Recent reviews by ECE94FSR

I really liked the concept (especially normal vs hard mode) and was happy to get this game for free but it has some major issues.
The game is choppy and has screen shake making it a big eyesore to play.
I seem to "lose" a lot of jumps and have had weird input issues playing on keyboard. For instance one game I couldn't fire my weapon for about 2 seconds at a time on rare occasions. Apart from jumping, going left stopped working for short instances so I walked right into enemies on conveyor belts.

Even after improving going for the "hard with no death ach." seemed like a lot of RNG luck with inputs.
I did then try playing with a controller and surprisingly input issues were more or less non-existent.
However at the end my run ended after once again getting screwed over by RNG.
No, not input related, but game related.
There is a place with 4 consecutive beams with gaps separating them that are supposed to go out one after one in order. However in 3/4 last runs they don't. When the first two are out and you can jump you wont make it before the third beam gets you. Once you die there it will return to the normal pattern so it only prevents you from beating the game deathless and it doesn't always happen.

That's why even if I don't mind a lower kind of quality retro platformer, I simply can't recommend it.

I doubt that it will be fixed but I would ask the dev to give options to disable screen shake, some form of options to make the game smooth and not super choppy and uncomfortable to play.
Most importantly though the beam pattern needs to be fixed it can't be up to RNG if you can do deathless or not (hard mode).
Also others have complained about too high sounds of coins etc. so I guess that should be addressed too.

Edit: Beat the game on Hard Mode without dying. Either its my keyboard or the keyboard inputs are really bad. Playing with controller basically eliminated losing jumps and I never "walked into enemies" on conveyor belts again.

//ECE//

Very relaxing game. Would greatly benefit from keyboard interaction rather than being forced to point and move around with mouse. Like someone in the review section said, it becomes a "carpal tunnel simulator" 😭
Its awkward, but I've started playing this with my left hand to remedy this to some extent😅

I will suffer a lot trying to 100% this.
Highly recommend having a good controller, precision is important.
Controller drift and bad stick feel/range for extra challenge 🙃
Pretty cool game.

Fantastic game!
Almost as good as the first with a longer and more challenging experience overall.
With future DLCs it might even surpass Hollow Knight. In my opinion its the reason I like HK more.
The DLCs spiked the difficulty and added great music and interesting areas.
HK: SIlksong isn't complete without a mind breaking Boss Rush.

I'm glad I got to finish up the game before they nerfed bosses and stuff something I missed out on in the prequel.

I played it with keyboard and mouse, but I guess controller is how its meant to be played.
More difficult than expected, read somewhere that lower frame rate makes it easier. Might explain the high completion rate.
Overall short but enjoyable, some levels took quite a few retries to get but the scaling of the difficulty hit a good spot between frustration and the feeling of getting better while retrying to beat a stage or 5 star it.

Will contain some spoilers*

Volgarr the Viking instantly makes me think of "Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts". It has this very awkward jumping that makes you die soooo many times till you start to get the hang of it.
The controls are tight and not clunky at all.

The game really emphasizes memorization learning boss patterns and enemy positions etc.
The game is very unfair till you learn and abuse the strategies you've made from all of your deaths.
Then you are more and more going to be able to trivialize a lot of places.

Avoiding taking damage is much more important in this game then its sequel. Each equipment adds an hit-point but losing equipment especially the flame sword makes bosses and tougher enemies much more difficult to deal with if you aren't good enough yet with patterns.

The first time I played and went at it I didn't even beat the game. It is a frustrating game that will get a lot easier if you keep at it. I revisited it and beat the C-ending and some time later I went for the A-ending.
Playing side by side with my brother made it much more enjoyable even if he beat it earlier than me.

Its very satisfying to get better at Volgarr.
Going for the A-ending gathering "special lives" by taking enough chests without damage really gives you the true arcade experience.
You play alternative versions of the level with limited amounts of lives that you can increase by grabbing more chests without taking damage and defeating bosses.
If you lose those lives you get back to the normal version of the level so you are better of restarting if you want to beat the alternate path and reach the secret world.

The dev has been very clear with what the game is meant to be and a lot of the critique "lack of checkpoints" etc. is addressed in the sequel.

I find Volgarr the Viking to be a very solid platformer but receives 8/10 due to lack of accessibility which the sequel solves.
Mainly save files as its a bit of a classic issue with the arcade games that you get one play and then you are back without options to really select levels and other conveniences (yes I know you can go to the side to get to next levels).

//ECE//

Will contain some spoilers*

If you liked the first Volgarr game you will probably like the sequel too.
What might be the biggest problem for players who haven't played the first one is the way the jumping works.
If you aren't willing to learn to use it properly you will probably dislike the game.
It has a very special feeling, such that when I returned and decided to beat Volgarr 1 it for a short moment made me think it was input lag lol.
Levels are longer and the equipment is stronger, but holes, lack of oxygen and "special terrain" will insta-kill you.
It has many nice unfair moment like the first game and places you need to memorize to not get rolled.
Once you do its just like in the first game. You become the unfair one and trivialize many enemies and sections :)

As stated above the game in general has become longer and might lose some points with certain people who prefer a shorter game/levels.
However this is made more manageable with the checkpoint system.
As many probably know a frequent complaint about the first one was the lack of checkpoints.
For casuals thinking that the game is too difficult the dev also added another feature know as undead mode.
You become invincible with the exception of falling into holes etc.
I have never used this feature and its presented to you after a certain amounts of continues.
This used to be a forced feature which I really think was good that they changed to be optional.
Those who rather want the arcade feeling can destroy the checkpoints or simply erase the save slot which there are 3 of.
The game is overall an improvement over the first in almost every way.

The maybe most questionable change is the lack of secret world passages which instead has been made to a single world.
You get there by beating the normal levels without a continue.
I believe that Volgarr 1 & 2 are about the same when it comes to difficulty if we don't count the secret world Hel.
It is absolutely brutal. However the dev did a good decision on this, so if you simply beat the level you get the A-ending.
The level has checkpoints and when you die you have to do a cutscene every time and when you select your save you start at the last checkpoint with one life.
This is probably my only complaint about the whole game.
Either you should not need to see the cutscene any more times after the first time or the dev could make you start with max amount of lives instead of one.

Other negatives I find can be left as they are. People can cheat achievements with undead mode and exiting to title and selecting the save apparently takes you to the last checkpoint with all the gear you had. So you can basically beat the game with no continues on you first try by abusing this.
These things are up to everyone to decide on whether to abuse. Games like this you compete with yourself and even if you get to Hel you should be able to beat the game legit if you manage to complete the level anyways.

I managed to 100% the game in a bout 20 hours. I played it side by side with my brother.
We did the same with the first game but not from the start.
To make it like the first game and keep the challenge up we decided to break every checkpoint on our first run.
It was a great experience with lots of stupid deaths, laughs and frustration.

I'd give it 9/10.

//ECE//

Like Mario Party, but a less kids friendly version with more skill based games than luck🔥

Rock and Stone!
"Labour of Love" Lets's Gooo!

Complex and time consuming game with endless possibilities.
Grinding is fun for quite some time thanks to the progression still going on well beyond 100h.
Its also the problem as most wont play this game for hundreds of hours.