Struggling (2020)

There is an audience out there for something like Struggling. The variety of set-pieces do show an attempt to break up the monotony of fumbling, but the journey is much too long. Trial and error scenarios are too frequent due to the gameplay, and the real struggle is having the patience to redo many simple tasks.

While Struggling eventually comes together to a degree and showcases impressive creativity, it doesn’t change that this is a game with audio that made me want to mute my TV and controls, which simply don’t feel good. It’s a real struggle to play. While that may be mostly intentional, it doesn’t make the game more enjoyable in the end. Some players may find more in it than me, but I’m more interested in seeing what the creative team at Chasing Rats Games does next. Any team with this much creativity feels like they have a great game in them. They didn’t get there this time, though.

Struggling is a very creative and endearing platformer that surprised me with both how much I enjoyed its grotesque universe and how tight its physics-based gameplay is.

‎Constant deaths, relentless levels, control schemes that are difficult to master... ‎‎Victory in Struggling is a luxury,‎‎ something that is not easily granted to us and for which we have to fight constantly. Deliberately stripping the player of almost any kind of action carried out not only radically changes the mobility and style employed, but also has a great psychological effect on it. It is precisely here where the greatest charm of the adventure lies, and although sometimes the end does not justify the means, it is a proposal as original and different as frustrating.‎

Struggling is a game that I was sure I was going to dislike but had me changing my mind with pure joy from the earliest stages.