I have 350 hours in Celeste, completing all challenges except Farewell Golden (including all Full Clear Goldens), 350 hours in N++, and 16 hours in Dustforce. I have only played Smash Ultimate casually and have no experience in Melee. Where I decided to quit was in one of the early Air levels where the game asked me to utilize momentum conservation mechanics I did not understand and it did not teach me.

Default controls (keyboard), fullscreen, screen-shake OFF.

My main issues with ENTROPOLY lie in its lack of tutorials. While the game does a decent job of easing you into the basics via the levels, the game does not really explain the full scope of how your movement works, or why you have a dodge, or why you have 4 directional attacks, or that you can pull back on your dashes, or that pressing the dash button without a movement key makes you stay in place, or...you get the picture. This gave me the vibe that this game is meant for Melee players exclusively. I think this could be resolved by giving in-depth tutorials that the player can read and watch. With the game already having a "ghost" playback feature of your best run, this could be transformed into a Modded-Celeste-style gym which allows you to tackle the finer details of the movement system at your own pace with ghosts showing you how to move.

The game uses a "hub" system similar to Dustforce where you have to do mini platforming challenges to get to levels, which I found mostly gratifying, except for the fact that it respawns you at the center of the hub. I find this really annoying, and believe the areas should take note of where you were previously and respawn you at the nearest safe point.

As a minor note, I found kill zones on stage hazards to be incredibly weird and much smaller than they should be. I think it's good that the kill zone for these hazards aren't perfectly on model, but it's to the point where I get away with things I absolutely should not.[i.imgur.com]

The visuals and sounds are fantastic. The psychedelic art style fits the game very well and goes well with the upbeat music. The sound design feels good and fits the game well. However, the character feels basic and out-of-place in the game, which seems partially purposeful but also kinda not? Poly also reminds me very much of Celeste's Madeline.

With this being a platformer utilizing melee mechanics, I found the controls to be (expectedly) very alien and confusing. QWER for directional attacks, arrow keys for movement, a double jump, a dash on D, a dodge on S, an attack button on S (different from directional attacks ?), a brake button on A. There's also a buffer, which I don't even understand how that works? Like a buffer for inputs or? IDK, in general the whole system was just very overwhelming and intimidating. I think explanations on the side for some of the options would help players understand what these are used for.

While I do see a lot of potential in ENTROPOLY and a very high skill ceiling, players who are not experienced with Melee or platform fighters with similar mechanics will struggle to comprehend ENTROPOLY's overwhelming complex systems of movement. Unless an update happens that includes learning materials (no, tutorials on YouTube do not count lol), I will have to recommend those unfamiliar to not pick this one up.

I am very happy though to see that there is a game where Melee players who enjoy this style of movement have a more dedicated place to express it.

[h1]ENTROPOLY is a game that caters to a very specific audience and no one else.[/h1] [h2]Background[/h2] I have 350 hours in Celeste, completing all challenges except Farewell Golden (including all Full Clear Goldens), 350 hours in N++, and 16 hours in Dustforce. I have only played Smash Ultimate casually and have no experience in Melee. Where I decided to quit was in one of the early Air levels where the game asked me to utilize momentum conservation mechanics I did not understand and it did not teach me. [h2]Settings[/h2] Default controls (keyboard), fullscreen, screen-shake OFF. [h2]Review[/h2] My main issues with ENTROPOLY lie in its lack of tutorials. While the game does a decent job of easing you into the basics via the levels, the game does not really explain the full scope of how your movement works, or why you have a dodge, or why you have 4 directional attacks, or that you can pull back on your dashes, or that pressing the dash button without a movement key makes you stay in place, or...you get the picture. This gave me the vibe that this game is meant for Melee players exclusively. I think this could be resolved by giving in-depth tutorials that the player can read and watch. With the game already having a "ghost" playback feature of your best run, this could be transformed into a [url=https://youtu.be/xFOF4LixCBw?t=55]Modded-Celeste-style gym[/url] which allows you to tackle the finer details of the movement system at your own pace with ghosts showing you how to move. The game uses a "hub" system similar to Dustforce where you have to do mini platforming challenges to get to levels, which I found mostly gratifying, except for the fact that it respawns you at the center of the hub. I find this really annoying, and believe the areas should take note of where you were previously and respawn you at the nearest safe point. As a minor note, I found kill zones on stage hazards to be incredibly weird and much smaller than they should be. I think it's good that the kill zone for these hazards aren't perfectly on model, but it's to the point where I get away with things [url=https://i.imgur.com/dibDvG6.png]I absolutely should not.[/url] The visuals and sounds are fantastic. The psychedelic art style fits the game very well and goes well with the upbeat music. The sound design feels good and fits the game well. However, the character feels basic and out-of-place in the game, which seems partially purposeful but also kinda not? Poly also reminds me very much of Celeste's Madeline. With this being a platformer utilizing melee mechanics, I found the controls to be (expectedly) very alien and confusing. QWER for directional attacks, arrow keys for movement, a double jump, a dash on D, a dodge on S, an attack button on S (different from directional attacks ?), a brake button on A. There's also a buffer, which I don't even understand how that works? Like a buffer for inputs or? IDK, in general the whole system was just very overwhelming and intimidating. I think explanations on the side for some of the options would help players understand what these are used for. [h2]Conclusion[/h2] While I do see a lot of potential in ENTROPOLY and a very high skill ceiling, players who are not experienced with Melee or platform fighters with similar mechanics will struggle to comprehend ENTROPOLY's overwhelming complex systems of movement. Unless an update happens that includes learning materials (no, tutorials on YouTube do not count lol), I will have to recommend those unfamiliar to not pick this one up. I am very happy though to see that there is a game where Melee players who enjoy this style of movement have a more dedicated place to express it.