Recent reviews by sick seraphim

This is probably one of the toughest reviews I've written about anything. There are so many emotions going into this that I'm not sure what exactly I feel at this point, and I'm sitting here, upset and confused.

I like this game. I think the core gameplay is relatively solid. I was a big fan of Sexy Hiking in 2011. I thought it was a neat little game with unique mechanics. I was very excited to see it come back in a slightly glossier product. The floatiness of the character is nice, and it makes me feel good to be able to launch myself up parts I've already traversed with ease. However, I usually have to revisit those parts because I'll regularly make a microscopic twitch and throw myself off the side (regardless of the sensitivity). You can call it part of the game, and I'll call it a part of the game that isn't good. Going back up the mountain after falling to the bottom wasn't the frustrating part - it was the little battles, like the section with the lights or the staircase next to the boxes. It stops being fun when trial and error kicks in, and it feels like a constant need to reevaluate what I did before, just to have it fall apart as soon as I think I figure it out.

What makes me not like this game is Bennett Foddy. I don't like using this word a lot, but I can say with certainty that this is one of the most pretentious games I've ever played. Any time Bennett Foddy spoke or tried to make a point about life, I became less angry with the game and more angry with the way he talks down to the player. The irony is that Foddy talks up and down about B-culture and how it's bottom feeder entertainment, while making a game that combines the two most tired genres of video games of the last three years: YouTuber bait rage games, and self-aware, "ironic," meta art games.

Every time Foddy talks, you can tell he's certain of himself. The way he tries to convey this lesson to you that life is about unfair struggles and you can't do anything but keep climbing is pretty overdone. He's not an interesting person, and the way he goes "oh, I'm so sorry about that" whenever you fall more than five feet makes me want to tear my computer in half with my bare hands. People will say just to mute him and turn off subtitles, but that would delete part of the game's full experience, meaning that it's not a good game if you have to take out entire elements just to make it likeable.

The man who likes a challenge and Sexy Hiking-loving eighth grader in me like this game. The man who likes games as an art form can't stand it. A solid core game does not make up for the pretense and smug, mocking aura of Bennett Foddy. If this game was simply Sexy Hiking 2: This Time It's Personal, or just Getting Over It, I'd recommend it. However, Foddy's presence in this game makes this go from an enraging-but-fun time waster to an emotionally exhausting art game that really, really, really wishes it was more than a way to make money off famous Let's Players.