Below Kryll
- September 6, 2015
- Team Kryll
Get on Steam"Below Kryll is a 2D platforming action-RPG with both single-player and multiplayer modes. The game boasts a huge, hand-crafted, continuously expanding world filled with adventures created by the developer and community. Players can create their own adventures using the simple but powerful adventure creator, allowing for a constantly growing gameplay experience."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Below Kryll offers a vast amount of user-generated content, allowing for endless creativity and exploration in a unique platforming experience.
- The game features a simple and intuitive level editor, making it accessible for players of all skill levels to create and share their own levels.
- The community is highly supportive, providing a rich environment for collaboration and sharing creative ideas, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
- Many user-generated levels are unmoderated, leading to issues such as bugs, unwinnable situations, and poor design choices that can frustrate players.
- The game suffers from a sparse active player community, making it difficult to find others to play with or to engage with the content.
- Performance issues and a lack of features such as keyboard rebinding can hinder the overall experience, especially for players using non-American keyboards.
- music18 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with many praising the good soundtrack and the inclusion of popular tunes in various levels. While some reviewers noted that the soundtrack is average and lacks variety, the overall experience is enhanced by creative community-generated content that integrates music and art into gameplay. The combination of fitting sound effects and engaging musical themes contributes to a fun and immersive atmosphere, appealing to a wide range of players.
“The art style is also very nice and the music is good.”
“Great soundtrack with recreations of popular tunes in some stages.”
“The music and general sound effects are well-made, though there is not too much in the way of track variety.”
“The soundtrack is average, but I don't play these kinds of games for the soundtrack anyway, so that's not really a negative for me, though it is definitely relevant to a review like this.”
“You will be hearing tons of soundtracks from other games and media all over the place.”
“The music and general sound effects are also well-made, though there is not at this time too much in the way of track variety.”
- story18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's story mode exists but is not the primary focus, with many players finding it level-gated and incomplete, making it easy to overlook. While some enjoy the community-created content that includes story-driven missions, others express frustration with specific episodes, particularly those involving stealth mechanics. Overall, the narrative is interwoven with user-generated levels, offering a unique but uneven storytelling experience.
“You can build and play parkour challenges, combat stages, or story-driven puzzles.”
“Everything you play, even the tutorial and story mode themselves, was created in-game.”
“His story is kind of told through some actual story-based missions you unlock from playing the player-made levels.”
“The story is not the game's focus, but what story is there is both level-gated (thus easy to forget) and incomplete.”
“These are used to string together quests made of nauseating dialogue that try to be as twee and internet as possible.”
“However, I hate episode IV of the story missions so much I may never actually play it again.”
- gameplay16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mix of creative mechanics and challenging elements, with a unique momentum system that may feel awkward for players accustomed to traditional platformers. While it offers a variety of tools for level creation and exploration, some mechanics can be frustratingly clunky, and the exploration aspect leans heavily on simple triggers rather than deep exploration. Overall, it provides a fun and engaging experience, particularly for fans of platformers and creative gameplay.
“Gameplay is not complicated, but it is challenging, and it's certainly not boring.”
“I'll be playing this game for a very long time to come, and you should totally check it out if you like platformers, creation tools, or just fun gameplay.”
“The gameplay itself is also great as everything is physics-based.”
“The momentum takes quite a bit to get used to, and I am constantly sliding off ledges. This is possibly the first game I've played where running and jumping does not allow you to jump anywhere near as high as walking and jumping. While this is more realistic, it feels odd when used to Mario and Sonic-style gameplay.”
“Add in respawn/reset mechanics that are broken by design (and exploited even by some of the devs' levels), and you have a very frustrating experience.”
“Unfortunately, most of the 'exploration gameplay' is really simple character conversation triggers and door opening/object collection triggers.”
- graphics6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a charming retro pixel art style that effectively immerses players in its world, complemented by fitting music and smooth controls. While not flashy, the visuals are praised for their quality and the creativity showcased by the community adds significant value to the overall experience. Players find the graphics to be a standout aspect, making the game worth its price.
“Game - worth the price just for the awesome pixel graphics - then you get the full game, creation tools, and huge community content all as a bonus!”
“From a graphics standpoint, the game has a very retro feel.”
“The graphics aren't flashy, but they certainly do the job, creating a pixelated world to get lost in.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted as a standout feature, with players appreciating its blend of creativity and competition that allows for a wide range of comedic expressions. The game encourages players to craft areas that can be funny, absurd, or even sad, contributing to a dynamic and entertaining experience. Overall, it successfully combines humor with various emotional tones, making it a unique and engaging gameplay element.
“It's always a competition to make the best creative, hard, fast, lazy, crazy, boring, funny, sad, erotic, meh area that has ever existed in the world of Kryll.”
“That's a really cool and funny game.”
“Make it easy, make it difficult, make it funny, sad, or scary.”
- optimization3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly with rough performance that feels excessive for a 2D title, akin to demanding 3D games like Crysis. Additionally, it lacks proper controller support, further detracting from the overall experience.
“Also, it is not optimized for controllers.”
“Rough/unoptimized performance: when a 2D game has the performance of Crysis, there is definitely something wrong.”
“Rough/unoptimized performance: when a 2D game has the performance of Crysis, there is definitely something wrong.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players note that some grinding is necessary to earn money and level up before they can create their own levels, but they generally find this requirement acceptable.
“Requires a bit of grinding levels for money before you can start creating your own levels, which can be frustrating.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect is generally viewed positively, with users noting that the control scheme is above average and that the game accurately advertises its partial controller support.
