Buy A Walk in the Dark

I want to like this game so much, but I can't. The music and art direction are phenomenal, and create a unique atmosphere that few games can achieve; but the game itself was just not well developed. I love challenging platformers, but the engine and physics of this game were programmed to screw you over. I'd estimate a whopping 90% of all deaths are the fault of the game, not the player. And that's being lenient.

Sometimes the levels can be really fun, but often they're just not. Not unfun in a challenging sort of way. Unfun in an I-can't-control-my-fricking-character sort of way way. The only thing that really keeps me playing is the amazing visuals and music. It confuses me as to how some parts of a game's design (music and graphics) can be so top-notch, and other parts (such as engine and physics) can be disastrous. I mean, the game's not broken because of glitches (I barely encountered any); the game's broken because it was programmed that way.

This game is NOT called A Walk in the Park.

Before you play this game you will need to do the following:

-Saw off the foot of a live rabbit
-Find a four leaf clover
-Roam a farm to find a horseshoe
-Scratch off a winning lotto ticket then give it away for good karma points
-Pray to whatever God or dark lord you need for favors

With all that done you might be lucky enough to beat the game.

This game is like a combination of Super Meat Boy and Limbo.
It borrows the art style from Limbo and takes the fast paced element from Super Meat Boy.
Atleast that's how i see it.
T
his game is really , really , really frustrating. Even to the point that you just want to keep on playing it...
Finally nailing a level after 357 tries is absolutely rewarding.

Only thing that really bothers me, is the fact that the controls are really wonky and "the agile cat" doesn't have any air control whatsoever.

9.5/10 , go buy it and get frustrated.

In this challenging platformer you get to be a cat named Bast. Your best friend (owner?), a girl, is whisked away by a creature akin to grim reaper and you have find her. To do this you have to run, jump and crawl through 100 levels of increasing difficulty, all with high contrast graphics similar to Limbo.

There are actually three different kinds of levels. In all of them you have to reach the light at the end of the obstacle course of a level. Cat levels are the most numerous of the bunch. They are the basic platforming levels where you, the cat, can run, jump and wall-jump through the dungeons filled with lethal spikes, playful porcupines, levitating spike balls and moving saw blades and spear traps. Later on there are crumbling, disappearing and reappearing, occasionally sharp-edged platforms to watch out for and also happy swinging giant spiders and cannons with both regular and homing bullets to dodge. Spiky death is pretty much guaranteed.

Second kinds of levels are the girl levels. Girl is trapped in a spirit world, filled with (surprise!) spikes and saw blades and other lethal things I already mentioned. However, for an unknown reason she can jump to the ceiling and back at will. This being the only thing she can do the game pumps a lot of levels out of the simple movement mechanics and both stationary and moving traps.

The third and the most frustrating level type (for me) are the cave levels. In these the cat moves with the same jump-up-and-down mechanics as the girl but running constantly. Precision jumps are easy enough in the early levels but later on they have to be made within a tiny fraction of a second, quickly accumulating tiring deaths. Sometimes you also have to crawl under deathly spikes, bullets or those sneaky, swigging spiders. Frankly, I disliked the cave levels a lot because the speed makes the imperfect hitboxes significant. Also, why must Bast suddenly run when s/he was fine with careful jumps before? Fortunately, there are only some 20 cave levels, so they are in the minority.

Most levels are quite short, lasting just some 10-20 seconds. You get an achievement for par-timing all levels, which is fairly difficult but gets easier as you learn to control both characters. There's also a shiny collectable in each level. Cave running levels don't have par-times, instead requiring you to beat them on the first go. That sounds evil but it's a bluff because you can just try the level again from the level selection screen after each failure to try again.

After beating the game there are ten more challenge (cat platforming) levels to beat that are even more difficult than the story levels. Fortunately they are not required for the acquirement of the ultimate achievement: Ninja Cat. To get that you have to beat the game without dying more than 10 times. It's a very difficult and frustrating achievement despite that you can beat the game in around half an hour.

Unfortunately, the last few of the cave running levels have speed sections that lag the game to a halt, making it jerky with a framerate less than 10. This makes those very precision-heavy levels virtually unplayable. I know this is a problem with my system but I have tried the game on three different computers, a laptop and two desktops, all of which have this same problem (and AMD Radeon type cards that are probably to blame). It makes the Ninja Cat tries a true pain. For some reason the levels work alright when I first start the game but not if I play through all the levels.

