PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X have lots of benefits over the Change, however there’s one benefit Nintendo by no means loses: video games. Whereas Sony and Microsoft wrestle to place out constant exclusives, Nintendo at all times manages to place out pretty high-quality video games on a month-to-month bases (even when some latest releases have felt like filler). The truth that you may solely play Tremendous Mario Odyssey on a Nintendo console will at all times be the corporate’s ace within the gap.
Fortunately, sufficient builders have been influenced by Nintendo’s design that it’s not laborious to search out an ideal title that scratches the identical itch as a Nintendo basic on competing platforms. Simply have a look at video games just like the Pikmin-inspired Tinykin. Xbox has been particularly good about in search of out video games like that through the years and including them to Xbox Recreation Go. It’s completed that after once more with considered one of its latest additions, the pleasant Hauntii.
Launched final week on most main platforms and Recreation Go, Hauntii is a classy journey recreation about a bit of ghost on a quest to trace down mysterious beings referred to as Eternians. However earlier than you dive into any of that, it’s the artwork type that’s more likely to catch your eye. Hauntii includes a distinctive, hand-crafted world made up of black-and-white squiggles. It’s someplace between Genesis Noir and Bayonetta Origins: Cerveza and the Misplaced Demon — and it appears to be like spectacular. It makes use of that type to craft an otherworldly journey that makes me really feel like I’m misplaced within the woods at evening. It’s each eerie and serene in the identical breath.
Whereas that may be sufficient to attract you in, it’s the Nintendo-like design that may actually seize you. Hauntii performs like a smaller tackle Tremendous Mario Odyssey, efficiently taking part in on a number of of its finest options whereas including some gentle twin-stick shooter fight. The core hook is that gamers can possess a wide range of objects, every of which has their very own use. Inhabiting a tree will let gamers shake out some forex, whereas leaping right into a ladybug will allow them to fly and climb. Whereas nothing is as advanced or visually foolish as Mario Odyssey‘s possessions, that gameplay hook encourages gamers to strive interacting with the atmosphere as a lot as doable to study its guidelines.
That alone would warrant a Mario comparability, however it’s the robust collect-a-thon gameplay loop that basically seals the comparability. In every biome, gamers can gather stars that may be positioned in a constellation to earn upgrades like well being and velocity boosts. These stars are hidden behind little occasions that gamers naturally uncover whereas exploring. See a glowing tree? Attempt haunting it and you might discover a star hidden inside. Are these individuals racing one another? Leap in and run by way of some hoops to discover a secret star. It’s a satisfying gameplay loop that Mario Odyssey nailed; bite-sized actions like these make even the shortest exploration periods really feel worthwhile.
That’s to not say that Hauntii is as polished as a Nintendo recreation. Although its artwork type is placing, it does make for some troublesome platforming because of some complicated artwork and geometry that make it laborious to determine the place precisely you’re standing. That slow-building difficulty culminates in a late-game boss struggle constructed round a spinning vortex that’s so troublesome to navigate that you just would possibly put down your controller for good.
Even with that frustration, Hauntii actually captures the spirit of an excellent Nintendo recreation higher than lots of its friends. It understands that an inviting digital world ought to really feel like a playground or an amusement park (coincidentally, the journey’s finest biome is strictly that). It’s loaded with little points of interest that gamers can bounce between rapidly earlier than anyone thought will get outdated. It’s a set of pleasant vignettes wrapped up in a single creepy cute journey.
So certain, you’ll probably by no means be capable to play Tremendous Mario Odyssey on an Xbox. However that simply means you’ve got extra time to check out inventive indies like this which are constructing on Nintendo’s groundwork with fantastic outcomes.
Hauntii is obtainable now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X/S, Nintendo Change, and PC. It’s additionally out there by way of Xbox Recreation Go.
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