3/5 ★ – PhilMyth's review of Skellboy.

Originally written for Nintendo Village: https://www.thenintendovillage.com/articles/skellboy-review *** Every now and then, a game will come along that has all the ingredients for a fantastic adventure; great writing, a story full of twists and turns, unique mechanics, and a captivating world that’s a delight to explore. Skellboy possess all those ingredients, and whilst it’s a very good game, it trips itself up in a number of ways, preventing itself from being a great one. It’s a fun time that adventure fans will surely enjoy, but there are occasions when you wish it would get out of its own way so it can be every bit as great as its trying (and deserves) to be. I’m So Bony The Cubold kingdom is overrun with monsters. The royal wizard Sir Squaruman has summoned all sorts of nasties to overrun the kingdom, including the undead. One such previously-deceased character happens to be you, and despite starting the game as just a skull, it’s up to you to put the rogue mage back in his place and restore order to the square citizens of Cubold. It seems a fairly run-of-the-mill premise but it does unfold in less cliched ways (more on that later), and gives you just enough background to imbue your skeletal-self with enough impetus to hop off on an adventure. At least you can do once you find your feet. Literally. Starting off as merely a head and a torso, the game quickly introduces you to the body part-swapping core mechanic. As you make your way through the kingdom, you’ll be able to exchange your head, torso and legs for a decent variety of alternatives, each offering unique characteristics. The gargoyle torso comes with wings for example, allowing you to jump longer distances, and the pumpkin head allows you to see in the dark. It’s a great take on the outfit-swapping approach usually seen in adventure games like this, and the various abilities are well utilised as you move through the game. Finding new body parts to commandeer is usually the result of besting an enemy in combat. Chop down a zombie for example and you may be able to use their disembodied head for your own. Tougher enemies can yield their armour for some extra protection in combat too. It’s usually needed as well, as it’s not always easy to come away from a battle unscathed. Fighting is relatively slow and rudimentary, but ‘realistic’ in that way (insofar as it’s possible to be realistic in a colourful game featuring cuboid orcs, vomit-spewing zombies and flying books). Judging enemy attacks and knowing how long it takes you to use your chosen weapon are crucial to emerging victorious in battle. Particularly in the handful of boss fights littered throughout Cubold, each offering their own unique challenges that are a blast to overcome. Hopping around avoiding attacks, waiting for the perfect opening to rush in with your weapon of choice and successfully sending them packing always feels great. You have a choice of how to administer the coup-de-grace too, with five weapons classes - swords, clubs, axes, lances, and magic wands - available, each with a handful of different types for you to hunt down throughout the game. Some are more useful than others (I don’t think I used a lance at all), but there will be times when you’ll need to swap the pure power of a club for the speed of a sword. Again, adapting to the occasion at hand is key as you move through the world. A Sight For Square Eyes And moving through Cubold is an absolute delight. Although your pathways are linear, by-and-large, the kingdom is essentially all one, cleverly connected area. There’s the castle in which you start, but that expands out to farmland, a swamp, dungeons and other areas that are as diverse as they are beautiful. The cuboid-artstyle essentially feels like a 2D game that’s had a third, depth dimension added after the fact. It works incredibly well, and results in a 3D adventure game that looks like nothing else in the genre. The soundtrack complements the locales and the theme too, though the looped nature means it does get rather irritating after a while. I found myself turning the music off completely in some longer, tricker sections. Although the game isn’t hard per se, there are one or two areas that offer a tough challenge, though not in the way you hope. Rather, there’s a checkpoint at the start and you have to make it to the end of the section without perishing. If you fail, you essentially start all over again and, when coupled with what feel like some cheap tricks, ruin the fun. For example, one section in the latter half of the game requires you to navigate a perilous platforming section in the dark, replete with spike traps, swinging axes and flame spewing guard towers. It would be tough enough anyway, albeit satisfyingly so, but the addition of enemies that fall from the sky and replace your light spewing head at certain intersections along the maze just take away the fun and I felt more relief than satisfaction when I finally bested it. Frustration also creeps in during sections that require a lot of backtracking too, or in instances when the last save point was long before the area you ran out of health. Making your way back to where you need to be soon becomes incredibly tedious, thanks to Skellboy’s rather slow movement. One section was made even more tedious thanks to circumstances rendering you (literally) legless. Hopping about as a head takes ages, and having to do it over and over again due to misjudged hops in what would otherwise be a fun platforming section again removes the fun from the equation. It’s a problem that crops up too frequently throughout Skellboy. Not so much to completely ruin the experience, but enough to leave you wondering what could have been. The game does a lot of things really well, but then there’s the odd misstep that takes the shine off the whole experience. No better is this evidenced than in the game’s narrative. Loose Thread As mentioned, the background to the game is the irked wizard Sir Squaruman has thrown a bit of a temper tantrum. Early on in the game - including the game’s prologue - you’re told about the Foursquires. “One can only hope for the Foursquires to save us” remarks the king’s butler in the opening section, and a few characters you speak to also discuss the need to track down and/or rescue these four guardians to help but Squaruman back in his box. Except, you can finish the game without finding them all. And at some point, the aim of your quest shifts to releasing three chains that are helping block your way to where Squaruman is reportedly holed up. But the game doesn’t tell you this until after you’ve accomplished it. It attempts to make a joke of it, but it just ends up feeling poorly planned out. It’s a shame because there’s an end-game twist that could have been a spectacularly cool and impactful moment, but instead it just gets lost in the confusing fog that is the game’s main thread. The way Skellboy gets in it’s own way like this is such a shame. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fun adventure and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes these kind of things. But it’s also packed with elements that could have made it an absolutely fantastic experience that I’d be rushing to tell everyone about. Instead, despite enjoying my time with the game, I’m just left lamenting what could have been. VERDICT Skellboy is unquestionably a good time. The unique artstyle brings this well constructed world to life in a fantastic way, and there’s plenty of rewards for players who investigate away from the game’s main path. Unfortunately, despite possessing the core of an excellent fantasy story, that central thread is too loosely woven through the game’s progression and thus doesn’t carry the payoff it’s aiming for. Slow movement and occasional backtracking can be a little tedious at times too, but there’s no doubting the fun to be had exploring and inhabiting this idiosyncratic little world.