Tightrope Theatre Reviews

I was gonna give this a thumbs down, but ended up feeling like completing it in spite of the relatively frequent frustration, so I guess it's strong enough to merit a weak recommendation. There's honestly two sides to this game: there's the level design itself and the general physics. The handling in this game is a bit deceptive, in that at first it appears that the precise platforming is almost impossible but then you realise (first somewhat unconsciously, finally objectively) that there are small tricks to make it play more in line with a regular platformer. The level design is once again single screen stages where you advance to a goal platform, but they quickly get rather cramped in terms of obstacles [b]and[/b] tiny platforms to navigate. While a few obstacles do remain "theatre specific", this time around things get significantly reused to create tense situations. Gameplay pacing is a mix of rewarding slow methodical platforming and reckless runs where the ideal timing is actually very close to leaps of faith from the start. Oh, there's also a minor plot going on, but there's not too much of it. You get one intro cutscene and two sandwiching the final main theatre. I get pixel art is time consuming, but I would have liked at least a bit more context elsewhere, given how I know Jussi (the main person behind Adventure Islands) can deliver satisfying writing.

Really simple game that I enjoy. I won't play it again forever but this was good.

Just completed, it's good enough. Criticisms: - Controls don't feel great (maybe by design due to theme). - Bouncy ball mechanic is infuriating. - You shouldn't be able to fall off at the left and right borders. - A single popup in the intro should inform you that jump height is affected by how long you press the jump button. - Should be an option in game to remap your jump button to W/Up (had to use external software to do so).