Contrary to how it may seem, it's not very fun reviewing bad games. Sure, there's a degree of enjoyment in being mean, but the shocking secret of criticising games that aren't enjoyable? We still have to play them. Picking up the Switch and knowing we had to play more Gleamlight made the system feel ten times heavier.
Gleamlight's developers have claimed that their game isn't a rip-off of Hollow Knight. They're right. If it was a rip-off, then it'd share some kind of inspiration, some mechanical flair. The creativity, the baseline of enjoyable moments, some solid fundamentals. It's all missing. It's not a rip-off of Hollow Knight, it's a stupid child's drawing of it.
Harsh, yes, but try playing the thing. The first thing you'll notice is the substandard, tweened animation that doesn't fit the aesthetic style at all. The graphics are admittedly attractive at times in their stained-glass splendour, but it's all in service of nothing. Your character moves like he's escaped from circa 2002 Newgrounds. Enemies are nondescript, misshapen blobs. Your sword swipe attack strives for the immediacy and tactile precision of Hollow Knight's pin, but there's no impact, no power to your attacks.
Everything's loose; disconnected. It's unclear at all times how many more hits you can take; striking enemies seems to give you more health, but it's a poorly-defined, messy system. The game is also really rather dark – yes, this is by design, hence Gleamlight – but it doesn't work. There are enemies all over the place – presumably to make up for the lack of imagination in their designs and move sets – and the darkness means you'll often find yourself leaping onto a visible platform only for your landing spot to suddenly be occupied by some sort of crawling monster. Frequently, the knockback from this will send you to the ground and have you land directly on some spikes, taking two unfair hits for the price of one and having to retrace your steps.
We lost most of our lives to these blind hits, as well as an issue where the game simply wouldn't let us jump roughly one in three times during a certain boss battle. Thankfully, though, we almost immediately realised that because of the way health works in Gleamlight, you can just stand next to (or even inside) larger enemies and spam the attack button, gaining back the health you lose with each swing of the sword. It's very, very clumsy and feels unfinished.
The level design, too, is slapdash. The areas don't feel crafted; they feel random, like assortments of platforms slapped together. We assumed it was some sort of procedurally-generated thing akin to Rogue Legacy, but no; it's just lax, unimpressive mush. None of the rooms are memorable. None of them are so much as interesting.
Playing through will see you unlock new skills for your character – we unlocked a dash move after the first boss, though it's worth noting that there was no indication that we had done so. We only figured it out after being faced with a wall of spikes that prompted us to try every button on the Switch until, ah yes, we can dash now. Not that this injected any semblance of real challenge into the game, or any artistry to the level design. This is no Metroidvania; it's a straightforward, linear thing. And there's nothing wrong with that, obviously, but when there's no reason to backtrack, the additional abilities seem a little pointless.
There's a saving grace to this nonsense, which it lasts for less than an hour. It'll take you as long to see the credits, following an unceremonious (and typically easy) "final" boss fight. A post-game is present, which sees you returning back to where you started, but it's extremely difficult to care. There's no real story to speak of, just the vaguest allusions that there might be something of consequence going on, maybe. You know, it's a very acclaimed approach to storytelling. In some ways, it's unique; you can just make up your own story. If it sucks, that's on you. Obviously we're being facetious. Presumably, Gleamlight is aiming for mystique, but it's impossible to care what, if anything, it all means.
Conclusion
Gleamlight is worse than the majority of bad games. With most poor-quality titles, the rot is obvious from the word go. Here, the game doesn't show its true colours until you realise it's over. Surely, you'll think, it's going to pick up? It generally looks nice, after all. It was featured in at least one Indie World presentation, which is usually a mark of at least some quality. But no. It's atrocious. It's boring to traverse, feels bad to play, has an insultingly low amount of content and has nothing to recommend it. Hollow Knight is actually cheaper, and there are plenty of lower-tier Switch platformers more deserving of your time than this. FoxyLand. Goblin Sword. Polyroll. Get those three for the same price as Gleamlight, maybe less. They're not even that good, but they're ten times the game Gleamlight is. Oh! And the music's discordant clanging rubbish, too. We hope it gets a physical release so we can throw it in a bin.
Comments 64
While I was never interested in this one, I'm a little surprised it's quite that bad.
Wow i'm sad you had to play this. should have said 1.
