If you wish to create a cool character, put them in an eyepatch. It’s foolproof. The principle character is a ginger cat with a crossbow, which is ok and all, but it surely’s the eyepatch that actually ties the look collectively.
Except for the effortlessly cool primary character, the remainder of Catacomb Grasp is by the numbers. It’s a funds puzzle-platformer that may final you barely greater than an hour, scattering its achievements like confetti within the opening few ranges. Nothing about it’s new or notably fascinating, but it surely does us the courtesy of presenting the same-old-same-old fairly effectively.
There’s no story, so that you’re left guessing about what’s taking place. We’d counsel that Eyepatch Cat is in it for the spoils, and is the Catacomb Grasp of the title. They’re raiding a dungeon for gems, however that places them on a direct course with a dragon, large and ghost (the sport’s bosses), in addition to 42 ranges of platform-puzzling.
Eyepatch Cat has some strikes to assist them full this mission. They’ll carry out that puzzle-platformer staple, the block-push, creating platforms and ridding paths of blockages. Extra importantly, they’ve a crossbow, and the weapon is a Swiss Military knife by way of what it could possibly do. It may possibly kill worms, bats and deathknights in a single or two photographs; it could possibly lodge bolts into partitions that provide you with a useful leg-up; and it could possibly reduce ropes, inflicting pushable blocks to fall from the sky. It’s vital for finishing every degree.
The goal is to succeed in the door, which brings you to the subsequent of the 42 ranges. Confusingly, the door appears to be like equivalent to the one you step out from, so regulate that. In case you’re not paying consideration, it’s doable to neglect which door you’re aiming for. Reaching the door is all that Catacomb Grasp calls for from you: there are not any collectibles to gather or sub-objectives. Simply get to the exit.
The degrees aren’t massively difficult. Little nubbins on the ground cease you from pushing blocks the place they shouldn’t be pushed, lowering the variety of methods you may fail. Enemies are largely killed by a single bolt. And all the things matches on a single-screen, leaving you few alternatives to get caught or order issues incorrectly. In case you wished a check from Catacomb Grasp, then you definately received’t get it. You’ll should deal with this as a psychological warm-up, a leisurely jog on your gray matter, fairly than one thing that has you reaching for a walkthrough video.
The issue graph takes a slight jolt upward in terms of the bosses, which additionally symbolize the few moments the place Catacomb Grasp innovates. As a result of the bosses aren’t a single degree: they’re a number of. They preside over a sequence of three or 4 ranges, tossing obstacles in your approach as you attempt to go about your enterprise. Contemplating they’re dragons, giants and ghosts, they’re not more than nuisances, however they do make you concentrate on multiple factor without delay.
The dragon slides facet to facet, dropping down fireballs, whereas the large slams the ground, inflicting rocks to fall. In the meantime, you’re shuffling the identical blocks and forming the identical paths to the exit. To be trustworthy, we discovered these ranges fairly endearing. Positive, if Skyrim’s dragons have been as simple as those in Catacomb Grasp, we’d have died an entire lot much less. However the concept of a boss supervising a number of ranges, fairly than one, and mainly being the Donkey Kong on the high of the extent, is a neat one.
And the degrees are rigorously designed. Whereas they echo different puzzle-platformers that we’ve performed up to now, there’s the odd format that we admire. It could be a exact shot that’s wanted to sever a rope, or an answer that required us to work the corners of the room. It’s very succesful, which feels like a back-handed praise however we imply it properly.
For £4.19, Catacomb Grasp will not be a nasty deal. You get one, possibly two hours of leisurely platforming and puzzle-solving, with 1000 Gamerscore in your pocket earlier than you’ve gotten comfy on the couch. It received’t supply something near a problem, however so long as you’ve mentally calibrated for the way simple it’s, then we’d be stunned when you regretted shopping for it. Plus you get to spend a while with Eyepatch Cat.
