Topic: Project Black Sun

[Xessive]

Project Black Sun

A relatively recent indie game in the ilk of Metroid-Vania games! It's on sale now at 50% off ($3.49).

It's pretty fun, I'm liking it so far. You can also grab the demo to check it out.

[idolminds]

I'm tempted to pick it up. I made a thread back in October about it but didn't get a response, but it is a cool game. Really hard, though, based on the demo.

[Xessive]

I'm tempted to pick it up. I made a thread back in October about it but didn't get a response, but it is a cool game. Really hard, though, based on the demo.

Sorry, I didn't search

Yeah, it gets frustrating since the checkpoints are few and far between.

[idolminds]

Ok, got it (thanks, Que!). Its still as hard as I remember, and its a weird sort of difficulty. You start off with 2 hearts and a pistol, touching a bad dude take away a heart. So you get 2 mistakes before you die and have to restart from the last checkpoint. Heres why its weird: You don't lose anything. I found a grenade pickup so now I can carry around a grenade, then I died before the next checkpoint. When I started again...I still had the grenade. And my map was still explored. Which on one hand is nice so you don't have to go hunt it all down again, but at the same time its kind of strange seeing the game be that hard and then be really generous about respawning. I think what makes it weird is you dont have lives and when you die it says "Game over" and then you have to hit Retry to go back to the checkpoint. Just send me to the checkpoint, I don't need to see the GO the screen and make a selection. If I want to quit I can do it easily from the menu at the checkpoint.

Anyway, I like it. Its challenging but so far doesn't seem that bad once you get used to your limitations. I'm sure a lot of things will change as I go along and collect powerups and new weapons. Already see a bunch of areas to crawl through yet it seems I can't crawl yet. But its fun exploring. I stumbled on some green grassy area instead of the begining mineshaft style place, but there was deep water and I'm sure I'd drown right away if I tried it so I went back. So future places to explore, yay!

[Quemaqua]

Sounds good! I'm tempted to grab it myself, but... ugh! Damned games. So many...

[idolminds]

Mo time, Mo opinions.

Exploring is interesting. You can't jump very high, you can't grab ledges (though I suspect you eventually can based on some level design I've seen), so when you decide you're going to hop down and see whats around you have to be mindful that chances are good you will not be able to climb back up to where you were. This might mean you have to take whatever door is available to you, or you might have to redo an area again just to climb back up. So on one hand its like "Weee, explore!" and on the other its "Oh shit, whats down there? Do I care? Maybe its a powerup...fffffuuuuu". I actually got myself into an area I could not get out of without killing myself. I did not have whatever powerup needed to get out.

Speaking of powerups, I got the ability to slide. So no crawling, sliding. Its right before the very first boss which I have yet to kill. I got his pattern down (first boss so pretty easy) but I ran out of ammo for my gun and fucked up my grenade throw. Using the knife means I gotta get all up in his grill and that usually ends up killing me. So I decided to go explore some more and maybe find another ammo powerup or something.

A note about ammo. The pickups look like magazines for your pistol which kind of threw me off. You aren't collecting magazines, you are collecting bullets. With the reload mechanic and the magazine drops I assumed you had magazines and could reload by swapping them out (and losing the remaining bullets if it wasn't empty). Nope, much more simple. You have 20 (or whatever) shots total, its just your gun will only fire so many before needing a reload. Now that I got that figured out (I may just be an idiot) things are making much more sense.

So thats where Im at. I found another grenade pickup so now I can carry 2 around. I also found a silver coin but Im not sure what it does. Seems there are 10 to collect. Its a really fun game once you get over the "hardcore-ness" of it. Platforming is more methodical, you die easy, you will replay sections when you die. Very old school feeling.

Oh yeah, and 360 controller works out of the gate. The options menu doesn't list it as an option, its just on all the time. Pick up your controller and away you go.

[idolminds]

Ok, first boss down, key acquired. Now I can explore new areas, yay! Which I did, and was promptly killed. Note to self: you can't duck the plant bullets.

Boss spoiler:

(click to show/hide)

GIANT ENEMY CRAB! Ok, hes not that giant but he is larger than your average crab. And he lives in a rock. I was having trouble killing him because I'd run out of shots and hes hard as hell to hit with grenades. So protip: throw a grenade or two at him before you grab the key. They will explode when he activates and deal a ton of damage right from the start. He didn't even get to drop boulders on my head before I killed him.

Hoping theres some health upgrade to find soon.

[Quemaqua]

Damn it, stop making this sound like lots of fun.

[idolminds]

Second boss down. This one was a little more frustrating due to the fact that it doesn't seem to follow a set pattern, some near impossible to dodge attacks, and if you die (you will) the checkpoint it a little ways away forcing you to replay a bit to get back to him. This game must be addictive, because I would rage quit out and then 5 minutes later be back in playing.

So boss down, I have a shiny new key...lets explore some more! In my explorations I found some nice stuff. The key unlocked a shortcut door so at least there is one section I can simply skip now. I located a weapon upgrade, possibly a machinegun. Oh wait, I have to go back there now because I got DOUBLE JUMP, BABY! I should be able to grab it. Woo!

I also found a few heart upgrades so I'm up to 5 hearts which is really really nice. Still have to be careful but now its a bit more lenient. I'm carrying 3 grenades now, too.

More exploring and hopefully I will find the 3rd boss.

[idolminds]

Yesssss...more health, 3 round burst on my pistol, and swim trunks for those water areas.

[Xessive]

Damn it, I need to catch up!

[idolminds]

Boss #3 is an asshole. Hes made harder since you can't shoot up at all, and you can't shoot or throw grenades while in the air. Plus your movements and jumps are a bit more floaty since you're entirely underwater. And the floor will be destroyed if you use grenades. I'm sure I'll get him but I can only do like 5 attempts in a row before getting pissed off and quitting.

One thing I would change about the game is the map. Needs some icons where keys can be used. Keys can open multiple doors but they are all over the place. Have to do a bunch of re-exploring just to make sure you didn't miss something.

[idolminds]

Finally killed the 3rd boss. It took me quite a few tries, starting out not getting anywhere then calming down a little and trying to just whittle him down. I got close a few times and I knew I could do it. The run where I finally killed him He went through his pattern twice (no spoilers, you'll see) and I got through ok but with a couple bad moves I got hurt several times. My health getting low, his health almost gone I decide to just go balls out shooting the bastard...finally killing him! Oh, the sense of relief.

So now I have a shiny new key to go exploring with! Into a new zone and I should go back into the older zones to see what I may have missed. This is where a "locked door" indicator on the map would be so so useful. The map is actually quite large so going back through it to find some stray door kinda sucks. Wish I had thought of this from the start, maybe would have drawn my own map with indicators as I found stuff.

One interesting thing I found was an elevator. Zomg, an elevator?! Yes! I thought it was weird because I hadn't seen one anywhere else in the game so I hop on and...credits? End Game screen? Hmmm. Guess thats one way to finish the game, but I still have a boss to fight and a key to acquire, not to mention exploring the areas THAT key unlocks. The end game screen said my completion was a little over 50%, so there is a lot left to locate. Going back into the game it put me into an older save stop. Thankfully AFTER the last boss, but before I had collected some items so I had to track those down again. Wasn't a big deal but figured Id warn you if you see an elevator...best stay off it until later.

[Quemaqua]

Haha, that's crazy. You can win without winning.