First and foremost, frecle ApS’s Youropa is a puzzle platformer. Players will take on the role of a nameless character and adventure through a fragmented world. In Youropa, a topsy-turvy aesthetic and gravity defying wall walking abounds. This is what the game prides itself on and sets itself apart from other titles by using this to its advantage.
As we previously mentioned in our preview of the game, in Youropa, players will take on the role of a colourless humanoid character that’s devoid of any facial features. After a brief tutorial stint, you’ll soon encounter your first customization pad and will be able to spray paint various facial features onto your character. The customization options available are satisfactory but may be a bit difficult to get to grips with. Nevertheless, this is not worth spending a lot of time on because should you get injured later on in the game, the spray paint you painted your character with can fall off. This was a lesson learnt the hard way.
Youropa’s platforming is simplistic at first with your character having to only make it to an end doorway within a floating segment to progress further. Upon passing through the doorway, you’ll be taken to the next level segment and the process repeats. Each time you do this thought he game introduces something new to the mix. Light up door control pads, hidden collectibles and 3D objects that you can push abound. There’s an in-game map that you can bring up and previous level segments can be re-visited. This is useful when trying to obtain all the collectibles hidden throughout levels. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a story to the game.
Youropa’s platforming is both incredibly satisfying but almost rage inducing at times. While players may gain access to an ability to scout out the entire level they are currently busy with, some of these levels will take some serious brainpower to complete. More often than not you’ll find yourself walking off a platform and falling to your death. Doing this over and over until you succeed can get really frustrating at times. It’s quite disappointing that the final version of the game did not include a hint system as this would have alleviated much of the frustration caused by some of the harder puzzles. Nevertheless, should you persevere on, the sense of success you feel upon completing a level is quite praiseworthy.
Youropa isn’t a game for everyone because of this. If you lack the patience or dedication to a puzzle platformer that pushes you to better yourself each time, this game isn’t for you. The built-in level editor is a fun addition and creative players will absolutely love this feature. The level creator may be the game’s saving grace since it’s quite easy to get things done with it. It also helps that graphically, the game is gorgeous with the skybox and view of the city below being breathtaking.
The game’s soundtrack is rather standard with no stand out tracks or sounds taking precedence. It gets the job done and doesn’t annoy you at least so that’s a plus. Since launching, the game has also been running a lot more stable than previously, but crashes are still present. The game world is still as gorgeous as ever and if you have the patience to push through levels, you’ll be treated to some amazing scenery and brilliant level designing.
If you’re a fan of puzzle platformers, have a lot of time to dedicate to a game and don’t mind failing multiple times over as you push yourself to succeed, Youropa is a game for you.
Buy the game from steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/640120/Youropa/
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