In Retrospect Demo Impressions on Steam

“Are you prepared to travel back into your memories and tell me about your life, in retrospect?”

With bright pixel art and appealing soundtrack you are introduced to In Retrospect, a 2d platformer game with a rather unique thematic and an awesome atmosphere by developer/publisher Paper Salamander Games.. 

“So, you have finally arrived…” 

You are greeted in a curious and easily recognizable place by an odd being named Dee, where it introduces itself and asks you a few questions before the first gameplay tutorial begins.

Let me start with this right away; the narrative and story this game presents to us is wonderful. It jumps into a somewhat unexplored theme and creates a story that you can witness while relating to from a protagonist and spectator point of view. 

The level design is creative, fun and familiar, combining a nice art style with an outstanding soundtrack, fitting sound effects, interesting mechanics and alternative paths to clear them.  It is generally pretty good but some levels can feel unpolished, as if there is no way to pass flawlessly due to elements that seem to be misplaced, or the feeling that a checkpoint should be added way before, making the difficulty of a specific segment much higher than the rest of it.

In Retrospect also introduces you to mechanics and controls in different ways; it can be through a tutorial, in the middle of the level with a message, or with the sole existence of the element in the level itself. This is an amusing approach to keep the level dynamic, yet it can become troublesome in some parts due to the inconsistency and the increasing complexity of the levels. Also, as some mechanics are self explained (for example: the use of the arrow down to activate the ceiling buttons) that might not be that intuitive at first. 

One of my personal complaints is about the controls themselves, that are rather inconsistent or uncomfortable at many times though the gameplay. Besides, there isn’t a menu where remapping those controls is possible.

The static background in all the levels doesn’t add to the movement of the world and the way it handles certain movements (jump while running, dash while falling) seems awkward and can easily make you slightly dizzy, making it harder to navigate.  

The frame rate seems to be locked in a fixed number so it can cause an unpleasant sensation at times, but my biggest complaint so far is that there are moments of flashing colors that some people can be sensitive to, and there is no warning for them at all.

Overall, In Retrospect is a great game that I would rather watch someone else play instead of me. I loved to engage into the story but not so much to engage into the gameplay.

In Retrospect Pros:  

• Wonderful Narrative 
• Unique and well implemented theme 
• Outstanding Soundtrack and SFX 
• Familiar level design 
• Fun mechanics and gameplay 

In Retrospect Cons:

• Moments of flashing colors with no warning 
• Locked / Low frame rate 
• Uncomfortable controls 
• Feeling of unpolished level design 
• Inconsistent ways to present mechanics 
• Disorientating level handling 

Check Out the In Retrospect Trailer:

You can place In Retrospect on your wishlist via Steam. The demo is playable right now via Steam and Itch.io.

For more information, please visit the official website: https://www.inretrospectgame.com/

Antony Acosta

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"Been into gaming since I held a mouse for the first time in my dad's computer. Gaming got me into tech at a very young age when I would install games and learn to hide them from my mom, found many friends while gaming and learned a lot of things from videogames that now I can't see them as mere entertainment. I value feeling over labels in videogames and I respect brave shots when something new is proposed, In my favorite games we can find Bioshock, Spec Ops: The Line, Torchlight II, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and anything that brings new perspectives."

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