La5t Game You Fini5hed And Your Thought5

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

It’ll always be something I enjoy (unless they make a horse’s arse of that Arceus game next year). 7/10.

I just had a vision of a future wherein the Arceus chat next year is a rerun of the BotW discussion back in 2017, with you in the Mas role and me somehow positioning you into admitting on a podcast that the only reason you like it less than me is because I'm a better person than you but then you're suddenly a big man six months later when Andy's there to back you up.

Chorus plays a bit like Rogue Squadron in how the ship controls, and you can look at as the Cult is the Empire, you were a Sith but now fighting for the resistance. Just in little open world sections instead of big level based space battles.

When I saw Cappa post "unless they make a horse’s arse of that Arceus game next year" I was thinking the same Buska, that it be great but changed too much and Cappa think it is pish.


I can do this in two parts as I've played just over 26hrs of the Multiplayer, which is easily the best multiplayer I've played this year and is near perfect that it be staying installed on my Xbox, getting played if I got a spare 10mins for around trying to get some XP for the Battle Pass. That is my only gripe, is the game doesn't really have levels and all the XP is towards the Battle Pass which is slow as all hell.

The campaign, I finished this morning, but I basically played the whole game in one sitting on Thursday with only one mission to do last night and one this morning from the 15 missions. Infinite is an odd game though, it is clearly the best thing 343 has done and super fun to play. Yet it feels like 343 played Halo CE and gone let's make some of these levels into a semi open-world Ubisoft style thing.

For the most part it works, just it feels like Halo the Best off, and other games beyond CE added stuff & even CE had levels like Assault on the Control Room with the snow which feel like they're missing in Infinite.

Now I know 343 has mentioned DLC and the ending leans into that, along with the game's title being Infinite also with Game Pass it stays in the service & have the live service aspect with hey here's these new missions on the other side of the ring with snow.

I sound a bit down on it, just it's Xboxes biggest game series (I'd say Forza they're best game series) and feel can come in for a bit more critique than AA game such as Chorus, of what to expect from the game.

Really, if you like Halo you'll like this and if you don't, you won't like this as it plays much the same and the whole open-world might add to your experience, and it might not. Then the Multiplayer is so fantastic, so taking that into account, then you'll see what I think of it overall down below.

---

Halo Infinite was also my 52nd game I finished this year for the 52 Game Challenge, and now to give them all a score, maybe you'll see my Artful Escape score and go play it.

The Games:

I'm glad Cappa enjoyed Pokémon BDSP having bought it, but honestly I still wish it didn't exist or hadn't sold too well.  We're definitely getting this sort of low-effort remake going forward (although least there'll be better underlying games).  Press F to pay respects to HGSS.

Meanwhile, if Mas is giving Balan 6.5/10, I can't imagine what Caretaker must be like.  Maybe you put it into your console and it immediately sprays liquid faeces around the room?



I like a good few hard games.  My 11th favourite game of all time, Celeste, is a hard game.  So, off the top of my head, are the two new Donkey Kong Countries, Metroids Prime and Dread, Henry Hatsworth, and Hollow Knight.  I think all these are very good games.  (Stuff F-Zero GX's story mode though.)  What Celeste does so well, though (among other things), is that you're never more than a few seconds away from being back in the game.  Celeste is hard, but it also respects the player's time.

Death's Door is closest to Hollow Knight amongst those, and like stretches in Hollow Knight it doesn't feel as if it has that respect.  There are several examples of repeated sullen trudges from checkpoints back to where I'd got to, only to try and die again and repeat the process.  Couple that with your crow's sluggish movement speed (anybody who says 'just roll' needs to be forced to cross OoT's Hyrule Field on foot 100 times and then not given an ice pack for their rolling thumb) and a slightly-too-long loading pause after each death, and I had a distinct feeling I was being... well, flipped the bird.  This extends to secret-hunting, where DD misses out for no apparent good reason on the mainstay of action adventures, a map.  There's no bloody map!  For no good reason either, this isn't Carrion.  If your crow can read signs and wield a sword, surely they can wield the mightier pen.

