Written Review.
The Wizard and The Slug is a game I’d never heard of and at the time of review isn’t even out yet. With this, I came to it expecting very little, not because it’s an indie game or that it’s made by just one person, but as I said, I knew literally nothing about it.
Basically, the game starts up with some history as to how Immortal and Mortal beings were created. Here you are greeted to a cheerful title screen where you can move around as The Slug to choose a new game or to load a game. When you actually start the game, you are introduced to what seems like an escape, here you aren’t The Slug, but a ball of energy which you have to escape the flying
creatures while they fire laser beams at you.
It’s a very short section, but once done you are introduced to The Slug. As the Slug, you wake up and take a happy stroll to where you find The Wizard. You help the Wizard with a task, and you are then tested to see if you are worthy to journey with The Wizard. This is the start of The Wizard and the Slugs adventure.
From here on out you play as the slug, who has the ability to jump and not only jump but you can double and triple jump, on top of that you can even fire shots of slug at things. This is where the game’s unique mechanics come into play.
While jumping normally you just jump, but to double jump and triple jump, you fire slug balls downwards and then you get the height or momentum from the jumps. With the balls that come from you you shrink down and when you shrink to your smallest this is where you take damage, so timing jumps so you don’t get hurt is integral to getting about and not dying. The same applies to fired shots the SLug
gets smaller with each shot so taking out enemies or bosses can be tricky as you need to make sure you aren’t hit when small.
When you are hit when larger then you lose all your sluggyness and become small, luckily you don’t lose health here, but you become vulnerable to the next attack because becoming small is as previously said where you get hurt. The SLug also has a small amount of health, in fact, you can only take 2 hits while you’re a tiny ball to be killed, so avoid it or practice dodging and you’ll be fine.
The level design is really good, it starts off pretty simple, with fairly easy platforming, but as you progress and get the dash ability it becomes more difficult, and you have sections where there are different routes to take which lean more on one ability over another or one will rely on your platforming skills instead of enemy fighting skills, though even that will have platforming, just a little easier.
The Wizard helps in many sections by having magical hearts created so when you dash or jump into them it regenerates the Slug so if they use the triple jump, they can jump again when hitting the hearts. These hearts vanish when touched, and while they do respawn they take a little time. Timing for these platforming sections with jumps and dashes is key, spamming the jump button won’t help.
Enemies are usually easily dispatched with a few shots of the slugs shots, but there are more that are a little more tricky. For example, some are immune to your shots, so you have to use the environment to make the killed, some enemies need to be hit in the back some can only be killed by certain shot types, so choosing the correct one of the 3 is needed, some are easier taken out when you have a friend
helping you…
Oh, I didn’t mention that you get other people helping you out? There are times you will come across other characters in the game, the first is a banana, and they offer to help you these are brief sections normally and usually have a fun ending. Speaking of ending this game does have 3. I had 2 of the ending, and this was due to getting 3 collectables on the way through the game.
The first you get pretty much at the start along the normal route, but, the later 2 you get from exploring, there a few times that you end up off the beaten path that leads you to a fight in which you get the other collectables. The 3 collectables get you a reward near the end of the game and are needed for what I believe is the best ending. I asl o had what I assume is the worst. I am assuming this, but I don’t
think you’ll get the best ending without the collectables.
The game is visually appealing with some interesting character designs. Playing the game both myself and even viewers noticed that some had an Adventure time kind of look to them. The backgrounds are usually nice and colourful, some are more dark and dank looking, but the style and bold solid colours make everything stand out.
Some games try to overcomplicate things and at times it’s hard to tell where you can land on a platform, there are no issues with that here as you can easily tell where the platforms are and where to go. The animation for the game is a little lacking in some respects, for example, the wizard only a little of the cape moves, where you turn left or right everything else is static, and some enemies move as if the joints are on roller balls. TBH, it’s not a problem and for me, it adds charm to the game as it’s not all enemies and it seems like it’s been done purposely for them and not others to give them a slightly different movement look.
Now the music in this is great overall, honestly, it ranges from damn good to great. There’s not a bad track in the game. The tracks vary from a calming melodic whimsy when in the woods area, to really fast-paced, energetic riffs. The music in the game really resonates with you for the levels you are in, or during certain cutscenes, there’s no music at all and those scenes are then enhanced by the lack of music as it shows the Wizard’s recent past and explains the opening of the game where you control the orb.
This is a game I knew nothing of and have gone into it with no expectations and came away pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the game is, the game is very good all around and is a nice little package that gave me a good several hours of fun. When all is said and done I have mostly positive things to say about the game, it’s good at what it does and I think a sequel improving upon what this has done will be
even better. I wouldn’t say the game outdoes any others in its various departments but it does a splendid job at the mechanics present and the story is pretty interesting and it’s genuinely funny with some nice references to other pop culture. With all that in mind, I’m giving this a solid 8 Pugsleys out of 10.