All in all, A Walk in the Dark is a very challenging platformer. Granted, sometimes the deaths become really annoying as the hitboxes don't exactly match the graphics, but it's worth its present price (6 €) and can often be grabbed for half that on a sale.

This is a perfectly designed game, but a terribly programmed one. The level designs are clever and interesting, with what should be a steady difficulty curve, but movement--particularly jumping--feels drunken and ungainly.

* The forward momentum of a typical jump is about equivalent to Shovel Knight's forward momentum when he's jumping in the direction of a strong wind
*Hitboxes extend out so far, you can die by jumping straight up when there are spikes on a platform to the side of you.
*The wall jump tends to be more of a wall headbutt, followed by an immediate fall onto spikes.

Every level plays like the aerial equivalent of an ice level, and that's simply unworkable for what's clearly supposed to be a twitch platformer requiring precise control.

On the rare occasions this game works, it works beautifully. I don't think I've ever seen a game cry out this hard for a tool-assisted speedrun. But if you simply want a fun, challenging platformer, play . . . well, any of the games it rips off besides Limbo.

This game is very beautiful and alluring. On the other hand sort of difficult. Dont get me wrong the fact that its challenging is part of what makes it so awesome.

I call it The Kitty Game. Get high as ♥♥♥♥ and play this ♥♥♥♥ and you'll have the time of your life.

Would also recommend to sober♥♥♥♥.

Lovely game Its beautiful artwork and haunting soundtrack. The levels are fun and extremely challenging and I love the theme.

The controls for this game are frustratingly terrible and the characters feel floaty! This is a major problem because the game is a platformer where precise movement is necessary, especially to get all the in game collectables and level badges.

Nice little game. Hit detection is a bit wonky and it feels like a mix between Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV. Not as good as either but definitely worth the time if you liked those two.

Insanely good game. It's difficult, interesting and didn't bore me one bit! The soundtracks are amazing and very well fitting. It makes you think deeply how to tackle certain situations in the fastest way. Usually while playing games I zone out and think about other things while I play it. However A Walk in the Dark had my full on attention the entire time. I am very glad I bought it.

Running around as a cat is the best. 10/10

Generaly - it's an amazing game, but developer did everything to poison it by adding "Cave" levels...

• jumping, catching the right rhythm to beat a level;
  
• pushing the button in right microsecond on "Cave" levels.

• you like challenging platformer games;
  
• nice and attractive style: simplistic, but eye-grabbing;
  
• good level-design (except "Cave" levels) - it's different for both main characters: for the cat it's mostly jumping and catching the rhythm, for the girl it's about some kind of floating between "floor" and "ceiling" - like plumet on the wind;
  
• cat's "jumping" realisation - brief/light push for short/quick jump, lasting/hard push for long/amplitude jump - lets you manipulate with covered distance and gives you a feeling that you truly control as light on foot, flexible and elastic animal as cat.

• "Cave" levels - it's the real curse for this game: it's not even a gaming/playing/face a challenge at all, it's some kind of reaction training: you have to push the button in right microsecond;
  
• absence of check points: for the most of levels it's ok - they can be beat after few tries, but its absence on "Cave" levels devours you with a wave of frustration: you probably will go through dozens desperate attempts to find that right microsecond when you need to push the button.

Nice, but controversial gaming experience: it's true representer of platformer genre, but you have to be ready for truly suffering on "Cave" levels - otherwise, it's a wall-thrown keyboard/gamepad and strong words to developers and their relatives.

A good mix of Super Meat Boy, Limbo, Bit Trip Runner and VVVVVV.

Number one vote for one of the most precise and beautiful games I have ever played. A Walk in the Dark is an amalgam of puzzle, platformer and speedrun, rolled into a gorgeously crafted game. In A Walk in the Dark you play 2 roles, a girl who is enamoured by her cat, and a cat that's enamoured by said girl. The storyline is pretty brief, the girl and cat are separated, and the two partake in finding each other. It's actually kinda heart wrenching to me personally as a lover of animals and the bond between what could ultimately be your best friend is understood by both the game and the player, it shows, and it's executed very well.

So let's talk about the meat of the game. I do prefer the cat levels so we'll start with them, there are two modes of play for the cat, platforming and speedrunning. Speedrunning has you on an auto-scroll chase to the end of the level, whilst avoiding obstacles by jumping from floor to ceiling, almost like flipping the gravity, similar to the popular indie game VVVVVV. The platforming levels will have you navigating some perfectly designed levels with the tightest controls you will ever use. The cat can control his jump height, his speed and can wallkick.

