NecroWorm Reviews

[h1][u]NOT RECOMMENDED[/u] ⛔ [/h1] The movement control of the worm is absolutely terrible, how can you mess a such archaic gameplay ?

[h1] Painful bugs and horrible controls[/h1] [b]What this game is:[/b] This is a timed puzzle game with a cartoonish side. You litterally are a worm that has to eat his way through a setup in order to solve it by eating every available object (be it a brain, a skull, etc.) in a certain amount of time. You can make your way through one space only once, so you have to make sure not to put yourself in position of crossing your path. [b]How does it work?[/b] It presents 120 setups, on three pages, that you have to solve. Depending on the time you took in solving the puzzle (by eating everything there is to eat), you get from one to three skulls. From there, you are allowed to continue solving other puzzles, unless you want to get a better score (and thus more skulls). [b]How does it perform?[/b] At first it seems nice. The ambience is good, the cartoonish side is entertaining, the music is ok. The timer will sometimes really put pressure on you as getting three skulls require blazing through your keyboard. But some problems quickly surface and start eroding the fun... [b]The good points:[/b] It is basically an inexpensive game that will provide you with around 10 hours of gameplay (more if you want to have all the achievements). The achievements are relatively easy to get. Some of the puzzles will really make you search for a way to solve the setup and you will enjoy that. It doesn't take much space on your HD, as it only takes around 140 MB, and doesn't require a real graphic card. Some effort has been put to make an interesting ambience and the cartoonish design is entertaining. Gameplay is generally simple until the third page of puzzles, then, things deteriorate... [b]The bad points:[/b] [b](a) Gameplay -[/b] Everything is pretty straightforward for the two first pages of puzzles until the last page hits... Suddenly, you find yourself unable to solve some puzzles, until you discover there are places where normally you couldn't move that now present the only possible way of solving the setup. Rocks prevented you from moving before, now there might be one that is the only way out to solving a given puzzle. "Overpasses" now appear that can possibly allow you to pass over and underneath it, but... well not always... [b](b) Bugs: -[/b] There are some visual bugs that are not game breaking except one... Because there is a timer, you will be required to move at all speed when trying to achieve the coveted three skulls result in each setup. One visual bug is extremely ennoying and will likely appear a good many times: while switching direction, your worm will visually appear in a space ahead where you didn't go. This will have two effects: it will make that space inaccessible to you, and any object you needed eating in that place will also become inaccessible. Meaning you will FAIL and have to restart over... and over again... [b](c) Controls - [u] This is probably the main gamebreaker[/u].[/b] I don't know if this was by design or if it was "accidental", but either way this is where the fun tends to evaporate. The game is controlled via the WASD keys or the arrow keys of your keyboard. But control is fudgy at best, and extremely hard to calibrate while having to change direction very very quickly for periods that can extend up to 40 seconds in worst case scenarios. If you have suffered tendinitis in the past, I suggest you pass on this game and not even look at it. Because of the fudginess of the controls, you will have to repeat tens of times the same setups before finding success, and you will frustrate because of that, and because of the tensions and cramps it might create in your hand and arm. The deficient ergonomics of this game is seriously bad. [b](d) Graphic resources management -[/b] This game seems to be unable to manage graphic card resources correctly. While it officially does not require any graphic card (only integrated greaphics is fine to play), it will use ALL of your graphic card capacity and will make your fans going overdrive. My own setup has both, integrated graphics and a graphic card (Intel UHD for i7-10750H and GTX 1650) and both are loaded at high capacity while playing this game. The fans work at high speed while playing which makes no sense at all, and point towards programming problems. [b]My take on this:[/b] If you have not suffered tendinitis and do not mind having to repeat hundreds of times the same setups in order to get your achievements (or your skulls), you might like this game. In which case I recommend buying it at a discount. But otherwise I find it difficult to recommend taking into account the serious defects I found while playing this game.

Nice little logic puzzle game, where you munch brains and other body parts as a grotesque worm. [b]Settings:[/b] Through the Unity launcher you can do the usual stuff: Change resolution and graphics level and choose between fullscreen and windowed mode. Ingame Settings menu includes only options to mute either the sound or music (no sliders) and reset your game data. [b]Controls:[/b] You move the worm in cardinal directions with either WASD, arrow keys or numpad, whichever suits you best. [b]Worm moves only forwards and only when you move it,[/b] so take as much time as you want to think your next move. Worm cannot cross itself (this becomes an issue as it grows longer and longer) nor can it retreat and if it gets stuck, you fail the level. [b]Levels and gameplay:[/b] There's total of 120 mazelike levels and you have to beat the previous one to unlock the next. In every level your objective is to eat ALL the skulls, brains and/or eyeballs to finish the level. There's a timer ticking up on the upper right corner, but it affects only how much blue skulls (i.e. score) you will get when you complete the level. Maximum being 3 blue skulls per level. As far as I know, you can't fail the level because you took too long. As you progress through the levels, game introduces some new mechanics. So far I've only seen locked doors that require specific keys, pressure plates that lowers cages holding munchies and stuff and worm holes which basically let you "teleport" to another location on the level. There's probably lot more, but I'm currently stuck at level 23. For those of you, who are into this kind of logic/puzzle games, where you don't have a constant time pressure to finish the level and who like somewhat halloweeny cartoony aesthetics in their games (or at least don't find them off-putting), I do recommend [i]Omnom Necropolis.[/i] edit. Fixed some typos edit2. Added a mention that the worm grows. edit3. Fixed some grammatical errors.

