REVIEW OF HOMEWARD
Homeward is a blue skinned tough as nails bare-bones platformer where you play as a skull rolling along the ground. From the very onset you run into stones making the skull tumble so it demonstrates this is not a feet on the ground platformer. You will roll all over the place.
The game looks similar to a Gargoyle's Quest. Black backgrounds, dark trees with white outlines. You play as a skull and need to avoid being smashed by giant jumping rams. The interesting thing about the rams is that their horns make for a nice platform up top so you can jump higher.
Let's discuss what makes it so tough. Its the technical stuff surrounding the game. The resolution and window size are stuck in 160 x 144. There is no screen stretching or full screen. I tried Alt + Enter, F and a few other full screen commands. So instead, I had to pull my monitor closer and adjust the resolution on my screen.
You use WAD keys to move left, right and jump. The jump isn't that high, so you need to use the tumble mechanic to basically jump at a certain angle to hit a wall and tumble over. You can stick to walls until you stop pressing against them. I setup my controller to make it easier for me to play rather than WAD keys.
Other than that the screen is setup similar to a forever runner where 90% of the view is on the right side. So if you miss a jump, you need to carefully go to the left almost pixel by pixel to avoid getting smashed by the giant rams. There is quite a bit of momentum here as well. You can't just stop on a dime, you'll keep sliding.
It gets high marks everywhere but the gameplay. It looks like a GameBoy game, sounds like a GameBoy game, its just a struggle to even play. Even though the jam has ended, please modify things. If not for this game, then please for the next game.
Since I've already had my game reviewed here (AlienVania)... I will go into the random grab bag and suggest the first title without a screen shot that shows up:
WILD GOOSE CHASE