To be honest.Once I notice standard platformer in any description, I start to wince. Not because I’m not a fan, but mainly because they tend to turn out as rather loosely controlled affairs, requiring pixel perfect jumps and bags of patience! Luckily, Yuri is nothing of the sort..
Players start with Yuri in bed sleeping, and then woken by the alarm clock, you are up and moving on your skateboard/trolley hybrid device and jumping and gliding across the home in no time. A catapult out of the house, lands yuri in a forest location and so begins a quest for him to discover secrets of the surrounding world and even himself!
Players will use the environment in order to jump and collect light orbs that are scattered throughout each area. Light orbs really doing nothing but act as the score for each area,allowing replayability throughout the games 17 areas in total.
From the first area, everything is gorgeously created with the game using some lovely shadow and lighting effects. Players can jump at bracken leaves, swing across ropes and get propelled from spring loaded ledges and use the many creatures to jump on and over, as they can hurt you but cannot be hurt themselves. It’s clear that developers have spent a load of time and effort to make the worlds feel like a real breathing, functioning environment and interaction feels just right with acute precision respecting the laws of motion and physics. Combined with a very sweet himalayan type soundtrack, everything feels fresh, vibrant and exhilerating.
In summary, this is a surprisingly beautiful platformer, rather like Ori’s blind forest meets Sonic the Hedgehog. A single player immersive experience over outdoor and indoor locations, that looks and plays beautifully and smoothly. Hauntingly stunning at times, this comes recommended…
Thanks to Fingerlab for the code.