However I do have to admit the responsiveness of the controls feel a little sluggish to me, which is not ideal when the game seems to focus the scoring around how fast you complete the level! Which might be an intended part of the challenge, no idea, but it sure is part of the challenge now. I've also encountered a visual glitch a few times with turning too quickly, so it's not perfect, but it's not that bothersome imo. Some levels you will have to do a few times to get the solution right, but that's anticipated and not unexpected. As others have also said, there is no change in music, icons to collect, and some solutions have very similar repetitions between levels. A "boss" battle at the end would've been interesting, like maybe the tiles are slowly melting away to lava... or something. Ground falls away. You know, something to add to that time pressure.

Extremely clunky controls and no undo button that make this game a chore to complete. As perfect completion is awarded for time taken, you'll find yourself restarting levels multiple times to beat them. Which wouldn't be a big deal but the level needs to be reloaded every time.

This game has obviously not been designed for keyboards but a controller, which makes progressing through many levels infuriating. Furthermore, it is plagued by confusing visual bugs. The last nail in the coffin is the obnoxious music.

Bad controls + time trial puzzles + buggy = not a fun time :(

A small puzzle in the style of children's horror. The player, controlling the dead worm, must collect all the items on the level - and the faster he does this, the better his score will be. The game uses the "snake" game mechanic - in which the player cannot eat his body that is in his way. Additionally, there are traps, doors and teleports - which should make collecting items even more difficult on already awkward small maps. [b]Pros:[/b][list] [*]+ Music - one melody, but not boring. [*]+ Visual style - cute and tasteful [*]+ Price [*]+ Achievements [*]+ Collectible cards [*]+ Gamepad support [*]+ Present Russian localization[/list] [b]Minuses:[/b][list] [*]- Endless hints. [*]- Grandfather. I still don't understand why it's needed. [*]- Several glitches encountered[/list] [b]Total:[/b] A game for those who want to add another game to the perfectionist's showcase. The availability of obtaining achievements depends only on the honesty of the player, and the speed of reproduction of the specified path. I recommend this game for purchase only at a discount, collectible cards will help you recoup the money spent.

[b]necroworm[/b], formerly known as [b]omnom necropolis[/b], looks like a snake clone at first, but it's a puzzler where you have to pick up all the body parts and such without crossing yourself or any of the already visited tiles. there are keys to make locked blocks disappear, stone slabs to get rid of spikes, teleporters and maybe some other stuff later. chests are optional, you get hints from them to use on any level, showing the full solution. [b]120 levels[/b], unlocked one by one, [b]3-skull rating[/b] based on time, but if you aren't bothered by going for perfection, you can ignore it, levels unlock no matter what, as long as you complete them. [b]the timer can't be turned off[/b] and it starts as soon as the countdown ends (or is skipped by pressing a direction), it doesn't wait for your first move. getting a fail state resets the level at once and [b]esc immediately exits the level[/b], no pause menu or warning. the biggest problem with the game is that [b]controls are awful[/b]. they're not rebindable (wasd/arrows to move, 'r' for retry, 'h' for help), no mouse in the menu, and movement isn't simply 'press a direction, go a tile in that direction'. no, it takes a separate keypress to turn the worm, and [b]you have to hold the button for a while before the thing moves a tile[/b]. it leads to a lot of mistakes and frustration and major problem #2: [b]there is no undo[/b]. these would already be enough for a thumbs down, but here comes problem #3: the screen is pretty busy and [b]it's not always clear if you can move to a tile or not[/b]. the only new things in the rebranded version are gamepad support, more languages and a settings menu, which only has language options, sound on/off and music on/off, so before that it didn't even have these. the unity launcher offers resolution options and windowed mode, but separate volume settings would still be necessary, as well as a timer toggle that was discussed years ago, yet still didn't make it into the new version. a brightness slider wouldn't go amiss either. the graphics and sounds are okay, the music is pretty annoying and repetitive, and because of major issues [b]it's not something to recommend[/b]. I obviously gave up on 3-starring levels almost immediately and was ready to quit after 10 levels but persevered until 40. it wasn't worth it, but if you want to torture yourself a bit for free, there's a demo available.

Wonderful presentation. A spooky themed snake game though the goal is to find a path by avoiding obstacles, collecting chests, skulls and color coded keys to open locked doors. 120 levels with ever increasing complexity. Perfect puzzle for deep thinkers. I used a controller for my play through.