Those are my major gripes, and outside those, DD is a nice adventure that gets better as you get further in.  Part of that is you mastering the crow, how it moves, how it fights, getting more skills, and (yes) levelling up how fast it moves - but part of this is also that the game gains more charm as it goes on.  It starts off feeling like a game that's going to be rather dour outside you playing as a crow, but the range of NPCs, combined with some charming animations on your birdie, lead to a game that doesn't feel quite as grim as Hollow Knight, say.  I laughed several times.  You also move into prettier-looking locales: the colours stay relatively muted, but different areas have different looks and there are some good visual gags.  The music is nice throughout, although I don't quite agree with the hyperbolic praise that's been lavished on it.

The fighting is one of those areas that takes time to master but is good fun.  For the most part I enjoyed being in battle more than being out of it: learning the patterns, dodging with a well-executed roll, nipping into the gap and going slashy slashy slash is all good fun.  The bosses are noteworthy examples of this, and are pretty much all good.  (The minibosses, not so much.  The best part of being done with this is that I'll never have to see another fat club knight.)  Having said that, outside battle the game still has its share of good puzzles and fun discovery.  I'm led to believe that there's a postgame that might take that up a notch.

Not one I'll see: I've had my fill of Death's Door, and I would recommend it to those wanting a 2D action-adventure with hints of Soulslike.  My Switch playtime says '10 hours or more', and even if one or 1.5 of those were spent trudging back to where I died at a snail's pace, wondering why the heck a crow never gets a flying or gliding move, that's still at least 8.5h of fun crow fights and dungeons.  That's a time anyone can respect.

I really liked Balan but know it has issues etc. Caretaker is a easy 1000g game but is just stock assets put together in a guess survival horror title, stuff you see Sterling show on a video.

Please comment on Death's Door, above, people - I've not got/played it yet, and I think I'd like it a little more than Balla did.
Just wanted to jump in with

This was perhaps the last game on my essential bucket list, as one I never finished, despite playing the first season of the not-quite-as-great-but-probably-pretty-good Wii era.
I'd say there was only one fist-shaking moment, where I didn't realise another room was accessible from what seemed to be a piece of the background art. But other than that, the puzzles were actually reasonable, and the game's dialogue does a good job of providing hints.
And my goodness me was this funny. I assumed that it wouldn't hold up nearly 30 years later, but - Wood Allen caricature aside - it blimmin' well does.
Another 10/10 there

As mentioned elsewhere, I should probably play that one, but the odds of it coming to Nintendo machines (and therefore actually being in my purview) are presumably slender.

masofdas wrote:

I really liked Balan but know it has issues etc. Caretaker is a easy 1000g game but is just stock assets put together in a guess survival horror title, stuff you see Sterling show on a video.

So I wasn't far off with the poop thing.

Jimbob wrote:

Please comment on Death's Door, above, people - I've not got/played it yet, and I think I'd like it a little more than Balla did.

Andy loves it.
Smurf loves it.
OR agrees with me pretty much but thinks the postgame elevates it.

Really though: that's a recommendation from me!  I liked it!  If you think you'll like it more than me, you should almost definitely get it.

Pokemon Shining Pearl



Finished this last week (I think - maybe the week before). It was totally fine, if not amazing. But then DPP were always known to not be particularly amazing, so that was to be expected.

Playing through it, the "by the numbers" vibe to it was more obvious than it was when I originally played Diamond. I think Gen IV was a point where Game Freak seemed to try to make some significant changes (like changing the mechanics of physical and special attacks) but clung on to other archaic design choices to a fault (like having a million un-deletable HMs). These remakes are much slicker than the original games (removing HMs completely) but then have random old-fashioned choices that don't particularly add much to the experience (TMs that break after use).

Gen IV almost feels transitional, in that it felt like a marked change from the GBA games in some ways but wasn't as slick, fun, or as balanced as Gen V would then be. These remakes don't do enough to shake that transitional feeling off, and it's a little jarring because it's 2021, when we've since been treated to other, better Pokemon games.

That said, I liked it enough to play my way through the main game, and for all that the visual style has been very divisive I thought it looked alright. The inclusion of the Grand Underground to introduce some extra Pokemon into the Pokedex was a welcome addition (though its actual implementation was pretty dull) and Cynthia still offers a hard as nails challenge at the end despite the fact the entire game is a cakewalk otherwise.

As I said before: totally fine, if not amazing. I hope Arceus Legends might be something a bit more special, but to be honest, since Pokemon Red and Blue were my first proper introduction into console gaming, I'll always have a soft spot for the mainline Pokemon games even if they're not bangin'.


