Stories of escape from the underworld have existed for as long as the concept Of stories itself in all cultures and religions, it is a simple and associable concept that can be applied universally. The developer XeloGames offers a similar story with Escape From Naraka with a touch of Southeast Asia. A first-person platform puzzle in which the player runs and jumps through peril levels, using special abilities such as time freezing and teleportation. Each level is basically a race to the finish line as you try to escape from a hellish place called Naraka.

In fact, the plot of the game is a little fuzzy. There are short slideshow-style cutscenes before and after the game, but there is not much to do, except that the place you are in is bad and you want to go there. Escape From Naraka is not very interested in giving a breathtaking narrative, but wants to offer an Arcade experience with levels to be discovered repeatedly and several times. After each level, your performance is evaluated based on different factors, such as: the time it took you to quit and the amount of health you lost. Your name is also registered in a global leaderboard, which allows you to see how your races compete against the best in the game.

In this sense, you would think that the game would be more interested in giving the player a sense of momentum and speed so that he feels like he is going through an obstacle course satisfactorily. Consider running freely in Mirror’s Edge or Titanfall. These games felt like they rewarded quick decisions and maneuvers that played out almost like a rhythm-based experience. On the other hand, Escape From Naraka gives you a character who moves at a laborious pace and can’t even see his own feet, which makes it difficult and takes longer to set up certain jumps in a row.

Although the game is not long (sitting on only seven levels), it can take a long time to go through it. A lot of puzzles and enemy experiences can seem very tempting, in addition to the difficulty of navigating the aspect of the platform. While a dedicated and patient player could complete the levels in one session, if you’re anything like me, you’ll have to take several breaks to readjust after which undoubtedly makes you feel like you’re banging your head against a wall over and over again.

In Escape From Naraka, the player character receives three hit points, which ideally means that he can take a few hits and scratches on his run to the finish line. In practice, however, most enemies finish you with one hit, so you repeat the races one more time. To be fair, the checkpoint system is very well applied and it never feels like you have to retread too much soil after an unsuccessful attempt. However, the question still remains, why bother with a hit point system when damn close to everything is a one-shot knockout?

This is an aggravated problem if you take into account the fact that almost all enemies feel designed and implemented at a lower cost. For example, there is an enemy that works in the same way as Boo in Super Mario, where he can only move if you turn your back on him. These enemies move so fast that they feel like they have less than a second to turn around before hitting at the end of the game. The first time I met the enemy, I thought that my game would interfere because I wouldPass away immediately after passing through a gate. Alone, these can be managed, but Escape From Naraka likes to spice things up by throwing a multiple of these enemies in the middle of a platform segment to really get your blood boiling.

Escape From Naraka is a visually impressive experience, tarnished by less elaborate gameplay in levels that could have required more tweaking. The world is dark and Magical, creating a place to explore and explore. However, the Gameplay loop constantly contradicts this feeling and wants you to move as quickly as possible, otherwise you will fail. The game feels badly experimental, where the lack of guidance and questionable planning can turn after levels into trial and error and be extremely frustrating.