These days , keeping up with games can be a full - time caper . So how do you severalise the sign from the noise , the straw from the chaff , the Temple Runs from the Temple Jumps ? permit us to help by regularly selecting a gameYou Should Play .
Everybody loves platformers . But it ’s hard to ascertain a good platformer that is n’t just a copycat of a Greco-Roman favorite . Oscura : Second Shadowis intelligibly inspired by honest-to-goodness - shoal platformer games , but it ’s also clearly unique .
Oscura : Second Shadow is actually a subsequence , but the storyline is n’t all that significant . You certainly do n’t necessitate to have recreate the first game to enjoy or understand this one . ( The first installment , Oscura , costs $ 1.29 on theApp Store , in case you were interested . )
Oscura : Second Shadow is a unique platformer with an old school , spooky vibe .
Oscura : Second Shadow is adjust in Driftlands , a world that has been dropped into darkness after an iniquity ( ? ) creature steals the Earth ’s light source — a giant , glow crystal — and shatters it across the game ’s 20 tier . You play as Oscura , a lapin - like animate being with a glowing fireball in his bridge player . Oscura can pass , jump out , and occasionally induce his fireball to glow brilliantly , slowing down fourth dimension and enemies . The plot is bare and nonrational like older - school platformers , yet with a completely different ambiance and artistic creation style . Here are three more examples of how the game ’s vogue get Oscura : Second Shadow shine .
build for skin senses : Mobile developers frequently lay claim that their secret plan are “ built for touch modality , ” but Oscura : Second Shadow really is . The biz features two ascendance styles — virtual buttons and feeling gestures — which both feel natural ( the virtual buttons more so , in my public opinion ) without obnubilate the screen or taking away from the experience .
Oscura ’s nonremittal controls are a solidifying of virtual button placed along the bottom of the screen . I ground these controls to be the most intuitive , especially when playing on a tablet , and not at all deflect from the biz itself . There are four button : Left , good , jump , and a timekeeper clit that earmark you to slow down prison term ( and enemy ) when you ’ve pile up enough vitreous silica shards .
With two options for touch controls , you may pick your gameplay experience .
While the buttons are well - place , people with smaller screens may favor Oscura ’s motion - base control , which you’re able to set off through the in - game preferences menu . Gestures include tap and holding either side of the screen to move , tapping both sides of the screen to jump , and swiping to activate the timer . The gesture control are a relatively quick study , although they ’re not as intuitive as the buttons .
Dark , otherworldly artwork : The world of Driftlands is sinister — literally , as it ’s been bathed in dark — and the only beginning of light is from Oscura ’s deal ( and a few floating quartz sherd ) . But just because you ’re cringe through a dim world does n’t mean that the developers have shirked on the game ’s nontextual matter : Plenty of attention to detail has been paid to this eerie , fantastic world .
Though dark and shadow , the developers definitely did n’t skimming on art or design .
Driftlands is a mash - up of nature and machine ( which is , by nonremittal , a piddling creepy ) . You ’ll pass spinning cogs , dripping chain , dangerously - build up social organization , and disturbing , stalking creatures made of spikes , gears , and wings . The computer graphic are unruffled and high - resolution , and detailed without being overly complicated . colours are used sparingly , as idiom for the backgrounds , certain obstacles ( such as lava ) , and the spike of some creature . I would n’t necessarily put this plot in the horror music genre — it ’s eerie , but not scary — but it definitely owns obscure fantasy .
Plenty of playtime : For $ 3 , Oscura : Second Shadow gives you 20 hand - crafted degree , which does n’t seem like a mint … until you start playing . Just catch through each level is take exception ( I died 26 time before I manage to successfully navigate a lava pitfall atop a rolled Lucy Stone ball ) ; mastering each level is another story entirely .
With thought-provoking floor and obstacle , Oscura has major replayability .
fundamentally everything is out to kill you : gain a spinning gear , you ’re dead ; drop into a pit of weewee or lava , you ’re dead ; get spiked by a take a hop ball of spike , and , yep , you ’re dead . Unlike most game , dying is n’t actually all that bad — when you die , you start back at whatever checkpoint you last passed ( checkpoint are , fittingly , streetlamps that light up as you pass on them ) . Each death is total up and added to your final scotch — a higher last toll mean fewer stars .
Speaking of star , you’re able to bring in up to four star per stage by completing various goals . To earn a perfect four - star valuation , you ’ll have to collect float cogs and crystal shards , hit a fourth dimension goal , and not die . This is a lot more hard than it sounds , and even the first level is surd to complete without die .
Developer : Surprise Attack PartyPlatform : iOS(Universal)Price:$3