“Your character moves like he's escaped from circa 2002 Newgrounds.“
But I liked alien hominid!
Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. So only slightly better than that campfire simulator on Wii or the ‘torch’ app on DSi?
That's shockingly bad. I wasn't going to buy the game regardless but still, wow.
What's really sad, this game was featured in the nindie's direct. Guess you cannot trust Nintendo even when showing advertised games...
The art style remind me of the plague game and the other one from the same developer that are always on sale for 0.99p...
Oh dear. Car crash.
@Sunanootoko I’m not sure Nintendo only advertise ‘good’ games. It’s not like they only make good games either themselves.
Wow..I dodged a bullet. I nearly picked this up at launch but was waiting on a review. Glad I waited.
There's inspiration and then there's copy-pasting. Hollow Knight was inspired by the likes of Metroid and Super Metroid, but it carved out its own identity. This thing's just copying Hollow Knight, from backgrounds to animations, attacks, sword swings, overall mood, color pallete, level design, music, you name it. Except it all looks cheaper and feels worse.
It didn't look great when they showed it but didn't expect it to be this bad. Oh well, it wasn't on my buy list to begin with.
Ended up about as bad as I was expecting it to be. I only clicked on the review to see if it scored a sub-5, and boy did it!
What do you have to do to get an Abysmal?
@zool I figure if the game boots and you can play it, it's probably earned at least one point.
This is why human cloning is not allowed.
Not surprised in the slightest
To be honest "Boring and unfair level design" kind of goes for "Hollow Knight" as well. I can't, for the life of me, understand why that game gets so much praise, when it's slightly above-average at best...
As for this one, well, thanks for the warning
@zool I would imagine the game would have to have nothing positive going for it at all. One thing that can be said is that the art in this game is not bad looking. That's probably the only reason it got a 2.
Can't say that I'm surprised.
Thank you for this review I have never heard of polyroll before , it’s reduced to 1 pound 60 on e shop, now that I can get on board with! Xxx
Main character looks like Orko from He-Man
Color me entirely unsurprised.
A 2 sounds generous.
“An appallingly bad hollow knight clone”
@StuartGipp but this got a 2
@Mach_Rider admittably yes, when stripped down to it's core, the level design can get pretty boring. It mostly relies on visual aesthetic and variety, although you can't do a whole lot with 2D in the first place. Lots of 2D games have done much better. But I don't know what you mean by unfair. In an example like this, what's the difference between unfair or just difficult? I classify something being unfair as the mechanics of the game hindering you from getting simple tasks done for the sake of artificial difficulty. Hollow Knight does not do this. It is an acquired taste, for how much I adore the game I don't expect everyone to like it.
Hmmm, if they send you back to the beginning after the final boss, maybe it's like Ghosts N Goblins where you have to beat it twice to see the true ending. I bet there's so much story content there with mind blowing twists and reveals. No but seriously nice review.
Wow, I was actually looking forward to this one. Yeah, it looks like a Hollow Knight clone, but I can’t think of many better games to clone. Well, guess I’ll go take this off my wish list then.
@Mach_Rider I actually am not so sure about boring level design. The visuals are pretty good, the different regions are very unique in their presentation, difficulty and creativity(mushroom jump region, dark cave region, jungle region and so on), especially with the enemies which are pretty much the core point of the game as well as exploring. maybe you mean the amount of backtracking that is boring? but that is the same with most metroidvanias. Not judging, cause its your opinion, but i am still curious in what exactly you found to be boring although i guess some of the bosses can get very unfair and rage inducing. I just really enjoyed that game personally
Please just buy Hollow Knight if you haven't already. If you're not into metroidvanias then I understand not being into it but for fans of the genre, Hollow Knight is a milestone. It's a modern masterpiece. I've played it more times then I can remember now and it's ONLY 15 dollars. Just beating the game on a basic level is over 30 hours about, but you'll get even more just from all the neat exploration, collecting things, lore searching, dream bosses, and late game challenges.
Hollow Knight reminded me why I even like games. I haven't felt so engrossed and mystified since childhood gaming.
Instead of throwing money at cheap cash grabs that attempt to springboard off the trademark features of other titles, buy the genuine article. If anything, it supports the efforts of developers who are truly passionate about the games they were inspired from.
