Sketch! Run! Demo

Running around 2D levels is a fairly fun way to spend your time, especially if there’s a bit of a challenge in it. Granted, it’s not easy to come up with something new in the genre after so many years, and it can actually be quite difficult to recreate an already existing concept. On the other hand, people appreciate original ideas, even if they are not masterfully executed.

Sketch! Run! is an interesting arcade game with platformer gameplay mechanics and a very weird control scheme, in which you have to use a pencil in order to help your character along. The idea is not bad in theory, but the execution is quite poor, even for an indie production. Hence, it’s difficult to have fun with the game when it’s working so hard against you.

To begin with, the main idea is that you can use the pencil to draw things on the paper and help your character avoid all sorts of obstacles. However, the truth is that most of the time is spent jumping over gaps, so there’s not a lot of creative work involved in the process. In order to jump, you have to hold the pencil over the character and click at the right time, which is a very annoying way to jump in a fast-paced arcade game, as you can imagine.

You can also use the mouse to shoot projectiles in order to destroy obstacles and make way for your stick man, but this is hardly a pleasant activity. Things get even weirder when you have to perform multiple wall jumps, because the clicking is actually very buggy and the game doesn’t always register your input. Frustration is a big part of the experience, which can cause you to quit playing after a few minutes.

As for the graphics, you shouldn’t expect too much in this regard either. The game tries to teach you a thing or two about famous places around the world, but it does so by awkwardly placing dull pictures around the levels with a bit of text underneath them. Obviously, you do not get a chance to look at them, given the fact that this is a runner game and you have a lot of other things to worry about.

In the end, it’s difficult to recommend Sketch! Run! in its current state, even if it’s in early access at the moment. The game needs a lot more work before it can provide you with a good time, and the core concept is not that exciting to begin with anyway.