Klang – PAX East 2016 Hands-On Preview

<p>Regardless of your preferred input method&comma; whether it be touchscreen&comma; controller&comma; or fake plastic instrument&comma; most rhythm games are pretty much just pressing buttons when prompted&period; Tom-Ivar Arntzen&comma; Art &amp&semi; Game Designer &lpar;and sole employee&rpar; of Tinimations&comma; was tired of simply inputting commands&period; Inspired by titles like <em>Bayonetta<&sol;em> and <em>Devil May Cry<&sol;em>&comma; Tom attempted take the basic concept of a rhythm games and make an action platformer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Klang<&sol;em> is a 2D platformer with a striking art style similar to <em>Outland<&sol;em>&period; While dual wielding &&num;8220&semi;tuning fork blades&comma;&&num;8221&semi; you&&num;8217&semi;re tasked with traversing levels with the left stick while both avoiding dangers and bouncing attacks back at enemies with the right stick &lpar;or face buttons&rpar;&period; <em>Klang’s<&sol;em> platforming feels fast&comma; fun&comma; and responsive&comma; with character moves reflective of <em>Ninja Gaiden<&sol;em> and <em>Strider<&sol;em>&period; The rhythm portion of the game also felt appropriately forgiving&comma; utilizing a meter that helped me gauge when to wait&comma; and when to strike&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;105389" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-105389" style&equals;"width&colon; 1024px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-105389 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;04&sol;03184325&sol;NWm8ZTq-1024x581&period;jpg" width&equals;"1024" height&equals;"581" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-105389" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Klang&comma;<&sol;em> Tinimations&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Although the multiple layers of gameplay &lpar;both rhythm and platforming&rpar; were introduced one at a time&comma; it still took me quite a while to be able to attain the level of mental multi-tasking required to successfully avoid taking damage while chaining together attacks&period; A letter grade based on performance is then provided at the end of each level&comma; to encourage replay&comma; much like in other combo-based action platformers&period; Just like in high school music class&comma; however&comma; I was a C student at best&period; Players proficient in managing multiple patterns in their head &lpar;like actual musicians&rpar; would probably have a much easier time of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Aside from my own personal lack of rhythm&comma; my only complaint with the game was that I was provided little to no information during the entire demo&period; I often had no idea where to go or what to do in each level&comma; and it was never really clear when I was even taking damage&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m all for not holding the player&&num;8217&semi;s hand and letting them figure things out for themselves&comma; but in a game doing something completely new &lpar;like attempting to combine two very different genres into one experience&rpar;&comma; a little information would have been nice&period; It should be important to note however that what I played was not reflective of the final build and this could very easily change before the game is released&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;51I6L05Cvjc" width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Klang<&sol;em> was recently Greenlit on Steam and will be available on PC&comma; Mac and Linux in Q2 or Q3 of this year for under &dollar;20&period; A console port is also likely&comma; but has yet to be confirmed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;