Umm... you couldn’t tell it was gonna be bad from the trailer alone? It looked awful
I wonder if the person making this thought they were making a good game but just didn't understand what makes a good game, or if this was someone just trying to make an easy buck by shoveling out rubbish. At least with the former they could maybe learn the lesson and work on improving some of their weakness in understanding good design and so on.
...I liked Goblin Sword... But anyone who loves platformers should get Hollow Knight. I consider it an indie masterpiece
@Roam85 Me too and Castle crashers, but those titles were the exception among the rule
Hollow Knight is not very good to begin with
@Kirby_Girl how does it compare to blasphemous? Just beat that and really enjoyed it
Congrats to DICO for joining the list of 13 games NL has reviewed that have received the same or lower score!
@Shazbot Hollow Knight is great, and right up there with Blasphemous. There’s a handful of MV Genre titles that every fan of the genre should have in their collection, Hollow Knight and Dead Cells are among that handful. If ya want more recommends in that category, I can check my list, cause I forget all of em - there’s a bunch. Axiom Verge as well.
I'm shocked at the folks calling Hollow Night bad. It's the next best thing to Symphony of the Night, IMO. I know not everything is for everyone, but... holy smokes.
Well, that's a shame. I liked the IDEA of the stained glass aesthetic, and the trailer... well, it could have been early and there could have been something deeper there... but, ouch.
As for Hollow Knight and some not liking it. It has an early stretch where it is a little long and can feel a bit aimless. For me, I just didn't realize how BIG and varied the game was going to be.
As for unfair, I mean, I guess if you are not into a game, you are not going to care enough to "git gud". The precision and variety and feel of the combat is top notch, so maybe someone is not used to something that requires precision and tight reflexes? (I did have to mod my Pro Controller so the d pad wouldn't false register all the time).
Everyone has different tastes in games and wants something different out of them. Maybe Hollow Knight just seems like something it is not to some people and they are disappointed. shrug For me, it's one of my top favorite games ever.
If it had 3D graphics, I'd say it was a review of a bad PS1 game
@Mach_Rider everything isn't for everyone but the appeal of Hollow Knight's level design is pretty evident imo. They're beautiful-to-look-at series of platforming challenges with a healthy sprinkle of monster encounters mixed in. Not to mention the presence of enticing and engaging secrets if you know where to look, as well as a general freedom in how you choose to move around the levels (to an extent).
@TheDanslator Yeah, Hollow Knight definitely isn’t a bad game. That said I do wish they’d add an option or mode to play at a lower difficulty for those that want it. Basically a story mode. Some of the bosses for me were a real grind and I’m not interested in outright mastering a game. I prefer to get through them and move onto the next title, not replay a game 10+ times like some people will. I’d love for them to add something in for the casual gamers for the next expansion, even if it’s as basic as enemies dealing half damage.
While they’re at it, some bosses had waypoints that were some distance from them. Given you’re going to die a lot in the game it would have been nice to have save points at the bosses.
But yeah, certainly a good game even if it’s not as accessible as it perhaps could be. I’d love to have seen more of the title but after getting past the base run off the boss I’d sort of hit my ceiling skill wise and moved on.
I wonder if this is the kind of game that's so bad that it actually becomes kind of enjoyable if you go in it with the right mindset.
So I might actually try it if I can find it for 90% or more off.
@GilbertXI yeah when he said that I wa like what? Hollow knight is definitely fair. It's never the games fault and only the players imo. I hate to be this guy but some people need to git gud
@Apportal do you like metroid games? Try it out. It is a hard game so dont be discouraged at first. It's only 15 bucks and has a physical copy. Pick it up
@Smigit hate saying it hollow knight isnt for you. Mastering the game to the your best ability is kinda the point to the game. Especially the bosses. But I agree about benches being too far
Orko deserves a much better game.
@shazbot they're actually very similar in gameplay and design. Both have meters you fill up by hitting with melee attacks, which then can be used to cast spells. Hollow Knight is more, I don't know...bouncy in terms of combat, can't think of a good way to describe it. Hollow Knight is definitely more platforming focused, with it's sequel looking even more so. And if you liked the story of blasphemous, you would probably like hollow knights story as well, although it does require a lot of patience. Sorry for the long explanation.
