Kraino Origins Review: A Ghoulishly Good Time

what's up, and welcome to the Single Player Experience Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and in this episode I'm giving you my indie game recommendation of the week. This week's indie game recommendation of the week is none other than Carino origins for the Nintendo Switch and for the pc, this is a 2D action of venture platformer. That is a ghoulishly. Good time. This. It's hard. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. It's hard. It feels like a throwback S N E S game, but for the people who really vibe with that type of game, this is gonna be right up your alley. Find out why I am recommending this game right after the intro. DJ start the intro Mine. so a while back I reviewed Carino origins for the PC on the Pro Note report dot. Most of what I wrote in the review still stands, except with this switch version. It feels like things have kind of changed for the better the like this game always belonged on the switch to begin with. The switch version, for instance, feels more responsive than tight. The game is still a challenge, but it feels more of a manageable experience overall. So let's dive into Carino Origins as a whole and why I think you should actually put the switch version over the pc. Carino Origins is a 2D action platform, and that's a real throwback to the S N E S era of games. It features a detailed and dope retro 2D pixel graphic art style. I'm not gonna lie to you, this game isn't for the week. In Carino origins, you have an infinite amount of lives and you only lose a portion of the money that you have every time you die. Don't be fooled into thinking that the infinite amount of lives makes this game easy, though. On the contrary, you're gonna need those. This game goes for blood in everything, and I mean everything is out to kill you. Trust me when I say that your enemies are going to succeed quite a lot, unlike when I was playing the game on PC months ago. The switch version does feel a bit easier for some reason. Maybe this is due to the controls for the switch version, feeling tighter, or perhaps there were other gameplay improvements that were done in the lead up to the switch port. It isn't often that I say this, but the game feels like it plays much better on switch than it did on pc. Let's talk about the gameplay. Combat is mostly centered around widing your weapon, a long reaching sigh at enemies and platform. And to get to the end of each level. Imagine if Mario was a skeleton and was cutting his enemies down with the si, and you get the general concept here. The gameplay feels like a mixture between Mario, Pennsylvania and a little bit of dead cells. The controls are the standard gameplay elements that you see in typical action platformers. There's a standard attack button, a jump button, a jump in attack down button, a spin yourself to deflect animal, you projectiles, and you move around with the analog stick. That's all the controls this game has, but that's not a bad thing. The controls may be simple, but it doesn't stop you from having a great time. Now let's talk about the art style in this soundtrack. Corino Origins looks like an old SD Corino Origins. Looks like a old 2D S N E S game with its vibrant 2D pixel graphics. That's really easy on the eyes. What's impressive though is that this really detailed game was developed by a solo developer, and you could tell that a lot of love and care was put into the visuals of this game. Each level of Carino origins is slightly different and unique. Visually speaking, everything in this game looks cohesive and accents the colorful ghost and ghouls vibes that this game is going for. I also liked that everything in this game feels like it has a purpose that goes with its overall. On the flip side, though, the soundtrack was a bit hit or miss. There were times when I was thoroughly enjoying the music and others when I would turn the volume down to mute and play silently because I didn't like the background music. So let's talk about some general pros of the game. Despite the game's difficulty, you'll find the game addicting. I found myself continuously trying over and over again to make it just a little bit further than I got last time. It's so satisfying when I do get past the point I was previously struggling with. That's what this game does best. It makes you want to get better and claw your way to the next checkpoint, or at least in the end of the level. This game is challenging, but for the most part fair. I didn't really feel cheated when I. Another pro in the game's favor is that it's a bit on the shorter side with only eight total levels. The game doesn't overstay its welcome and chooses to be a higher quality experience, even if it's on the shorter side of things. Now, let's talk about the cons of this game. A criticism that I have of carino, or is that the controls, or at least the introduction of gameplay mechanics could have been introduced in a better. There is a small prompt on the screen that introduces a new mechanic, and there are a few reminders of that new mechanic. As you progress in the game in Carino origins, you can also buy upgrades that will help you in your journey, such as a bomb that you could throw at enemies. However, instead of this being something that's advertised throughout the game, you have to kind of stumble upon the shop that sells. I get having hidden features in this game, but for something that drastically helps you in the gameplay department, you would think this would be advertised throughout the game a bit more. So overall, should you play Carino origins on the Nintendo Switch and pc? The answer is yes. This is a solid throwback to retro S N E S games, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's actually best played on the Nintendo Switch. The combat is well designed if the platforming is solid and fluid, and the 2D pixel art style is absolutely sensational. If you're a fan of retro games like Cave and Megaman, I definitely recommend giving this game a. In this show, we practice the 10 games backlog rule. In this practice, you log down 10 games, those games are gonna be your video game backlog. To be as productive as you possibly can be, we recommend that you only play three games at one time. One single player narrative game, one game that's gonna be your chill and relaxed game. And another game that's going to be your palate cleanser game, which is a game that you play when you're not in the mood for your other narrative. When you complete or get tired of one game, it leaves the backlog list. Then you decide which new game is added to the list, and which game on the list advances to your active three games. So that is the game recommendation of the week that you should consider adding to your backlog. If you want me or my community of gamers to give you feedback on your backlog list, then join us in the single Player Experience Discord server. Once you're in, feel free to share your video game backlog list our talk about good single player game experiences that you've had lately. The link to join the free single player experience Discord server is in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode, and I hope to catch you in the next one. Peace.