Castlevania (...Circle of the Moon)



Did you know that it was only called Circle of the Moon in the USA? It was just 'Castlevania' here. Anyway, I bought the Advance Collection on Switch. I'd never played CotM, but had played a bit of Harmony of Dissonance as part of the GBA double pack with Aria of Sorrow... until I lost it when I lost my DS Lite years ago.

Details of my life story aside, CotM holds up pretty well for a GBA launch title. The story isn't up to much (Dracula has been resurrected, stop Dracula) but the gameplay is reasonably in depth - though the game doesn't really explain it to you. You obviously have your whip, but then you can also collect different cards (as you can see in the screenshot). Combine different cards and you can get weapons with different effects - fire whip, poison sword, electric punch, etc. Using these uses up MP. You can also pick up subweapons, which use up hearts (which is different from your HP, which I didn't understand for a while). You only pick up cards as random drops from different enemies, which is a pain in the arse because it means that you are limited in what attacks you can use unless you grind to find these cards, and the drop rate is really low.

HOWEVER, the Advance Collection has a rewind mechanic, meaning the game is less grindy and you can retry twatting an enemy with a killing blow multiple times until you get the card - if you want to. I didn't really bother with that for card drops, but I did use the mechanic when fighting bosses, to stop me having to retry the fights multiple times. Because CotM is hard. Particularly the final phase of the last boss; I had to Google whether I was doing it right because it was taking me so long that I thought I must just have been arsing it up.

It's still a pretty good Metroidvania though. Additions like the rewind mechanic were great because it meant I could get through the game without losing the will to live and focus a little more on exploring the castle (and exploring to find the nooks and crannies is my favourite part of a Metroidvania). The other two games in the package are supposedly better still, so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them soon.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I might have changed my mind since I posted that first review back in February 2019. A game with no weaknesses, maybe, just maybe, Horizon Chase Turbo is the best retro revival, full stop. 10/10.

Yo. Yoooooooo. Played some of this last night and it's brilliant! Was hooked for a good two hours, trying to beat Treesmurf's times! There's so much content here it's ridiculous, particularly as each course I've raced so far makes me want to keep going back and perfect them. I was unsure about the handling, given its reference points are earlier than the racing titles I usually gravitate towards, but I love the strategy involved. Actually having to ease off the gas to avoid other cars makes sense - seeing some moaning about ramming into a car slows you down. Obviously. Having short laps instead of the time restrictions of say, a Super Hang On, really adds to the enjoyment levels. Some of these tracks aren't far off of Baby Park. The visuals are glorious, the music is well done; nah this is mint, glad I picked this up.

Wavetale reminds me a tad of another Stadia exclusive in Gylt, Sea of Solitude and Concrete Genie in that sort not quite a pure platformer game. I think when Wavetale, is no longer just on Stadia (It's from Thunderful who have Gunk upcoming, but quite a few games in 2021 with them sort of spread out on various systems) and on something like the Switch which I feel it be right at home on.

Do think it is worth checking out, as that sort of palate cleanser between I don't know Pokémon Legends and Triangle Strategy, Wavetale being a 5hr'ish simple bright & colourful adventure.

I've said my piece on BDSP.  The Castlevania three remain on my wishlist, waiting for a deep discount and for some more anticipated games to clear out of there - Rum damning at least the first one with faint praise!  Wavetale's box art looks like the sort of thing I'd be into at least.



I got all the base level medals in Part Time UFO, and I don't know how to feel about it.  Fundamentally it's done a good job of the Just Shapes & Beats dynamic of making me like a type of game (physics puzzlers in this case) I have no business liking through being cute, and it really is impressive how many uses they found for that crane.  That said, it was still a physics puzzler - slow, frustrating, and instilling in me no desire to play it past the final boss.  As a result of me not delving into those other bits, it did feel a tad throwaway.  Still, if 6/10 is 'wait for a sale', Part Time UFO's already slender price tag probably justifies the purchase. 7/10

Horizon Chase Turbo is the total package right enough. I think it’s the best arcade racer since OutRun 2006.

I’m fully planning on getting the Castlevania Advance Collection at some point. It’s good to know that the rewind function lowers the difficulty and helps that first GBA become more focused.

