Don't Stare Reviews

A chill platformer with a great concept and a wholesome story.

The game allow me to leave my house and avoid people just like I avoid in real life! 07/10. Obs: Will raise 1 point in my review if I get a waifu poster in my room!

I can’t recommend Don't Stare enough! The game has a very chill atmosphere, AWESOME art and visuals, charming characters (even the enemies lol), lots of options to customize the protagonist and a simple but funny story! And I'm not even a big fan of platformers! Give it a try and I'm sure you'll love it!

Lovely and Cute Platformer Game Visuals: The character design, GUI elements, and environment offer a unique aesthetic suited to its purpose. Beautifully illustrated elements that pop up when activated play a significant role in the game's personality. I would describe it as a cute, cartoony style. 10/10 Music & SFX: This is the game's strongest point. Every aspect of it is well thought out. Each character has its distinctive sound, but not to the point of being overwhelming when multiple assets are on the screen. The music tracks reflect the storyline and levels perfectly. You’ll find everything from cozy lo-fi to heavy-rock tracks and everything in between. The little leitmotifs earn this a "labor of love" award during its creation. Also, I adore the sound effect when you recharge your battery. 10/10 Narrative: Each character has a well-thought-out personality that plays a significant role in the story. The dialogues are rich and hilarious without being too long. I would have loved to see some text reply options for our character here and there, but I understand why the use of emoji-only replies was preferred. You're an introvert, so yeah... it fits the narrative. 10/10 Gameplay: Oh gods... where to start? I suck at platformers, but this game really tested my patience. Although the learning curve is not steep, some levels will enrage you. The different mechanics introduced are really well designed, and I ABSOLUTELY love the social battery recharge/checkpoints with pets. It’s brilliant! I haven't finished the game yet, but I've enjoyed every aspect of the gameplay mechanics. Also, f*ck you, elderly dude. You are annoying. I’m not giving this a 10/10 because I’ve found one or two bugs that make my already difficult time with platformers even harder. Plus, there are some customization issues with a couple of items. 8/10 Pricing: I got this during release week, so I got it a little cheaper. I don't think the full price is too steep, considering the content. I can already imagine people complaining about the price for a "simple" platformer, but I think it's well-priced once you take into account the elements listed above. And that leads me to my next point... 9/10 Replayability: The game's story is linear, and progression aligns with its storyline. But if you want to achieve 100%, you might need to replay some levels—potentially more than once. The collectibles portion of the game adds a nice touch, offering replay value and giving players a unique identity. 8/10 Overall, I think this is a well-made game. The combination of everything gives it a strong personality and uniqueness, which is hard to achieve nowadays with so many copycat genres. You can tell the devs took the time to carefully plan the game progression and the little details that make this a worthy experience.

From the charming art style to the heartwarming story, I had a great time playing Don't Stare. I enjoyed how each new mechanic was gradually introduced with each level and how they were thematically designed. However, I did find the controls a bit clunky in the beginning, but one could say that it's an apt metaphor for how the protagonist "Stinky" maneuvers through their world. Although Don't Stare doesn't do anything new within the platformer genre, I believe its strength is definitely its story. The animated cut-scenes were very well done and I found myself getting invested in the characters as the game progressed. The text dialog could be cut down in my opinion, since it did feel too much at times. Also, I think some of the levels need balancing as they are either too easy or too difficult. Hopefully these fixes are implemented in future updates. However, these points don't really detract from its overall story. The game really does capture the struggles of its introverted and socially awkward protagonist and the challenges they must face stemming from the relationships between their family and friends. Overall I would recommend this game if you're looking for a wholesome platformer with a coming-of-age story.

UPDATED REVIEW: See below. A cute premise that's unfortunately stuck in a buggy game which should have been released as "Early Access". There's many a moment where I can platform out of bounds or straight over obstacles and wonder if this was intentional by the devs, since some of these softlock the level I'll assume no. Why am I able to land on perfectly vertical walls? Why am I [i]BOUNCING[/i] on perfectly vertical walls? Why can't I remove my characters cosmetic backpack, and why does attempting to do so hide the rest of my character customisation options? Why does the in-game calendar jump from Tuesday Jan 31st to Sunday Feb 1st? You guys do know how weeks work, right? And the game seems to get glitchier the further into the game you go. Near what I assume is the third act, the main characters phone pops off with lengthy incoherent conversations about repairing relationships, doing something in a robot factory and an evil house(!?). Playing the following stages made me realise that these conversations were supposed to be scattered between each of the sequential levels, but for some reason they all appeared at once? The breaking point for me was this level: [i] April 14th - Regroup at school [/i]. The game introduces a new enemy type who emerge from a manhole and try to make conversation with your socially awkward protagonist, but the game skips frames whenever these Manhole men are onscreen, and in a platform game where timing is vital this renders it nigh unplayable. If this game gets patched into a stable state then I'll happily update my review, but as of right now the game feels unfinished. EDIT: The recent patch has fixed the performance issues that plagued the level I was stuck on. The framerate is now consistent but it highlights another issue with the Manhole Man I didn't notice before: the hit detection. When this enemy is in what is supposed to be a "safe" state, the collision box goes below the "neutral" enemy instead of being rendered inactive. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3360068454] This means you can take damage from the MM just by being underneath [/url] the platform where the enemy is. And since there are [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3360068453] several chokepoints in this level where you'll inevitably take damage from being either underneath the inactive enemy or touching an active one [/url], this makes the level unplayable in a completely different way. Also why can't I still remove the optional cosmetic backpack? Admittedly it doesn't hide the rest of the character customisation anymore (which is good) but it seems weird that you can't remove an optional cosmetic once you put it on.

Great fun for fans of 2D platformers and casual players in general. It's on the easier side of the genre, but it can still get quite challenging in the later levels, especially if you're attempting speedruns. The story is pretty funny too, I ended up liking basically every character, even the silent protagonist who only communicates through emotes. The extroverts, your main opponents, are all very different from one another and they can make a level get super tricky. Keep an eye open for the jumping grandpa that can put NBA players to shame. The art is great and the music is catchy as well, it matches the mood of the game perfectly. I've found a few bugs here and there, but most of them have been patched before I could report them, so I believe the game will get even better in the near future.

Casual game that's very easy to get into, yet remains super fun. Absolutely recommend it to everyone wanting a chill platformer with great art and humour to boot. Mechanics are taught gradually yet your hand isn't held throughout the game. Every level has left me eager to see what's next and I can't wait to finish this game!