I did something this week that I haven’t done in decades: I purchased a game based on the cover art. Back in my day all you had to go off of was a cool box cover and a couple of carefully selected screenshots on the back of said box, if you could even see the box in full before a purchase. For me, it was simply a photo of the box and a Toys R Us ticket that you took to the register. I mention this because Sunblaze is the first time I made a purchase based on cover art in a very long time. It features a super cute anime-inspired girl and the associated screenshots showed what looked like a retro pixel platformer. I figured I couldn’t go wrong, especially for less that fifteen bucks at a time when big games are slow to release. And I was right, because Sunblaze was a real delight at just the right time.
Sunblaze is what the industry has dubbed a precision platformer. We have seen games like this over the past few years really take off, most notably with the recent release of Celeste, a game which was well received by fans and critics alike. Hell, it managed to be nominated and win a few Game of the Year awards, even when paired up against some major AAA titles. Sunblaze takes a lot inspiration from Celeste with its hard-as-nails stages that sees our heroine run, jump, and dash across and by obstacles and enemies in an attempt to reach computer chips located in each stage. There are also the requisite challenge modules that you can score in each stage to unlock even harder challenges for that love even more of a challenge.
Where the game shines, aside from the gameplay, is in its story. You play as Josie, trapped in a virtual training simulation that was created by her father in order to train her as a future superhero. Things quickly go haywire and Josie is locked inside the simulation as her father works to get her out. As she goes deeper and deeper into the simulation the stages become more and more challenging. It’s a lot of fun and the banter between Josie and her father is pretty silly and more than a little cringe, in the best of ways. Graphically, Sunblaze is a real treat in terms of its chunky pixel styling. Animations are smooth and the color palate employed really helps her to pop out from the background. It screams cute but hides the brutal game underneath.
Gameplay is super simple. You can jump and dash to reach your goal. You also get a double jump, can grab ledges to reach new areas, and hang from railings to aid in tougher jumps. Everything works well and the game never jumps too far out of your comfort zone too fast. The stages are well designed and everything ramps up at a nice pace, and even when things go “hard-more” on you, the game is smart enough to toss a few easy stages to help boost your confidence at times. That isn’t to say the game isn’t hard, but if you’ve cut your teeth on Celeste and Super Meat Boy, then you are probably going to feel Sunblaze a little lacking in the challenge department. If you are new to this type of game then Sunblaze is the perfect way to get into the precision platformer fun. It really does feel like a great entry point for the genre, while offering up a neat premise and unlocking harder challenges for pros.
With some 300 levels to tackle, Sunblaze is the perfect game to fire up every few days to crank out stages on your road to completion. I normally don’t like games of this nature, but when done right, and when they have a slick style, I can really get sucked in. I often found myself telling myself “just one one stage” more times than I would like to admit, even putting off working on other content until I racked my brain hard enough and figured out how to beat a really challenging segment. There is a whole lot of game here, and while it’s not the sort of game I sit down with for hours at a time, it’s the perfect game to boot up and have fun with when I’m board or can’t figure out what I want to play.
You could tackle things in around 10 hours or so, but new players are going to be fighting hard for double that for the base game and even longer for the challenges. That’s not at all bad for the budget asking price. If you’ve been on the fence about trying out one of the those super-hard platformers the world has fallen in love with, then Sunblaze is definitely the one you should pick up. It’s a boatload of fun with a challenge that ramps up right alongside the better you get at the game. This is one title that, while it doesn’t do anything new, is solid on all fronts and should definitely not be missed.
Final Score:
Sunblaze
Developer: Games From Earth
Release Date: June 2, 2021
Platform: PC [reviewed], Switch
Publisher: Bonus Stage Publishing
Genre: Precision Platformer
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