User Review : Crescent Pale Mist

Oh hey! A mix between a Bullethell and a 2D platformer! I'm sure it'll be fun!

...Or so I thought.

Let's get this straight. Crescent Pale Mist is a hard, HARD game. No- lemme reprhase that. It's not hard, IT'S FRUSTRATING. Thought Demon's Souls was hard? Vanquish or Bayonetta were hard? Hell, Devil May Cry was hard? You haven't played this yet, then.

I beat the game on Normal, no big deal. At first you may seem lost, with no idea what to do, and with normal enemies and bosses kicking your ass.

It's alright, though, that will happen to everybody who plays this game. Crescent Pale Mist FORCES you to use all the mechanics it has available; from collecting Pale Mist (That's where the name comes from!), to using Endurance, crouching, Dodging and jumping at the right time. The game makes a great job making said mechanics feel FUN. Excluding some shortcomings, as controls not being responsive sometimes and magic imputs being kind of annoying most of the time. Also, only 2 spells. Anyways, it's fun to play...

...And then, something horrible happens. Level design!

There are 6 Stages in Crescent Pale Mist. First time through 'em, I felt so lost I took nearly TWO hours to beat the 2nd Stage of the game. It's not that they're LONG (The only Stages I would consider a pain in the ass are Stage 2, Stage 3 and perhaps Stage 4.), but they make you feel lost. Most of the time you don't know where to go, look everywhere, feel frustrated, you get the idea.

It would help if the game had a map- but nope. What's worse, the game basically WANTS to annoy you imposing a shitload of obstacles in your way.

See that pillar? How it's full of these plants that throw fire at you and can take away the half of your health if you're not careful?

WELL TOO BAD, YOU GOTTA GO THERE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.

It's like the game does it on purpose. See that HUGE gap between you and the other platform you have to go to?

USE THIS ENEMY AND SEE WHAT YOU DO, FAGGOT.

It really likes to, basically, troll you. And what's worse, if you die, the game will send you back to the beginning of the Stage. It's a good challenge, though.

And the good part is: Your second time through the Stages won't be nearly AS BAD. You will know where to go, where the secrets and upgrades are hidden, and probably will complete them in half an hour.

I'd say Crescent Pale Mist is a game of patience and practice.

AND THEN, WE HAVE THE BOSS FIGHTS.

Most of them aren't nearly as annoying. Destroy this, destroy that, evade these things. Except that these boss fights usually have "Phases", separated by dialog in between. When you die, you have to repeat the boss fight from the beginning, just like with the Stages.

It's not a big deal most of the time, since: If you're careful, you won't die, and alot of boss fights aren't that long (Excluding Stage 3 and 6 boss fights.).

Now, they're fun most of the time, but sometimes they can prove to be MORE than a challenge. Why, you ask? Because some bosses will take away half your health on the "Hard" mode (And there are higher difficulty modes after hard. I do not know how any human being will be capable of beating them.) in one attack. IN ONE ATTACK.

They usually have nuisances that apply pressure to you only for the sake of annoying you. Every boss, EVERY boss has this little annoying thing that will usually get in the way of you and victory. I'd say it's more annoying than fun, sadly.

Anyways, gameplay aside, the graphics aren't too bad. Everything looks fine on an HDTV, albeit not big budget current-gen or anything. The sprites look okay, and I can't really complain, but they aren't awesome or anything. It looks like a PS1 game, I guess.

Music sometimes stands out, but sometimes gives you headaches. It's not BAD nor HORRIBLE, but it gets repetitive and annoying.

Crescent Pale Mist is 6$, and will certainly last you a good while.

It's just than...how to say it...be ready for frustration. Lots of it. LOTS of it!

Hell, even I like Hard games, but this feels like it's one of those old platformers that were hard as fuck, and for the wrong reasons, too.

If you're planning on buying this, think hard about it. I personally enjoyed it, despite everything, but I can see some people throwing their controller away in frustration and being all like "FUUUUUCKKKK YOUUUUUU", no kidding. After all, I felt the same after trying to beat Soray (Stage 5 boss) in Hard. It's just...bullshit.

At the end of the day, Crescent Pale Mist is what would you expect, with a twist of annoyance and frustration for the wrong reasons, as I've said. It's enjoyable, but only if you're the kind of person who likes games like this. It really feels like an old-school platformer/action mix game, with the flaws those had and all.