Genre: Platformer
Developer: Fun Infused Games
Price: £1.99
So after the wondrous interlude that was Slime Rancher, it’s straight back to the bucket of ageing indie games that fill my Steam Library full to bursting. Today’s game is ‘Volchaos’, a game I mostly know for being one of the popular games back on the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG). You play as an Indiana Jones style adventurer running through level after level collecting gems and trying to get to the exit without dying. It’s one of those Meat Boy style frustration platformers, but with the twist that every single level features a slowly (or in some cases quickly) rising flow of lava that gradually engulfs the level, forcing the player to move quickly. Hitting lava, spikes or any enemy results in the player’s immediate death and a rapid return to the start of the level.
Each level has a handful of gems that players may have to go out of their way to collect, and which apparently unlock a bunch of secret levels. Alternatively each level also has a leader board based purely on time, meaning that rushing through levels without completing the gem-based side objectives is also rewarded. It’s all simple and fun enough, although some of the enemy types don’t react the same way each time the level is restarted, which is a bit of an issue when it comes to time-attack based games. Still there’s a decent amount of immediacy the rapid loop of death, and some fiendishly designed traps to trial-and-error through on the first playthrough.
But despite this, I just haven’t been feeling it. The best I can really say about Volchaos is that it’s a perfectly competent game, but it never really clicked for me. It all feels a bit samey and flat, even as the challenge ramps up over the course of the gae. It’s suitably well designed and challenging, but ultimately I found myself dispassionately disinterested in getting through this one.
How long did I play? - 1.3 hours
Did I finish it? - No
Would I finish it? - No
