Game Study #4 - Shantae Seven Sirens

Playtime - 1 hour total

Genre I'd label it as - 2D action platformer fantasy

Story

Insanely clever; an amazing story unlike any other story I've seen with how it's presented/ done. It's clever in how it sets up the events of the story with making it clear at least each of the half genies suspect something is up and without outright giving the answer telling the player a hint from their perspective with their power.

This making sense in story for the characters without revealing too much.

Gameplay

Melee with hair

Core mechanics; jump, melee with hair and transform (I haven't gotten to the actual dance mechanic yet; I just like to watch Shantae dance so far)

Simple melee gameplay that feels enjoyable/ fun.

Combat

Like Hollow Knight relies on spacing between you and your opponent in order to make combat fun. You can't rush down your opponent and even have a long wind up on your melee however, no hit stop and a short melee act.

No hit stop in this game; it feels proper for the kind of hits you're doing. However, with the lack of hit stop is a longer wind up compared to other 2D platformers. You may attack slower compared to other games but it feels... rewarding for some reason.

This may sound odd but she feels like she attacks slower than Hollow Knight but feels, faster overall because the lack of hit stop.

The hit shows with an actual mark where the contact point landed making it feel like an actual hit and doing the same idea of the hit stop with showing power without slowing down gameplay.

You have magic you can learn and use for Shantae to become more powerful and cover her weaknesses; supplemental gameplay elements.

When using the newt dash it feels mazing to use in combat as a great way to avoid damage and pop off the wall and approach an enemy. I am jealous of this system all things.

Movement

Movement perks to combine makes the movement feel better.

Movement kept simple.

Running

Jumping

Crouching

Climbing

Newt Dash (mechanically speaking this proved me wrong; it took some baseline mechanics used in other games and put a unique twist on it)

The wide arrange of perks and changing how these mechanics feel and not focused on digging down on an idea.

Level of depth to combat?

Kept, simple but fun level design to make up for it. That's not to say every game needs a Mario level of depth but to say it's kept simple and engaging and it works.

The depth comes from how you can use the spacing with her hair and combine the other tools.

Level of complexity?

Considering the other forms of complexity are more of optional complexity, not so complex and if counting optional complexity then far more complex than something like Mario.

Level design

Some areas I really love the level design with many of the weapons being made to be more effective in more areas than others. That with a broad amount of weapons; it'd make sense, otherwise some weapons and tools would be made moot.

The level design is insanely smart with how the abilities evolve with your toolkit and how the level design is approach, honestly way better than I realized.

Ruin depths

The ruin depths introduces some interesting/ cool mechanics I've never seen before with sitting on a button and having platforms be affected, however; it is depending on how long you sit on the button.

1 - The mechanics introduce went like this;

1. Step on button

2. Step on button but must step off to platform but the platform is moving

3. Step on button but step on next platform

4. The next section is going from right to back to up and making sure to make it past the crushing block platform and having to move between these sections quick enough. I can now see why no straight up increase player speed upgrades.

2 - Then mechanic B is introduced with it being a fire ball turret that fires a fire ball until said attack hits the wall. My educated guess is it's going to combine mechanic A with mechanic B sooner than later in the same level.

3 - Dark area with a small light cone

A very simple slow introduction of one game mechanic after another and tries to effectively use the enemy design in a smart way.

The red enemy scared me; son of a gun.

4 - Newest mechanic introduced being the Newt Dash where you dash and transform in one go; has to be my favorite transformation/ mobility system.

Hair Whip Upgrade 1 - Speed up

Makes the game feel so much faster, stronger and hit harder with even a sound design change.

Fire Ball Upgrade

The fire ball looks neat; nothing special

Number of enemy types

So far a diverse range of enemy types

1 - Spiders that fire projectiles

2 - One eyed snakes

3 - Fish men who throw bouncing projectiles at you

4 - Snake Lady Energy Shooter

5 - Immortal Pincher

6 - Ninja Lizard Zips around and fires off attacks (the further down the ruins you go the more you see more bizarre enemies like this)

7 - Mutated Crab (one shot)

8 - Spiky Slime (no idea yet what it does, my guess shoot spikes and slightly tougher to kill)

9 - Blue Pincher Crab (mini boss) - too easy to read attack pattern and having it where it's block a couple hits then charge.

10 - Risky Boots - Simple 3 attack pattern boss fight with taking her down in a couple hits with the combined DPS of the spike ball + the whip hair attack with focusing on a zoner swordsman playstyle with keeping her out of range to hit me.

These games do seem to reward smart weapon choices

Ideas to steal from this - the three card hold system; I love the system to death of getting perks you can collect/ use on your character making the perk system great with a specific area you want to power up or not.

Why is x or y so effective?

1 - Why is the lack of hit stop so effective? In simple terms; Shanae relies on wind up to introduce a power feel to the hit with that being the driving force. You can feel the wind up and see the action versus something like a hit stop, however it's the cost of making her slower combat wise and feel as if you have to position yourself better and even time your jumps better.

2 - Why can gameplay be so much more complex and simple and still be fun? It's because other factors such as level design as the such can carry the fun along with the threats she faces. Her starting tool kit and her toolkit as a whole is meant to get you to switch things and change how you play.

3 - I judged it too soon for old point 2 I had for not work, introduce in an easier environment then introduce the said same mini boss fight in a harder area.

Why does x or y not work?

1 - Too many health drops; I am playing on a moderate difficultly I would say and I was going in thinking it'd be tough as Shovel night but the constant drops of well food make it too easy in many respects. It ruins and or outright removes challenge when you can tank your way through a fight.

I have to remember this from the perspective of the average gamer that's not going to think of this.

Conclusion

Shantae as a platformer relies on a juggling act of abilities compared to other platformers and from my understanding since dancing will be introduced that other forms of abilities to balance between will become a thing as well.

Shantae is a game that seems to focus on depth to environment and level design rather than the tools themselves. Shantae is a game that focuses on smart level design I would say.

Not that this is bad, if anything I find this style of gameplay interesting.