WarriOrb (2020)

WarriOrb tells the story of a mighty demon known as a Spirit of the Unknown who, after failing the summoning spell to revive the Wizard’s daughter, is forced into a pathetic, powerless body. In order to regain his freedom and sanity, the Spirit needs to cooperate and find a way to resurrect the girl by exploring a decayed realm, solve puzzles and defeat twisted creatures. Fail and this new body will be your tomb.

Warriorb sins at the point that I consider most central in a video game, entertainment. The game is not only not fun, but also not pleasant to look at, hear or play. The feeling of spending my time in this world was like buying a game just for the cover, just to regret it bitterly after 10 minutes. Even so, amid the mistakes, stumbles and bumps of this unpleasant environment, something still remains in the memory. I believe the idea of a challenging platform game focused on more "realistic" ball physics is quite interesting, but the title has failed to make it work.

Billed as the "Dark Souls" of 2D jump and run action, WarriOrb set itself on a pedestal daring comparison...

WarriOrb fails to do many things right. The combat is lackluster due to boring enemies and an uninteresting set of moves. The floaty controls clash with the constant need for perfect platforming. The frailty of your character is inconsistent with the dangers you face, and the checkpoint system feels broken. Even the ball physics and spell system fail to impress, despite how often they're used in the latter half of the game. Combined with a passable presentation and an uninteresting story, there are better games you can spend your time on instead.

There is a solid game in WarriOrb, which has some well-designed elements and curious story moments. Unfortunately the experience is marred by flawed implementation or design in the core gameplay that makes this feel more frustrating than challenging.