I'd love a Part Time UFO sequel, but it feels like a one-off, cult following sort of game. Really liked it all the same.

Set in the Wild West and with a bit of Sci-Fi chucked in, Wild Guns is a fast-paced arcade gallery shooter from 1994 - and its an absolutely bloody outstanding one too. I rate it extremely highly, it’s definitely become one of my personal Top 5 SNES games. An enhanced remaster unexpectedly appeared at an E3 about five years back, and then released on PS4. That was before it sharply made it’s way to Switch once developers saw that that was a successful bandwagon to jump on. As they called it, Wild Guns: Reloaded has quietly been one of the best-ever retro remakes for several years. The gameplay, the music, the visuals and the animation are just simply *Italian chef’s kiss*.

All Wild Guns: Reloaded does is update the 1994 game’s visuals and audio, add two new characters and two new levels, and offer four-player support alongside online leaderboards. Otherwise it feels very authentic to the SNES version, because it basically is the SNES version. It didn’t need to reinvent the (wagon) wheel, it was already the stuff of legends.

Wild Guns: Reloaded’s updates are very worthwhile and the game itself is truly excellent. However, you’ve already access to the aforementioned SNES original through your SNES Online subscription, and it’s same basic thing. For that fact alone, just try the original before you think about getting Reloaded. Granted, I fully respect that the combination of mid ‘90s arcade shooting, robots and High Noon might not appeal to everybody, but with the rewind function you’re taking away Wild Guns’ one true flaw, which is it’s brutal difficulty. Either way though, it’s a firm and concrete 9/10.

Looked this up after reading that to see if they added any form of motion control and sadly they didn't, which is a shame because light gun games could get a wee bit of a revival (at least on the eShop front) if one just took the plunge with it.

Finished Gunk on Xmas Eve, very much like Wavetale also from Thunderful (SteamWorld Team this time), short'ish almost something that has that bit of Nintendo feel straight in to a service this time Game Pass instead of Stadia Pro (People may play Gunk, then).

If it comes else where and priced around £15-20 (If you don't want to play via XCloud) think most will like as you go around sucking up the gunk with your power glove in the bright adventure.

Treesmurf wrote:

If it's only 3 hours long I'll play it some time this week and give you the definitive opinion.

I realise I never mentioned my thoughts on ABZÛ, 6/10 seems fair to me, I still preferred it over Journey although I do think I'd probably like Journey more than I currently do if I played it for the first time now rather than back in 2013.



TOEM

I've played another game that'll make you go "awww" this time it's the monochrome photo adventure TOEM. Its a simple premise, you start your journey with a new camera as you go to experience the natural phenomenon TOEM, to do that you need to take the bus to each location on the way but can only do that if you earn enough stamps, which are earned through good deeds. The good deeds in question will mainly center around taking pictures of what people will ask you for such as certain creatures or buildings although there's a few other deeds that can be obtained through finding a lost item or using different features of your camera.

Much like most of these type games it shines with its charm and all around wholesomeness, it's not long by any means and won't provide much challenge but it kept me smiling throughout, I believe it's going on sale next week on the Switch so that might be the time to buy but for around the £15 I paid for it it was 5 hours of non stop good vibes, something that can always be appreciated.

8/10

I've stuck TOEM on my eShop wishlist now, that sounds like something I'd really enjoy. Cheers treesmurf

I don't have anything that runs The Gunk, but from that studio I don't think SteamWorld Dig sequels until the sun goes supernova would go amiss.

~



Behind the times as ever, I eventually got round to downloading and then finishing the main and Winter-themed campaigns of GNamer’s baby darling, What The Golf?. I can kind of see why there’s regulars here who went loopy for it. With a very British sense of humour, What The Golf? is a really cartoonish, self-aware and self-deprecating endevour that’s structured to basically just thread together all its visual and verbal puns. I’d say that if it’s daft jokes you’re after, What The Golf? should make you happy. There’s nowt wrong with that. Especially in these times we all need a good laugh, and not every indie game needs to be a po-faced roguelike with NES graphics. That said, what I want from a £18 eShop game is a bit different from what I want from, say, clicking on a Tim Vine clip on YouTube. And that’s where it disappointed me. I’ve got to be honest: as a game, I thought What The Golf? was just okay.

