Indie specialists Sometimes You tend to publish games from a pool of half-a-dozen or so developers, often going from a studio’s first commercially released title, to its sequel, and onto their next project. The neat thing about this is that you often get to see studios refine their craft and become more ambitious. PigeonDev’s 2D platformers, for instance, became better over time. The same goes for Uncle Frost Team, with Candylands Journey easily being their best game to date. We’ve come a long way from the unabashedly crass Hillbilly Apocalypse.
I’m not sure what the opposite of a ‘precision platformer’ is, but this is it. Candylands Journey is easy to get into and eager to please, seeing our bewitching heroine bounce around sugar coated environments in a frenzy, while brandishing a magic wand to freeze, burn and shock enemies. Explosions are bountiful, backdrops are busy, and health top ups are common – with the difficulty level raising oh-so gradually as you track down the supersized villain responsible for stealing a sacred crystal.
Although it veers into the casual side of things, don’t let the saccharine sweet theme discourage you if you’re curious, as creepier horror elements become more prevalent over time.
This isn’t a platformer playing by the 8-bit rulebook either, featuring a few modern touches. Stages scroll vertically and horizontally, progress is often halted by the need to find a key, and most stages feature an area where four green gems must be found in order to trigger a detonation. These aren’t too difficult to find as they’re always in plain sight, and not hidden behind a wall or similar, but the need to backtrack will likely still arise. Lastly for collectables, every stage contains a puzzle piece – and these are trickier to find, if only because they tend to blur into the backgrounds. To reach the final boss you’ll need to collect all sixteen – something that isn’t made clear when starting out. It definitely pays to keep a look out.
Every stage also has an optional puzzle room, in which a gem must be guided towards a portal by pressing coloured buttons. Said gems can then be used to purchase new wands, seeing a new plaything added to your inventory every couple of stages. The first wand traps enemies in a bubble, which can then be used as makeshift platforms, a la the arcade classic Bubble Bobble. There are even points during the final hurdle when this starting wand is needed to progress. Fire, ice, and electric wands are added shortly after – with fire used to set off chain reactions of explosions. The last batch of wands are on the gimmickier side, simply conjuring rabbits, frogs and bats. As mana reserves run out quickly, wand swapping is a common practise, especially during boss battles where you’ll need to throw everything you’ve got at the food-themed witch before you. Sadly, this strategy is all that’s needed to emerge victorious.
There’s one other idea present: collectable helmets, all of which give a minor perk such as a higher jump or the ability to float. While their inclusion doesn’t harm the experience in any way – and trying out a new helmet is a small joy – they aren’t necessary to progress, and in most cases only serve to make an easy game even easier. Expanding the enemy roster would’ve been a more worthwhile pursuit.
Visually it’s curiously pleasing; imagine a late Amiga 1200 platformer on steroids (or Red Bull, if you prefer) and you’ll get the gist. It’s a heady mixture of delightfully garish colour schemes, large pixel art characters, modern effects, and fast moving sprites. The music is reminiscent of 16-bit era Sonic, especially Sonic 3D Blast, and the sound effects are equally pleasing with lots of daft sound bites whenever an enemy is defeated. It moves like greased lightning too, even after summoning dozens of gormless animals by draining mana reserves. All these things combined make for an experience with ‘feel good’ vibes to spare.
As well as the lax difficulty, it’s worth addressing the game’s length – if you collect every puzzle piece as you go, you’re looking at 2-3 hours, and only an extra thirty minutes or so if you need to backtrack for any you’ve missed. After that, there’s little reason to return. Its brevity isn’t too detrimental, thankfully, and at around £8.99 it’s sensibly priced. Anyone looking for an easy going afternoon would do well to take a look, and can rest assured that there’s nothing nasty lurking under the colourful exterior.
The family friendly approach seems to be paying off for Uncle Frost Team, and out of all their games released so far, this is by far the one most deserving of a sequel. The sprinkling of nostalgia for the older generation doesn’t go unnoticed, either.
Uncle Frost Team’s Candylands Journey is out 4th September on consoles. Published by Sometimes You. A PC version also appears to be imminent.