I touted myself for the atmosphere and music, which was well-executed, yet the oddities of the platforming grew more and more trying as I ventured deeper. The platforms have an unexpected thickness that I was able to jump through and save myself from poor jumps; once the mushrooms were introduced, this strangeness was given more course of suspension, but overall the platforming was far more rigid and involved than I expected. I found it counter-intuitive to spawn with the lantern turned on, as the whole crux of the game is about conserving my light source. In the final chase level, I was made to discover that I can jump over the prawn enemies, yet even with this tech the pace of the screen was still set up for failure in a few areas.
The game is a frontally-inspired Nerve mazer which attempts to add some mechanical tension to the solely atmospheric tension of its legacy. I would be receptive to that premise if it were executed smoothly, however CE (Custom Engine) games tend to have a skew towards art and music simply because tech and design is put under so much pressure to finish the skeleton before any assets even make it into the game. I think for as much as I appreciate variety and breadth of mechanical factors, this game could have gotten away with clean platforming and nothing else. Such a clear facsimile to the Playdead duo may not be as greatly admired in the real market, but the space of free games might do better to encourage derivative works that become lessons in how much effort can go into short, simple games.
Don't Starve shares a similar blend of moody simplicity and unsuspecting brutality, as well as the creeping darkness' instant kills, but rather with a nearly excessive contrast to its Grain mood. That is, I don't feel a fruitful control of my survival and resources for the majority of the game, and the game's title outright confirms that your success won't involve an industrial knowledge of extraction and storage. While I found the lantern's behavior to be erratic and confusing, it perhaps contributes to a similar dissonance or rejection of premise that could develop into a captivating bond of designs.