Mechanically I thought What The Golf? was fine, and the goofy aesthetic stayed appealing right the way through. There were flashes of it’s brilliant imagination at the start and the end of the game too. That said, I felt these bits were countermeasured by some really lousy sections that felt lazily designed and badly derivative of jokes the game had already told. On balance, across the three-ish hours of its campaign I thought What The Golf? was fairly entertaining and admirably creative at points, but pretty throwaway, largely forgettable, and for me it's not a Switch essential.

I didn’t expect to be so indifferent to What The Golf?. Yet in truth, while I recognise that it provides extraordinary value for money with all it’s content and free DLC, I don’t feel that it’s been worth my eShop credit. I felt like I’d got what I’d wanted from What The Golf? through it’s downloadable demo. That short demo made me smile right the way through, and I think it tells the game’s best gags. As a full game stretched out over hundreds of courses, What The Golf? exhausted itself and it’s puns quickly – and it left me feeling exhausted and punned out too. A low 6/10.

TCK wrote:

On balance, across the three-ish hours of its campaign I thought What The Golf? was fairly entertaining and admirably creative at points, but pretty throwaway, largely forgettable, and for me it's not a Switch essential.

I finished it 100% last night & this little snippet of your reviews sums up my thoughts as well. Glad I got it while it was sale as I would've been a bit annoyed had I paid full price.

Ooft, whilst that's not exactly scathing it does paint a very different picture from mine and Balla's experience, it all sounds fair though, the demo sounds like a good chance to see how much mileage anyone who's interested could get out of it though.

After all that we've been through in the last few years, I thought I'd seen it all.  Brexit, pandemics, never-ending Tory rule - I thought I could face up to anything.  Turns out I was wrong.  The worst part of 2021 hasn't been Omicron, or any of the numerous political muck-ups: it's been two posts on a gaming forum with about ten regular posters.


Jokes aside (since apparently that's the best place for them!), I won't deny I was shocked at first.  Now and with hindsight, I can see why Cappa would like WtG? noticeably less than I did.  It doesn't take a professional comic to notice that Cappa and I have very different senses of humour - and if you're not giggling at half of the levels, your enjoyment of the game will naturally take a hit.  More so if you don't shoot for completion, since then you don't see what starts as a joke in each hole evolve into its final, inevitably more 'gamey', form.  That's why I didn't like the winter DLC so much: it didn't have that evolution in each level.

Thing is, after thinking it through I don't even think the humour was what made me love WtG? so much.  It was a big part, sure, but it's not like all the jokes landed with me.  I think it was the sheer inventiveness of it all, coming up with so many new and interesting ideas (almost all of which landed) for the solid underlying mechanics that almost all worked.  The Superhot parody world is the only one I can think of that outstayed its welcome, while all the others mixed things up every level, and then again for the crown, in ways that would almost always raise a smile.  In effect it out-WarioWared WarioWare on Switch.

That invention hasn't gone anywhere since Smurf and I played it, and that's where I struggle to reconcile these posts with my experience.  'Lazily designed'?  'Largely forgettable'?  'A low 6/10'?  That wasn't the game I played.

Gunk is on XCloud, so lots of things would run it per se.

I know Balla elsewhere wasn't a fan of what I'm about to say on What the Golf, umm I will try it if it comes to Xbox and in turn is on Game Pass.

As must be something there from Balla talking about it often (His Souls game), Smurf liking it and did Jay like it as well? Then in turn we have the thoughts of Cappa, Jas and I feel Andy not hugely positive on WtG.

The trailer didn't sell me on it either.

I think I'm somewhere in between Cappa and Balla's opinions on WtG. It's a fun game and I liked it - I feel like I enjoyed my run with it more than Cappa did, for sure - but I would also agree that it probably wouldn't make any of my hypothetical 'essential Switch games' lists.

Speaking of divisive games...

Ori and the Will of the Wisps



Some of you may remember that I didn't particularly get on with the original Ori - I thought it was totally competent but quite frustrating, and I felt like I wasn't seeing something that a lot of other critics (like mas and Andy) were seeing.

I liked its sequel a lot more. I still wouldn't say it's one of my favourite games ever, but the controls and combat clicked with me and there were fewer frustrating sections. The melancholy story and world were well constructed and made more of an impact than in the first game (although ultimately there were a lot of similar themes since it's a direct sequel) - and it isn't just a total glowy bloomfest this time around...!

