The Bubbleboy Project Reviews

I am not entirely certain what I played. I mean, I can describe everything that happened, tonal whiplash and all, but I'm not sure I could tell you what it meant, if there was a greater message, if the ending I got was the only one, or what. This is a very short game and I know some people will just refund anything that takes less than 2 hours to complete, but I implore you: don't refund this game solely because of the short runtime. I will remember this game, I will remember how it made me feel, and the general tenseness and paranoia. It felt uncanny. As if I was playing a game that wasn't supposed to be found. This developer continues to put out work I find commendable. She finds ways to make things work even if they are not through traditional means. There are questionable design decisions, like a lack of resolution options, the controls eschewing your standard wasd controls for a warl moveset where r turns you left and l turns you right, and wasd being used for the sidescrolling parts where w makes you move right and d moves you left (because those are forward and backward from Bubbleboy's perspective), but I still find enjoyment in her games despite these flaws. There is something special, something magical about these projects. Don't dismiss this as some kind of ironic review. I've played bad games, I've played bad games for the entertainment I get from ripping into them, and this game as well as the dev's other games do not fall into either category. Sure, one can argue that her games made be "bad" in the terms of how they are when compared to other indie games, but I would still have to disagree with that argument as being anything other than a matter of opinion and preference. There is something here in her games that I do not see often. There's a spark of joy, creativity, originality, enthusiasm, and love that I think is very important to the aesthetic and feel of the game. Basically, I enjoyed it. Flawed, yes, but I liked it. I will say though that I have no clue why popular user tags include "RPG" and "Action RPG" though. This has absolutely nothing to do with either genre. If someone went into this game expecting any kind of RPG mechanics they will rightfully be left disappointed because that is not at all the kind of game this is.