Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils

As someone who grew up on those chunky-pixelated platformers, this game immediately caught my eye. Below is a detailed breakdown of my experience:

Visuals: 8/10

Love the art style! 😍 It is so wonderfully retro yet so perfectly modern at the same time. It feels like a love letter to the Game Boy years, but with enough fine detail that you are not squinting at a blob of pixels. It hits that sweet spot of nostalgia without sacrificing readability. Belle is adorable, the Chime is just a cute little tiny throwable buddy, and the environments, simple as they are, are distinct and thematic enough.

Gameplay: 7/10

The actual platforming feels solid. Belle controls well enough, and they introduce core mechanics, like throwing Chime to bounce off him for extra height, more or less gradually and eventually layer them interestingly. It is very hard, yes, but whenever you miss a jump or get hit,  you feel that that is your fault and not because the game is cheap. I really like that.

However, the difficulty progression feels... off. It doesn't really meter out difficulty by throwing tougher platforming challenges or enemies that would require new strategies. Instead, the difficulty is almost completely dependent on taking away checkpoints and increasing enemy counts so that they all respawn when all of a sudden you die! 😩 That means you got through a tremendously difficult section, and just before a checkpoint, an enemy finds a way to nail you, and you are back to replaying with lots of rage. Of course, it's simply ridiculous: rather than being a challenge to your skill, the content turns into an eternal trial of patience. 

On controls, I would recommend using a D-pad. A thumbstick really makes it tough to accurately slide Belle or throw Chime from precise angles. I've had moments intended to throw Chime straight up for a bounce only to have him stray at an odd angle, ruining the jump and dropping me into an instant-death pit. 💀 Precision feels like a double-click affair meant for the D-pad, and you can certainly feel it when you're on a stick.

The "long jump" felt inconsistent and unreliable. I often found myself failing the jump repeatedly, not because I was mistiming it, but because the input felt finicky.

Audio: 9/10

The music in this game is fantastic! 🎶 Overworlds have their own themes, and the levels belonging to those areas then take the themes and build variations that completely suit the feel of the levels. Catchy and atmospheric, it fully sets the mood on its own; this is the kind of soundtrack one can hum once everything in the game fades away.

Narrative and Charm: 6/10

The dialogues are pleasant; character designs are cute; the few side quests add some worthwhile moments to the game. Belle and Chime are cute to watch, with the overall tone light and fun. 😊 While, unfortunately, the main story is quite thin and lacks that hook. It really is just there for the platforming to hang from and cannot really invest you in the narrative.

Difficulty and Frustration Factors: 5/10

This is where the game loses its charm for me. As I said earlier, the difficulty scaling through checkpoint reduction and enemy respawn feels artificial and frustrating. And, if I die so much due to the said issue, losing coins seems to be too harsh a penalty. 💸 There is hardly any other option such as healing outside of the checkpoints, and the single paid shop healing that you can carry along is quite limited. You practically have to go through the whole stretch without making a mistake at all, which, when added to the rather imprecise controls in certain actions and an instant-kill hazard, makes for an extremely frustrating replay scenario.

Adding to the potential frustration is that some enemies will not respawn when you die, especially the ones you're supposed to bounce off to grab bonus items. Mess that bounce up, and it's either a full level reset to try it again. 😠

Overall Score: 7/10

Curse Crackers: For Whom the Belle Toils is a heartfelt game with several nice elements saluting an exquisite style. It has arguably one of the better art styles, the music rocks, and the core platforming mechanics are good and fun to play. The steep difficulty progression with few check points, death penalties, and control issues with the thumb stick prevent this from being a truly great game.

Despite its flaws, I can still recommend Curse Crackers to fans of retro platformers, especially if you have a good D-pad controller. There's a solid foundation here, and the charming presentation and excellent music make the frustrating moments a little easier to swallow. Just be prepared for some teeth-clenching replays. 😉