Octahedron Review

<p><em>Octahedron<&sol;em> is an epileptic orgy of sights&comma; sounds&comma; and tightly designed platforming&period; Within seconds&comma; its<i> <&sol;i>visual style and effects work make a strong impression&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The core gameplay requires no time to understand&period; You can jump with the press of a button&period; Pressing the trigger button materializes a single platform mid-air&period; Holding the trigger while moving allows the platform to follow underneath the player avatar until its timer dissipates&period; World 1 is a competent&comma; though run-of-the-mill set of levels that serves as a training grounds for later sections&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;137046" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-137046" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-137046" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;26192721&sol;Octahedron2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-137046" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Octahedron&comma; Demimonde and Square Enix Collective<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The 50 levels are split into various worlds with each gradually progressing in difficulty&period; Very few jarring difficulty spikes break up the experience&period; New worlds and levels continually introduce mechanics and gimmicks&period; The player only has access to a basic platform during the first few levels&period; However&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll soon summon platforms that shoot a stream of laser fire underneath or a platform with large spikes protruding from either end&period; As ideas are thrown into the mix&comma; <em>Octahedron r<&sol;em>emains grounded by applying a single rule across each level&colon; only one materialized platform can be active at once&period; These player-activated platforms are tools for manipulating level gimmicks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While completion by way of a mad-dash to the exit is perfectly viable&comma; each level is dotted with collectibles&period; Many of these collectibles&comma; especially toward the end-game&comma; are placed off the beaten path&comma; requiring more precise application of the game&&num;8217&semi;s systems&period; Making it to a level&&num;8217&semi;s goal post shows you know how to play the game&period; Collecting everything shows you have mastered the nuances of micromanaging the platform&&num;8217&semi;s timer&comma; obstacles&comma; and the total number of allowable succeeding platforms&period; At times&comma; collecting these engenders a feeling emblematic of games like <em>Super Meat Boy<&sol;em>&semi; that very familiar &&num;8220&semi;just one more time&&num;8221&semi; mentality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It helps that levels are short enough to feel within reach&period; Platforming challenges are manageable obstacle courses rather than wars of attrition&period; With that said&comma; <em>Octahedron<&sol;em> falters in its end-game&period; After completing the five main worlds&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll go through another series of worlds&period; Instead of level 1-1&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll play through level x1-1 and so on&period; This final stretch of the game destroys the carefully thought out balance of everything preceding it&period; Prior to the X levels&comma; the avatar can continue jumping from activated platform to activated platform&period; However&comma; each level has a different hard limit on the amount of platforms that can be activated in succession before the player is required to touch the ground&period; The X levels remove this limit&comma; making it infinite&period; This removal coupled with more homogenized level design makes the last 10 or so levels feel like unnecessary filler&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;137048" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-137048" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-137048" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;03&sol;26193232&sol;Octahedron1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-137048" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Octahedron&comma; Demimonde and Square Enix Collective<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Octahedron<&sol;em> is a fine platformer that can be as difficult as you make it&period; Simple start-to-end runs are manageable enough for any gamer while optional collectibles test the player&&num;8217&semi;s skills far beyond any core level&&num;8217&semi;s primary obstacles&period; It remains consistently enjoyable thanks to its drip-feeding of mechanics and gimmicks&comma; though its final levels are a mess&period; This final act&&num;8217&semi;s uninspired laziness blends in with the equally bland soundtrack&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Disclaimer<&sol;strong>&colon; A free code of Octahedron was sent by the publisher for the purposes of this review&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;