The girls levels are platform based, and the mechanics involved are very very similar to VVVVVV, albeit with a bit more inertia to make things difficult. The girls levels have sort of a floaty charm to it, separating it from VVVVVV.

The hook here for me is the wonderful aesthetics. The art style is so good, almost boasting a Limbo-esque feel with some wonderfully scrolling backgrounds, coupled with an ambient vibe soundtrack with lashings of deep piano. A Walk in the Dark is not easy, I think I actually now hate cats, and girls that float. The engine is so well designed and so precise it will have you on your knees, begging for something easier.

I jumped into A Walk in the Dark expecting some kind of cinematic platformer, as the inspirations from Limbo are apparent, at least graphically. What I got was a well designed, precise and gorgeous little platformer/puzzle game that has taken the very best from games like Limbo and VVVVVV, turned into something a bit more thought provoking. A game for fans of the genre, a game for anyone who likes being dominated by difficulty, cat-lovers and indie gamers alike. A Walk in the Dark is awesome and brilliant, one of the best indie games I've played. Very much recommended.

I'll recommend this because this is a game done right:

- It's fun, fast-paced and gives you a challenge.
- Not repetitive, different game modes.
- Filled with content: 100 levels and 10 bonus challenges.
- Except for finishing the level, you face 3 other challenges per level:
1) Finishing without dying
2) catching the shiny and
3) finishing under the par time.
- Good Music
- Nice Visual Style
- Responsive Controls

9.5/10

Super Meat Boy + Limbo + VVVVVV = A Walk in the Dark

Good game
9/10

This game is a combination of my favorite games. Combination of VVVVVV, BIT.TRIP RUNNER, and Super Meat Boy-ish platforming with amazing music and gorgeous graphics is simply the best. My dream is real. It's called A Walk in the Dark.

This is my Puzzle Game of the Year 2013, and not only because of it's gruesome atmosphere and exquisite soundtrack. The game makes you think about solutions before acting to them, and that's an asset which is rare to find in most modern games.

A Walk in the Dark is an esoteric compilation of odd and ends ripped from some of the most memorable platformers of recent years. The influences of Super Meat Boy, VVVVV, Limbo, and others are easy to spot but this proves to be its biggest downfall, as while those games pushed the genre forward A Walk in the Dark stagnates it. By doing nothing unique it doesn't manage to distinguish itself, and simultaneously fails to live up to those that it so liberally borrows from.

Encompassing 100 levels, gameplay is split between three distinct styles of play. The majority consists of typical minimalistic platforming, which from the start establishes the extremely taxing difficulty that only gets harder. The other two portions are slower paced sections that swapped your jump for a gravity switch mechanic (ala VVVVV), and runner-esq cave levels that again task you with switching gravity to avoid the oncoming obstacles.

While the different parts are solid enough, I was never impressed by the level designs or use of the different mechanics. It's very "by-the-numbers" and I feel a wasted opportunity to do something original with the interesting setting and character. Controls while mostly tight lose a lot of their precision once you're in the air, and the inability to quickly turn on a dime lead to many unjustified deaths. More troublesome than that is the unpredictable wall jump which often doesn't work and repeatedly sent me into the row of spikes or endless pit almost always at the bottom.

The one thing the developer did get right was the soundtrack, which is a beautiful arrangement of instrumental pieces that somewhat makes up for the otherwise underwhelming package, and does a great job matching the tone of the environments. The artwork is also gorgeous to look at, but it felt directionless. A handful of short vignettes attempt to flesh out the meager shell of a narrative, but they completely fail in that regard and left the game feeling hollow and meaningless. Great stories and platformers might not often go together, but in this case the world the developer was trying to create is simply begging for something, anything to drive the experience forward.

That could have been the communal aspect of competing in speedruns, but again the developer flounders by placing what ought to be a central prominent part of the UI (leaderboards) behind far too many menus, requiring you to quit back to the map and then check times level by level. It's a clunky and dated design decision, and frankly feels as if it was included out of some sense of obligation, with little thought as to the actual implementation.

If you are a fan of challenging platformers you could certainly do worse than A Walk in the Dark, but on that same note you could easily do a lot better. Taken on its own merits I actually found it mostly enjoyable (if also frustrating), but with how oversaturated the platforming genre has become there are dozens of more interesting and fun options available. In the end it seems the developers were themselves walking in the dark, and never quite managed to find their own way for the game they created.