Midnight Dash Review: The Lion King Game 2.0

what's up and welcome to the Single Player Experience. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and in this episode we're gonna be talking about an indie game known as Midnight Dash. Normally I'd be telling you about this game because it'd be my indie game recommendation of the week, but unfortunately, that is not the case this time. In this episode, I'm gonna be telling you why you should stay away from the game unless you are a very specific type of. What type of gamer is that? Find out right after the intro DJ start the intro. Mine. before we begin talking about the topic of the episode, I just wanna say that there's a tricky balancing act when it comes to making a game challenging, while also providing enough fun that that challenge feels worth it. It's a balancing act that you see in Celeste Eldon Ring, and other souls games. When this balancing act is done well, you kind of get that feeling of like, Hey, this game is challenging, but I'm compelled to want to actually see that challenge. Unfortunately though the game Midnight Dash wasn't able to pull off this balancing act. So what is this game? What is midnight Dash? Midnight Dash is a single player action platformer. This is a game that prides itself on being tough in a PTs D kind of way. It kind of reminds me of how I felt playing Lion King back in the day on the Super Nintendo as a child. No lie. That might have been the first game that made me tap out and quit. I remember taking that thing outta the Super Nintendo, tossing it aside and thinking, I don't need this kind of stress in my life. Midnight Dash isn't the same type of platformer, but it reminds me of that same type of experience. Now let's talk about the narrative of this game. This game, unfortunately, doesn't have a strong narrative. While it introduces the main character, Sean, it doesn't do a good job of explaining his motivations or who he is entirely. As a result, it's hard to grow any sort of attachment to him or invest yourself in the actions of this game. Sadly, Sean feels like an icon that I just have to get to the door that leads me to the next part of the game. So if you are a player like me who really likes narrative and kind of uses narrative to get really attached into games, then this game isn't going to be for you. Now let's talk about the music. The game soundtrack was pretty good, except for the fact that there are only a few. The small number of songs fit very well with the vibe of the game, and for the most part sound very high quality, like high quality songs. The negative aspect of the all this though is that you tire of hearing the same damn song over and over again, especially in a game where yours is dying over and over again. I cannot tell you how many times I sat there, probably on the second level, thinking to myself. I want to get to the main level, but I also don't really care about this character. I don't really care about this game that's going on and this damn song while I was bumping to it five minutes ago. It is driving me utterly insane. And the crazy thing is, like I said earlier, I like the music in this game. I just wish there was more. Of it, like if you, maybe this had like 10 other songs added to the, the library, the soundtrack of this game, then I wouldn't get that feeling of having to listen to that same song over and over again. but enough about that. Let's talk about the art style next. One of the best qualities about this game is this art style. It features a gorgeous 2D pixelated art style that kind of blew me away. The colors are extremely vibrant and the environment is very detailed. Everything about this game, for all that I said against it, that art style is an absolute gem. I'm telling you if if you like looking at pretty 2D pixelated games, then you should at least check out the trailer for this game. But overall, should you play midnight dash? Sadly, the answer is no. Unless you really enjoy challenging platformers, then by all means, check this game out, you glued for punishment. This game does have a few things going for it like it's art style, but unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the positives here. And I just want to take a second to say, despite how negative that I came across in this review, I really hope that the developer continues to create games because there's some solid aspects about this game to really build off of and learn from. that said, let's talk about the original question. Should you play Midnight Dash? And unfortunately the answer is that I'd recommend you skipping this game for another platformer like Manga Venia, which is an absolute dope platformer. You should definitely check that game out. Or if you haven't played it already, or in the will of the wisp, that the game is absolutely gorgeous and I highly recommend you check that one. 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 where should midnight dash fit in your video game backlog? Unfortunately, I can't recommend that this be in your video game backlog unless, unless you're the type of person who really likes punishing hard platformer games. If that's you, then I'd definitely recommend this to be in your pallet cleanser spot. But for everyone else, I'd recommend you skipping this one entirely. Even if you're a fan of the genre, they are a much better platform is out there for you to check out. 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.