Lovely free Lovecraftian first-person parkourer Grimhook to become a "complete" game
I'm well up for more of this supernatural platforming
"It almost feels like proof-of-concept for a first-person Prince of Persia game, with an ever-so-gentle dusting of Portal," our Edwin said after playing free first-person platformer Grimhook when it launched in December. It's a cracking little game, parkouring about with the help of supernatural powers and a grappling hook, but ends right as it feels like it's getting started. I'd certainly be up for three hours of this, so how splendid to hear that the developers are planning to make a "complete" and fancier experience.
Grimhook is a first-person platformer starring a fella who finds himself washed up on a beach outside his city, his boat in ruins, then sets about returning home with the help of a god who appears as a surprisingly expressive spectral skull inside a gem. As your tentacly powers grow, you can doublejump, rocketjump, wallrun, latch onto points using your anchor/grappling hook, smash robots to pieces, squeeze health from their roboguts, and more. I like that Grimhook is built to allow a range of skill levels, letting you awkwardly bounce and bumble and pause to carefully line up each jump, or you can use tricks to preserve momentum and rocket through levels barely touching the ground. Nice little game. Pleasant personality too.
You can download Grimhook for free through Steam and it's only about 25 minutes long so you may as well hop on it. It's an impressive wee thing, made in nine months after starting with a prototype (which you can still download free from Itch.io if you're curious) made "in just over a week" at a student game jam. Now it sounds like developers Unlimited Fries might be growing it again into a full commercial game?
"We've been reading each and every review and we hear you loud and clear; you want more," the team said a post posted overnight. "We have so many ideas for what that means and the development team is working hard to deliver you a complete experience with a focus on higher quality in all aspects while retaining the same exciting gameplay you all loved."
That news comes alongside the launch of a patch fixing bugs, tweaking things, and adding new difficulty modes for players who desire greater challenge or a helping hand. They're released the soundtrack too. "This will likely be the only patch for this version of the game," they say. Presumably because the next version will be a big separate incarnation? I hope so.