A 2D platformer with an existentialist narrative delivered through simple gameplay, Devwill Too is only currently available for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis in physical form.
The developer – Paulo Andres de Matos Villalva – released the first game in the Devwill series (simply titled ‘Devwill’) on Steam in 2017 and it is currently priced at only a couple of pounds (£1.69, to be exact) it could be worth for people interested in this sequel to wait for a digital release as the physical copy is currently full price and probably one for Sega enthusiasts only.
You play as a fork-tailed homunculus that needs to make its way through various stages – each with ominous titles – defeating enemies along the way by sliding into them or jumping on their heads in traditional, time-honoured fashion.
Aside from nimbleness being required in the later sections, the game never veers from this premise, there are no upgrades or collectables and only the high score meter - which multiplies whenever you kill enemies in quick succession – as a feature to keep your interest beyond the standard progression (this would be a good title to speed run if you are so inclined). I was a big fan of the quite dark hand-drawn scenes that appear between every few levels, giving a wordless, bleak, abstract background to the story.
Although Devwill Too is a relatively brief platformer, clocking it and around an hour, I did enjoy the simple charms that it delivered in an earthy way. The music is catchy and the game includes a ‘Jukebox’ feature which shows the in-game characters playing on a stage and allows you to select the music tracks. It’s a simple feature but one I personally genuinely use in games as background music, Side Pocket springs to mind, which incidentally contains some of the best MIDI lounge music in the universe.
The levels themselves change visually as you proceed but ultimately don’t change in gameplay terms beyond getting more difficult. There are bosses which require simple patterns to defeat and a variety of enemies that range from ground-based wanderers to flying and ranged types, all of which you’ll encounter during your flip-screen journey.
Some sections also require vertical as well as horizontal progress and so you may need to make blind jumps into the screen above at times when it appears that your character has hit a dead-end, these did occasionally stump me for a few seconds before I realised what I had to do to move forward.
In summary, Devwill Too is a strange one to review, if this was a budget game available digitally on Steam / Switch etc. I would describe it as an entry-level, short platformer with more a focus on an experience and accessibility than challenge such as Super Skelemania.
The fact that you can, after losing your lives (it’s a one-hit-kill system) choose ‘continue’ from the title screen and pick up from the level you died on is a nice touch that makes the overall experience breezier than 16-bit games of the day generally allowed.
Again, the developer wants everyone to enjoy the full experience and so the focus isn’t on difficulty or punishment but progress and gentle enjoyment. The fact that the game currently only exists as a limited physical release at full price means that I’d only recommend this version for collectors and MD /Genesis enthusiasts that like the thought of a ‘new’ game that captures that retro homebrew atmosphere.
If you don’t fall into these categories, I’d wait for a cheaper, digital release. This does feel like a simple game designed with love and both myself and my partner enjoyed our time with it, brief as it was.
It is one I will return to in the future as there’s an enjoyment in settling down for an hour and working through a casual platformer from start to finish although I fully understand that this won’t appeal to everyone.
Platform reviewed: Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
💧❄️ RATING: MELTING ❄️💧
Ratings Explained
ICE COOL (Great Game Recommended)
MELTING (Recommended with reservations, one to consider if you are a fan of the genre)
MELTED (Not A Recommended Purchase)
Hi, Paulo Villalva here, Thank you very much for you review, we put a really good enfort to Devwill Too, and see people like it besides the game limitations makes me really happy. I hope somewere in the future do a PC version to make it more acessible to people whom are not hard core Mega Drive collectors, too many projects on quewey, hahaha. Did you find the 3 secret stages in the game? (The broken egg and snow stages?) Here is a Clue for 2 of them: "When God is Dead look beyong the broken Idol and you'll find the truth" I've heard it somewere. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteConcept, story, Music, graphics and level Design: https://paulo_villalva.itch.io/
Level design and programing: https://nemezes.itch.io/
We are selling the digital copy (rom file) from now in my itch acount for U$ 3,99 https://amaweks.itch.io/devwill-too-md
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