do that, but I appreciate that this game has more (relatively) fleshed out story reasons to go to these places and context as to what these levels are in relation to the world. Finding the little lore bits scattered around was a fun extra aside, though I'll note there are notes you'll need a pen and pad to save for later (something I don't see from games much in the 21st century). Overall I had a good time with this game. It scratches the itches a good 2D puzzle platformer tends to, but it also feels like its own thing at the end of the day. This one gets a big recommendation from me. If you play the demo and enjoy it but are on the fence for buying it, trust me when I say it's 100% worth the purchase.

Incredibly cute and well polished little puzzle-platformer, was a wonderful play the whole way through and was practically the perfect length for what it is. Couldn't recommend it enough.