Linxy The Lynx Steam Charts & Stats

BUTT UGLY CAN BE FINISHED IN UNDER AN HOUR

At launch I was disappointed in Linxy the Lynx, which I was hoping would improve more relative to it's janky-yet-promising Next Fest demo. With the Revamped update, Linxy is now the game that I was hoping for it to be. Level design is the strongest point. The developer clearly has a good understanding of gameplay flow, and while there's still some room for mechanical improvement it does frequently capture that satisfying feeling of hitting the right jumps to stay on the fast path in a Sonic game. I did feel like some deaths were avoidable due to jank around the double jump mechanic. Particularly, if you double jump while being propelled upward it interrupts your vertical momentum. It would feel more consistent if double jumping simply added to your pre-existing vertical movement, or you could make high jumps have a unique animation that is uninterruptable. Another thing that felt odd to me is that jumping when you hit an enemy from above doesn't send you into a higher jump, in the way it would in most platformers. Because my instinctive response is to jump when I hit an enemy, I kept accidentally triggering a double jump right before landing on it. Eliminating enemies is never a priority so this is only a minor problem, but I do feel like changing it would improve the game feel. I fell into one pit repeatedly because I wasn't getting the momentum I needed after hitting the enemy directly before it. The visual design benefits from having a consistent feel, but there's no sugar coating that it's the game's weakest aspect. While there are occasional moments of brilliance like the text pop-ups when you're pulling a combo, most of the pixel art is subpar. I actually found the overuse of gradients and exaggerated lighting endearing in a cringe-worthy way because it reminds me of my own experience trying to make a platformer in Game Maker 20 years ago, and generally recalls early 2000s freeware scene games. That's not to say it looks good, though. Both the lighting and reflections are gaudy. It's a very short campaign, even when you factor in the remix levels, but I don't know that I'd have expected more from a dirt cheap game. I do hope the planned second story will drop eventually, it would be nice to see what the developer can create with a bit more experience, but I can't say the game isn't worth $1. Honestly I think reducing the price from $2 to $1 was a mistake. If people aren't willing to buy your game for $2, they aren't really interested in it at all. Is it worth your time? I mean probably not if you've got better platformers sitting backlogged, but for those into Sonic fangame culture I think it's at least worth a try. I enjoyed my time with the game, for what it is. More than anything, don't give up on making games, Kenzie. You have talent, it just needs to be honed. If you keep creating, I know you'll make something great. I really appreciated how heartfelt the entire game is.