I am not sure if Benchmarking is the correct term for this, but in business Benchmarking consists of analyzing the competition to find best practices regarding a particular topic.
And that’s basically what was done in this episode. I took a moment to play other games and see what to expect from a Boss Rush, what mechanics can’t be missed, what’s the best I can get out of each experience.
For this, I analyzed four titles:
- Celeste
- Megaman x2
- Cuphead
- Hollow Knight
I will try to summarize my takeway from each game. Anyway, at the end I leave you the link to check the live broadcast.
Celeste
Definitely the one I liked the least of the four and the one that gave me the least ideas. Not because it’s a bad game, quite the contrary, it has a fairly high level of difficulty and challenge, super fluid gameplay and excellent graphic quality.
However, Celeste had none of what I was looking for. No Boss fights in the short term and no selection of skills to use or customize the character.
The background or story of the game itself wasn’t clear to me either, and that’s something that always falls a bit heavy on my mind.
What I do take away is the fluidity of character movement, something I would like to achieve with my game.
Megaman Collection
Behind the camera I played several of the Megaman, but in the stream we played x2.
I have to say that I measured it with the same yardstick I measured the others, all from 2016 onwards, while Megaman x2 is from 1994. When I found out the actual date of the game, it totally changed my perspective.
At first it felt clunky and with typical challenges of the old games, like having to jump at the right time without falling to your death. But of course, the design had to be that way before given the resource limitations.
The combat system is simple and if I remember correctly you can’t aim in different directions. However, I will take two fundamental things with me:
- The ability to choose weapons for combat.
- The non-linear development of the story, being able to choose which level to play next.
Cuphead
What they said about Cuphead’s difficulty was true. A rather complicated game but all is forgiven because of its unique visual art and acidic sense of humor.
Cuphead is not only easy on the eyes, but it is also very entertaining, easy to learn how to play, and has just the right amount of information to give the player, both in how the game is played and the story.
Cuphead’s takeaway is much more extensive:
- Freedom to choose weapons/skills
- Good storytelling
- Freedom to explore a map and choose which level to go to next
- Good satellite gaming systems to enhance the player experience
- Excellent combat system, being able to aim in different directions.
- Fluid gameplay
- A good dose of frustration to the player (which, although it is not something I look for, it is good to keep in mind).
Hollow Knight
The only reason why Hollow Knight is not my favorite is the lack of a clear backstory at the beginning of the game. That’s fine, I get it, it adds mystery and is part of the storytelling itself.
But I don’t really like it, and this is something I criticize a lot of titles for. I think it is very necessary to give context to the player so that he understands what is happening.
That said, it’s a fascinating game. It definitely has a graphic style that I’m interested in exploring. It maintains the monochrome and also its character design is with few strokes, managing to tell a lot with very little.
Let’s go with the takeaway:
- Interesting and original game mechanics
- Freedom to choose the way you play
- It succeeds very well in generating mystery and intrigue
- Combat and fluid movement
- Good selection of special skills
I leave you with the video and let me know what you think of this selection of titles for the benchmark.