There have been many memorable characters spawned by the independent video game industry-avatars with delightful and strange qualities that cater to their gameplay mechanics and motifs. Hand drawn, pixel-based, and three dimensional designs that are able to express and execute on smaller concepts that a full retail game might feel bloated in attempting. As games have become bigger and better, the design sensibilities of earlier titles- focusing on finely-crafted level design and a well-established set of mechanics for a tight and comprehensive experience- has become a standard of independent development, instead. Well, successful independent development, that is. When a team might only have one opportunity to make a statement on a certain platform, they need to ensure their product is as well-executed as possible in order to do so. Fortunately for developer studio Wayforward, they entered the scene at the right point to bypass this risk. They began developing and publishing games in ...

Dandara is not an easy game. One could attribute this to the speed of its primary attack function, labyrinthine design, limited health and energy regeneration systems, or perhaps most obviously the punishing currency mechanic, but I would argue otherwise. The most unfamiliar aspect of Dandara, and what largely sets it apart from other games, is its movement system. This aspect dictates the momentum and difficulty of almost every moment of game, and without it, Dandara would likely be a lovely conceptual experiment in Afro-Brazilian artwork and storytelling, but would fail to make an impact otherwise. The addition of this system pushes Dandara into a whole new level of interactivity, even when most of its content is deliberately and intentionally scripted. While linearity in an interconnected-world action platformer (I ain't callin' this a Metroidvania) is not usually considered much of a positive aspect, I would argue that Dandara is actually much better because of this choic...