Skully Review
"Playing in the Mud"
Campaign
This is definitely a very different sort of game experience. It’s a platformer that is set within a very naturalistic type of environment. It also features light puzzle solving, and a continuous type of movement to the game’s pacing. You’re playing as this skull that’s able to slightly evolve as you head into puddles of mud. This presents different forms such as a large monster of sorts, or a speedy smaller creature. These new options allow for progression in current areas as you need them to open spots up or to complete hurdles that get in your way.
It’s fairly fast paced as you’re almost always moving and again it’s quite strange. I enjoyed the visual style of this one, at the same time this more realistic world did present some troubles. I didn’t find this to necessarily be the most complex of experiences. It’s about rolling along, sometimes hopping and at other times smashing things. The narrative elements are also unnecessarily vague at times, and a bit rough within the style of cinematic cutscenes that were present.
I did like how things progressed story wise, but at the same time more intrigue near the start would have been appreciated. There are a good number of levels to work through here, and some minor boss battles too. It’s a straight forward story type of experience, so nothing to really do afterwards. There are collectibles to gather on each level in the form of many flowers?
Gameplay
For the most part you’re rolling around as a skull ball. Sometimes you’re a slightly bigger creature that’s stepping about. It’s minimal in mechanics, and that does work well for it. At the same time it felt like a very simple sort of game. It’s not too complex, and that can in turn make it boring at times. I found the checkpoint system to be very inconsistent in this one.
At times they were too available, other times awkwardly spaced out. That could have been handled far better. I did very much like the visual elements of this game. It had a strangely realistic and natural style to it. It was neat to see the sand get carved, or the style of the water and mud you’d run into. I liked the artistic style they went with in this game, very neat and distinct.
The Conclusion
Skully is an alright sort of platforming and light puzzle game that features some lovely yet strange environments. It’s definitely unique, and perhaps worth taking a look at for that aspect. It’s not necessarily the greatest of experiences, but it’s generally solid and alright to venture through.
It’s got a straight forward and challenging enough campaign. It does feel basic at times however, especially during the boss type moments that occasionally arise. I thought the narrative points could have been handled better, as could have the checkpoint systems.
I think the visuals were a strength for the title, the direction they took with those were very interesting. Anyways, it was cool playing as the different mud creatures and I sometimes thought the mud pal you had with you was neat.
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Skully Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Tinsley PR
Rating Overall: 6.4
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