Hindsight: Descent Into Darkness

You can have tremendous amounts of fun with the right kind of platformer, especially if you enjoy the quirks of the genre. They may not be as complex as triple-A productions, but they can still make you think. There are just so many innovations that can still be introduced by developers, especially when it comes to the gameplay mechanics.

Hindsight: Descent Into Darkness is a puzzle platformer in which your main goal is to avoid the traps and reach the end of each stage alive. In fact, the basic gameplay mechanics are fairly simple and to the point, but there are a few things you have to keep in mind. The most interesting gimmick is the fact that there are basically few levels included, but they change every time you play them.

The fact that they change in subtle ways makes them a lot more dangerous than you might think, because you get used to following a certain path. When you replay them, the path is no longer safe, and you find yourself impaled in the spikes below. Pieces of the level disappear, others appear, and you must keep moving to see what other changes appear along the way.

In order to make the difficult jumps required in some of the stages, the controls need to respond accurately to your input, otherwise the frustration isn’t worth it. Thankfully, they work fine in the game at hand, which is why any death is only due to your own fault. That doesn’t make it any better, on the other hand, because there are plenty of times when it looks like you couldn’t have done anything better.

The graphics look a lot like those featured by Limbo, but not that artistic. They are much simpler and basic, since it’s actually just a bunch of black shapes and a starry background. The sound effects go well with the general atmosphere, on the other hand, and they tend to stay in the background without being too annoying, which is obviously a plus.

In the end, Hindsight: Descent Into Darkness is not exactly revolutionary, but the gameplay is quite addictive and fun. It’s a real challenge to navigate ever-changing levels, especially since you never really know what’s waiting for you.