Moons of Darsalon (opens in new tab) is that uncommon form of sport that makes an escort mission enjoyable. As a substitute of attempting to only get your man to the tip of a stage, this ’50s raygun sci-fi platformer sees you rescuing fellow spacemen and herding them by way of gauntlets of escalating problem and complexity.
Darsalon’s seven-level free demo presents a gamut of early challenges from the sport. It begins with simply getting a deal with on the sport’s squad instructions, or utilizing a surprisingly versatile flashlight to information your hapless costs by way of darkened tunnels. however by the tip you end up defending them with a laser rifle, maintaining the skies clear with a helpful jetpack, and even crafting terrain in your little guys to hop on.
The demo offers me this glimpse of the wealthy, playful toolbox developer Dr. Kucho! has to assemble their ranges, and I can simply think about the madness of late-game missions mixing and matching these mechanics. The sport’s trailers additionally present a glimpse of superior autos like a full-on house marine dropship that’ll add loads of spice to the complete sport.
I am hardly in possession of a terrific strategic thoughts or something, so I admire the gradations of success to Darsalon’s missions. It is sufficient to only make it to the tip of a stage with sufficient rescuees to get previous its safety gates (it’s essential to have so many little goofballs to move! form of offers). Added problem comes with ensuring all people lives, clearing the degrees rapidly, and assembly level-specific challenges like delivering all of your little guys to the tip on the similar time.
I had one level within the demo the place I misplaced an astronaut to a soar he actually should have made, however in any other case these guys are simply helpless sufficient to maintain its traversal puzzles attention-grabbing. I would even be remiss if I failed to say its impeccable visible type—the whole lot’s obtained this traditional Trek/Forbidden Planet sense of sci-fi kitsch, and Darsalon deftly mixes expressive pixel artwork characters (these guys are so wiggly!), matte painting-style background artwork, and 3D renders become sprites straight out of the Tremendous Nintendo or Sega Genesis era.
Moons of Darsalon is a difficult, charming little puzzle-platformer, and I extremely advocate trying out its free demo and wishlisting the sport on Steam (opens in new tab). Moons of Darsalon is slated for a full launch on April 19.