I'd recommend this in a way I wouldn't recommend the first. That sounds like damning with faint praise, but I finished it with about 85% completion, and I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't like it. It's a fun Metroidvania and I think it's half price on the eShop just now.



EDIT: I forgot to say - it did crash twice, and occasionally the camera just didn't keep up with Ori so I could easily just run off screen while the camera tried to work out what to do, so its technical performance wasn't quite 100%. It saved often enough for those hiccups to be forgivable, but they were pretty major foibles nonetheless.

masofdas wrote:

I know Balla elsewhere wasn't a fan of what I'm about to say on What the Golf, umm I will try it if it comes to Xbox and in turn is on Game Pass.

I think I've always said that of all the forumites, you're the only one I wouldn't recommend WtG? to.  (As it turns out that was apparently off by several. )  So I'm not as against that view as I would be if it was, 'that game looks decent, I'll wait for it to come to GP'.  That one I would have a serious bee in my bonnet about. I just worry that it's what comes next.

Rum wrote:

Speaking of divisive games...

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I'd recommend this in a way I wouldn't recommend the first. That sounds like damning with faint praise, but I finished it with about 85% completion, and I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't like it. It's a fun Metroidvania and I think it's half price on the eShop just now.

Now there's a controversial view that I completely agree with!  Out of interest Rum, how did you feel about the chase sections and the last phase of the final boss?  We're so similar in our Ori tastes that I wonder if the same bits irked you as irked me.  That bit in your picture is definitely one of my faves - because, as you say, it does away with the glowy bloomfest.  I still thought there were a lot of rather dull colours.

I didn't mind the chase sections too much - if I had to retry them it was only a handful of times, whereas in the first game I had to redo them way more often (and I remember the first chase sequence as being a horrific difficulty spike). I had to try the last phase of the final boss a few times but again, it wasn't that bad. I knew approximately what I needed to do and got there in the end.

HOWEVER, now that you've pointed it out, I did play the game on Easy, which is why I might have had fewer frustrations with the game as a whole. If I had played it on Normal or Hard I suspect I would have dramatically screamed "LIFE'S TOO SHORT" and thrown my Switch off a cliff.

Going Under



One of many roguelite games populating the eShop at the moment, Going Under has you playing as Jackie, an unpaid intern at a fizzy juice startup called Fizzle. As the intern, you obviously get the crappy jobs, and in this case that means being sent down into dungeons formed from past failed startups, defeating their maligned, power-hungry CEOs. This means duking it out with job goblins, crypto bros and dating app nymphs.

Pretty much every single thing in every dungeon can be used as a weapon, from aubergines to megaphones, so you can grab whatever is nearby and go ham on the enemy as needed. There are also sidequests to complete, set by your colleagues at Fizzle, which deepen your relationships with them and earn you some perks (like getting extra items in dungeons or discounts in shops). Finally, there are unlockable skills, and as you come across them and level them up you’ll then be able to find them strewn randomly in dungeons (they’re like the Boons in Hades or Mutations in Dead Cells).

So, yes, it’s just another dungeon crawler, but it’s one with a very clear style and story which distinguishes it from others in the genre. It’s bright and vibrant (in-keeping with the stereotypical aesthetic of the startups it mocks) and that really works - combined with the chaos of the combat it looks almost like a cartoon. Sometimes, though, in the later stages, once lots of skills were unlocked and fights were getting more hardcore, it was too chaotic and I couldn’t really keep up with what was going on. In fact, in the penultimate fight, the framerate dropped massively and then it full-on crashed in the middle of the mayhem.

It was pretty fun though. Sometimes it felt like it was trying a bit too hard, and it’s not quite as slick as others in the genre, but it has heart and was a good deal of chunky, colourful fun. Worth a bash if you like roguelites - I had a nice time through the 8 hours or so I spent with it.

I've been told I'm not allowed to say anything about roguelites.

Rum wrote:

HOWEVER, now that you've pointed it out, I did play the game on Easy, which is why I might have had fewer frustrations with the game as a whole. If I had played it on Normal or Hard I suspect I would have dramatically screamed "LIFE'S TOO SHORT" and thrown my Switch off a cliff.

Aaaaaaaah. I wonder if that made those two sections easier to manoeuvre in, as opposed to just combat? Otherwise I thought the difficulty on Normal was decently pitched.