Star Leaping Story

precise 2d platformer with an interesting story and good looking visuals, insane how this whole thing was made by one guy. couldnt be happier with my purchase :)

I have fond memories of trying the demo for Star Leaping Story at Taipei Games Fest last year! It might have been the only game with a line of people fighting to play it and score on the time trial mode, so I wishlisted it on Steam right then and bought it on release. For a one person project, it's pretty great work, but definitely has some flaws, mostly NOT to do with gameplay. I love the directional input jetpack platforming as its main mechanic. It's viciously hard to master but feels fair. I sure do wish it worked with a controller instead of only a D-pad. Sound, graphics, presentation and the UX need some real work. They're grating, distracting and basic. It's one of the few games I had to disable ambient music due to the loudness and repetitiveness. I think the story is interesting, but I hate the presentation of text chat (also disabled speech, especially that of the Navi like helper's). Character sprites.. honestly quite ugly. The user interface is painful across the board. I was a bit harsh in that last paragraph, but again, the core game's fun! It's worth a try for $5 for someone who wants to support an indie project and has had their fill of most of the marquee technical platformers at that price point like Celeste and are looking for something similar but a little weirder with a bit of an anime vibe. Hope we see more from ZerovHao!

Star Leaping Story is a pretty chill game with great art, challenging levels , and an interesting hover dash mechanic that make the game worth wild. Neat music as well. Would recommend if you are in the mood for something different, short and sweet.