Recent reviews by Poncle

I remember seeing Markiplier play the game when it first released and thought it was entertaining to watch someone claw and struggle their way up the mountain, but didn’t think much of it. I don’t recall when I bought the game initially, but based on my last played time it was a while ago. Three years, to be more precise.

When I played it the first time, I struggled a lot with getting the hang of it. This is, of course, by design. The game features controls that are precise yet unintuitive. I don’t remember what made me so upset to the point of leaving it behind for three years, but I suppose that’s not important anymore.

Fast forward to now, I saw one of my friends going for the fabled golden pot. That is a reward you get after completing the game 50 times. I thought to myself that if someone was willing to play the game that many times, there must be something that I am missing due to my blind rage those 3 years ago. So, I reinstalled the game and gave it another shot.

What you will find playing this game is that the controls are very simple and easy to understand but horridly difficult to master and control effectively. The unintuitive controls, paired with Benett Foddy’s narration over your climb will be enough to make you unreasonably angry, but that is exactly the point. The whole game’s premise is on this feeling of failure and having to start over and what we choose to do about it. This game was not meant to be good or widely received.

As I struggled my way up the mountain, learning how to control the man in the pot, falling catastrophically over and over and nearly giving up a second time, I learned that through each attempt at a part I had to replay that it was slightly easier each consecutive time. I fell, yes, but I was equipped with knowledge of how to overcome the obstacles I had to repeat until suddenly each fall wasn’t nearly as bad anymore.

Reaching the summit of the mountain was an incredible feeling that I can’t describe in words. I not only overcame the mountain, but also myself, my fear of failure, my fear of having to start over. These fears will still persist, but I know now that each failure is a chance to learn from the mistake and become a better player because of it.

All that said, this game is not for everyone despite my recommendation. This game is hard. It will punish you. You will become angry at it and at times, it will make you want to quit. However, I promise you that if you stick with it, and learn to overcome all of the failures and hardships and emerge a better player, you will find the experience of climbing the mountain as rewarding as I have. It was never about just reaching the summit, but rather the journey that it took to get there. That, in essence, is what Getting Over It tries to convey and I love it for that. This game is one that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon and easily makes my top 10 list. I’m so glad I came back and finished it. Thank you, Bennett Foddy for crafting a truly unforgettable experience.

I had a huge background in platformers before going into Celeste (Super Mario World, Mario 64, Battle for Bikini Bottom just to name a few). I figured Celeste would be a fun little platformer that I could play for a bit, be done with them move on but I got way more than I bargained for. Tight and precise controls that allow for more challenging platforming, simple mechanics that are easy to learn but hard to master with levels that are built around these mechanics to go with it, difficult but fair gameplay, a banger soundtrack and a fantastic story made Celeste so hard to put down for me. Because of how each level is split up into individual screens, you get bite sized portions of hard as balls gameplay which makes you feel like the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boss after you clear one screen make Celeste super rewarding to master. My only gripe with this game, however, is that at a certain point you will unlock a thing called Golden Strawberries. They appear at the start of every level and are only collected by taking them to the end of the level without dying once. It’s at that point Celeste no longer is fair and rewarding but rather punishing as all hell and frustrating to no end. Fortunately, they are not required so feel free to skip. If you are down for an unforgettable platforming experience, then you absolutely must play Celeste. It’s my favorite game for a reason

The Binding of Isaac is a game I’ve known of for a long time but never tried it until late summer of 2022. I can say with confidence that this game is good despite it not being made to be good although I do have some issues that maybe you will have as well.

Unlike other popular roguelikes, Isaac does not have detailed item descriptions even if you buy the dlc. I wouldn’t have an issue with this if it weren’t for the fact that some items are deliberately so bad that they can straight up end any given run you are on. You either have to use the Platinum God website or download an external mod in order to get reliable descriptions. On the subject of items, the rng factor is very polarizing partly because of the horrid items, but also the extremely broken ones. This game is not afraid to shaft you or make you extremely broken. There is also a time sensitive challenge that lets you access a boss you wouldn’t be able to otherwise. That also would not be an issue if it were not needed for progression and if not for the rng which will cause you to reset many a run for this objective. It requires you to play the game a certain way and it only serves to work against it since you have to do it to obtain access to new parts of the game.

On to more positive things, the music is top notch. Almost every track in this game is a certified banger and will have you bopping your head to the beat as you cry baddies into submission. The item pool is GARGANTUAN to say the least and most items provide a unique cosmetic effect which is really cool and makes every run so unique. There is also no shortage of things to do, items to unlock, characters to play, synergies to discover and so on. The areas are extremely unique and each come with their own varying enemy types and music. You can even unlock variants of floors you’ve played through over time giving it even more variety.

Although I can’t put this game a o es the likes of Hades and Enter the Gungeon since it does things I absolutely loathe at times, it is still an absolute must play for any enjoyer of roguelikes. I highly recommend this one