@PickledKong64 I’d say the difficulty is an arbitrary decision. They could easily put in an “Easy” mode that modified the health and it’d open the game up to a broader audience while having exactly zero impact on the people that want to grind out the same boss 50+ times to get past them.
There’s no reason the game has to be punishing as a base level other than they decided not to offer the option. Plenty of metroidvanias have a lower bar and the game would still be substantial and rewarding given there’s still a stack of content and exploration to do.
Having an easy mode for Doom or normal difficulty in Diablo doesn’t stop people playing Nightmare or Hardcore modes in those titles.
Anyway as I said, I got the base ending of the game after 20 or 30 hours so I did see a good portion of it, just don’t see the point in almost walling off the rest of the content.
@Smigit it requires a WHOLE lot of patience and dedication, although I might be exaggerating a bit, cause I sucked at this game, but loved it to bits. So yeah, definitely not for everyone. And In terms of lower difficulty, i think it's like dark souls, takes away the point of the game, yada yada yada, you know the drill. It is a souls like, so it draws a couple mechanics from that subgenre, and of course, the notorious difficulty. I can't help with the bosses part, I had trouble with bosses everyone else thought was a breeze and vice versa. Although if a person knows what they are doing, they only need to fight around 6 bosses to complete the game. There's charms too that I guess can classify as difficulty options, but it's hard work to get some of them, so that doesn't help. Again, sorry about the long explanation, in case you haven't noticed, I love this game.
@shazbot Never played Blasphemous to be honest. Hollow Knight is considered by plenty of folks to possibly be the best metroidvania game or at the very least the best modern metroidvania. As someone who has enjoyed Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid... I'll be real with you and others. I love Hollow Knight way more. Obviously there are going to be folks who disagree and say you can't trump the best and that's Super Metroid and Castlevania but at the very least I think most fans of the genre would consider HK to be on that level or better. Somewhere on that spectrum.
@TheDanslator I noticed most of the people who dislike Hollow Knight, dislike it because they get lost or it's too hard for them. I don't think these things make Hollow Knight a bad game. THEY just simply aren't fans of the genre or are, but are used to smaller maps or have a worse sense of direction then those who really get into the meat of these kinds of games. The joy of exploration. Also finding the game hard isn't really the game's fault. I personally think the challenge in HK is so fair. It's the right amount of challenge for me. It's a real sweet spot. However what's sweet for me might be sour for someone else so different strokes.
I feel the hardest Metroidvania game I ever played was Dandara.
@mvbv You're right. It's not good. It's AMAZING.
@Kirby_Girl @GilbertXI Thanks for the info. I wasn't expecting to like Blasphemous as much as I did. I buy a lot of games, but I tend to wait for them to be on sale and Hollow Knight has been on my wishlist for a while, but doesn't go on sale very often. Might have to pull the trigger though, considering how much I enjoyed Blasphemous.
Wow. This was an absolutely savage review!
@StuartGipp
so yer saying you like the game right?
yer profile says you do
Nice to see Goblin Sword get a shout out at the end. It's cheap and simple, but I really enjoyed it and it thoroughly charmed me.
@Smigit meh an easy lose would just ruin the experience. It's meant to be hard. Simply putting it
If you think reviewing a bad game is hard, try QA testing one for a living
I laughed out loud at "Cons: No physical release means you can't throw it in a bin"
@Mach_Rider That's literally the opposite of Hollow Knight's level design. I'm not particularly good at video games, yet I managed to finish that one to 100% completion. If you're having problems with platforming then I'm sorry to say you're probably just not that skilled
@Oncie I can no-death-run Ninja Gaiden. I'm pretty darn skilled.
@Mach_Rider Then your problem with HK becomes even more perplexing for me. Aside from the White Palace I really never found any challenging platforming areas in the game.
@Oncie, I never said it was challenging. I quoted the "boring and unfair". And it is boring. While HK has a very nice artstyle, there were very few rooms in the game that I found interesting.
As for unfair - there were a few areas, which feature downright cheap enemy placement. An early area where the exploding enemies appear (for the first time I believe) comes to mind.
It's not a terrible game, by any means, but the praise it's getting makes it sound like it's one of the best Metroidvanias out there when it really isn't.
@aznable Yeah, why the hell is this getting a 2? It should of got a zero so big and fat it would push the earth out of orbit at light speed!
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