REVIEW : Sunblaze (PC)
I wouldn’t say I deliberately seek out punishing games. Nonetheless, I find myself ready to put my skills to the test whenever the opportunity arises. When I first saw the Games From Earth-created Sunblaze, I made it a personal goal to overcome whatever obstacle that stood in the path of this endearing protagonist. Although it can be excruciatingly difficult at times if there is one thing this game teaches you, if there is a will, there is a way.
Sunblaze has a storey, although it serves little use other than to carry the plot forward. Even the first stage, which serves as a “tutorial” for the main protagonist Josie, is a full-fledged series of challenging stages. Everything about this game’s navigation comes effortlessly to the gamer. Windowed tutorials are obsolete as you learn the skills of a superhero through trial and error and a few cringe-worthy retorts from her retired superhero father.
This sense of complete control lasts for the rest of the game’s hundreds of levels, except for a few dubious use cases. After that, I’d say the storey serves its purpose, and while a game like this doesn’t require one, Josie is so endearing that you want to know why everything is happening.
Levels change in terms of themes and new obstacles throughout the game, but your moveset remains essentially unchanged. The challenge is present regardless of stage, and just a few gimmicks repeat from level to level. This keeps your skills in excellent form, and even a toilet stop is enough time for a few warm-up deaths to restore your muscle memory.
Levels have a single goal: get to the Chip to move on. There are side-quests, such as data cubes, that you can try to collect along the way, although they are simply an added obstacle. Also, some states require you to do duties such as damaging a machine, but you’re mostly here to touch that Chip.
Each level has its rhythm that requires you to keep moving. I’d probably die if I tried to think for a second. However, the solution to these platforming problems becomes clearer after each death. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect things to change for the better. This game will put your ability to think on the go and respond to new challenges to the test.
Josie possesses a few abilities, including a double jump, dash, wall grab, and dash jump move. This basic set of skills will see you through it all. By changing the colour of Josie’s costume, the developer has added some interesting visual clues to help you know if you’ve utilised your dash or not. It works since you’ll be looking at her all the time.
Lasers, crushing blocks, electric fields, flying robots, and a slew of other hazards abound. From a design standpoint, the developer has used several ingenious techniques to build the layouts of these levels. They usually use obstacles like lasers, and the rest of the chapter will include stages that mix lasers with other barriers—inventing a slew of novel ways to avoid these quick death traps.
Josie isn’t equipped with a life bar. Yes, she will die the moment anything touches her. After around 100 fatalities, I desired to resume after death was faster, but that was only when I was starving again and over and wanted to jump back in. Still, after death, the levels reset their timing, which is significant because some have a rhythm.
I’m sure this is designed for speedrunners that never stop moving; therefore, if you think like a speedrunner throughout the later levels, you’ll be OK. However, several stages appeared to have an unusual rhythm that slowed my pace, but this was expected with so many variations.
When it comes to accessibility, there are a few possibilities for individuals who wish to enjoy an experience with Josie but lack the necessary skills. In Zen Mode, players can go through more accessible stages to prepare for the entire campaign.
