Parry Nightmare

About

"Parry Nightmare" is an action-packed game where defensive skills are key. Parry attacks to weaken enemies, heal yourself, and fill your special move gauge. Charge up Honno-chan with power-ups from defeated foes and collect light to banish the nightmare. Can you make it through the night and see the dawn?

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 60 reviews

gameplay20 positive mentions

stability2 negative mentions

The game features a cute visual style and engaging gameplay, making it a fun experience overall.
The parry mechanic is satisfying and addictive, with a good balance of challenge and accessibility.
The music and sound design are excellent, enhancing the overall atmosphere and enjoyment of the game.

The game is quite short, with only four levels that can be completed in about an hour, leaving players wanting more content.
There are some balancing issues, particularly with power-ups and a significant difficulty spike in the final level.
The story, while relatable, lacks depth and may not resonate with all players due to its broad and cartoonish treatment of serious themes.

gameplay
44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
48%
7%
The gameplay is characterized by a simple yet engaging core mechanic centered around parrying, which ramps up in difficulty through faster enemies and unique power-ups in later levels. While the game features a charming visual style and an enjoyable soundtrack, some players noted a desire for more enemy variety and additional mechanics to enhance engagement. Overall, the experience is described as fun and challenging, albeit relatively short and somewhat limited in scope.
- “Even though the core gameplay is extremely simple on its own, I was pretty surprised at how much levels 3 & 4 ramped up the difficulty, not just by adding faster enemies in higher numbers, but also by introducing power-ups with their own unique strengths and weaknesses, stage-specific bosses with gimmicks that force you to constantly multitask and think about your position as well as Hanno on the map.”
- “The art and the music are amazing, and the actual parry mechanic is very forgiving but still a challenge.”
- “A short and sweet debut of the 'buddy' and 'parry heaven' genre fusion, combining a charming art style and snazzy soundtrack with tense, parry-based horde survival gameplay.”
- “It makes gameplay feel a lot slower than it should be.”
- “Here, the shorter runtime of the game helps keep the experience tight and not grow stale over the course of a few more stages, though I would have preferred if there were a few additional enemy types or upgrades to engage with instead, since despite it being as tightly focused on simply telling the message it wants to tell by virtue of a handful of gameplay stages, it is still a rather thin experience for the asking price.”
- “That's true of the simple gameplay as well, though I think it could've benefited from a dash button for just a bit more engagement.”
music
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
25%
8%
The music in the game is widely praised for its catchy and engaging quality, featuring a diverse range of genres that enhance the atmosphere of each stage. Reviewers highlight the jazz soundtrack as particularly memorable, with standout moments like the ending theme sung by Emi Evans. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the game's charm and addictive gameplay, making it a key highlight for players.
- “The sound design is quite good as well, featuring a variety of different music genres that do exceptionally well at setting the atmosphere of each stage.”
- “The art and the music in this game are wonderful.”
- “The highlight for me was the soundtrack, especially with Emi Evans singing the ending theme.”
- “The childhood trauma nightmare in particular stands out as positive, managing to actively create a thoroughly creepy tone despite the cartoonish nature of the game due to a mix of both the boss design, the fact that levels start with hardly any illumination, and the ominous music.”
- “This is all to say that while gameplay merely consists of a single button to parry as well as your movement keys, the actual gameplay is fairly exciting due to the music and tension of the game quickly spiraling in difficulty if you accidentally fumble a parry and force yourself into the cooldown window.”
- “I would buy this just for Osamu Kubota's music alone.”
story
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
62%
9%
The story is simple yet relatable, focusing on themes of trauma and sleeplessness, and unfolds over a single night through four nightmares that gradually reveal the protagonist's backstory. While the writing may not be groundbreaking, it is complemented by humorous dialogue and a charming art style, creating a sweet and engaging experience. Players appreciate the balance of seriousness and levity, making it a fulfilling journey despite its brevity.
- “The story takes place over a single night, progressing through four different nightmares that each provide small insights into the life of the protagonist.”
- “The story and accompanying flavor text is quite relatable and handles the theme with an appropriate balance of seriousness and levity, with a dash of comedy.”
- “This is most notable in-between levels when the game switches back to Honno’s bedroom; as the night progresses, minor changes start happening that offer additional insight into her backstory and nicely add to the creeping, dreadful atmosphere towards the final level of the game.”
- “The story so far is relatable, nothing deep.”
- “Simple but straightforward story - very relatable with the various traumas it brings up.”
- “Upon completing the game, the menu permanently changes into the daytime version, which I find to be a little disappointing as there is no way to revert to older rooms or thus to reread the story and the flavor text of the various decorations in it.”
graphics
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
50%
17%
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming and expressive cartoony art style that effectively ties into its themes of childhood trauma, complemented by minimalistic level designs and cute anime cutscenes. Players appreciate the unique visuals and catchy jazz soundtrack, which enhance the overall gameplay experience, making the parry-combos feel satisfying and addictive. While the character design may lack depth, the overall aesthetic and sound design contribute significantly to the game's appeal.
- “Pn's a balls-to-the-wall arcade action with a decently accessible difficulty curve throughout, a wonderfully looking cartoony art style that links back to the game's central themes of resurging childhood trauma, a catchy jazz OST, and satisfying visual and sound effects (plus points for enemy sound cues!) that make 1000x parry-combos insanely addicting to pull off.”
- “The art style is very cute and the music is a bop all around, and the story is simple but relatable for a lot of our generation - that being dealing with both trauma and just not being able to sleep well.”
- “It's not cathartic... it's not really a character study (the main character is such a typical office lady it becomes nonspecific)... it gives the game an excuse for its kooky visuals, and that's about it.”
- “While the actual levels are kept fairly minimalistic, especially in the enemy design, the art style is unique and expressive.”
- “[h3]graphics and sound[/h3]”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express frustration with certain gameplay elements, particularly during the school nightmare stage, which detracts from the overall emotional experience. While the game's background music and premise are praised for their potential, many feel it ultimately falls short of delivering the emotional impact they anticipated.
- “Despite the killer background music and evocative premise, it doesn't reach the emotional highs I expected.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is effectively enhanced by subtle changes in Honno's bedroom between levels, which deepen the sense of dread and provide insight into her backstory. Additionally, the diverse sound design, featuring various music genres, skillfully complements the mood of each stage, contributing to an immersive experience.
- “This is most notable in-between levels when the game switches back to Honno's bedroom; as the night progresses, minor changes start happening that offer additional insight into her backstory and nicely add to the creeping, dreadful atmosphere towards the final level of the game.”
- “The sound design is quite good as well, featuring a variety of different music genres that do exceptionally well at setting the atmosphere of each stage.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by witty dialogue that enhances the overall sweet experience, despite the story being relatively straightforward. Players particularly appreciate the contributions of a standout character, referred to as "best girl h," for adding comedic value.
- “The story is really nothing crazy writing-wise, but it's still a sweet experience, further elevated by funny dialogue courtesy of best girl H.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that the game suffers from significant technical issues and performance problems, impacting the overall experience. Players have reported frequent bugs and suboptimal frame rates, suggesting that optimization needs considerable improvement.
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates excellent stability, with users reporting no crashes or glitches during gameplay. Overall, it runs smoothly without any technical issues.
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development in the game is highlighted by the dynamic dialogue with honno-chan, whose aggressive and charismatic alter ego contrasts sharply with the game's overall depressive tone. This juxtaposition enhances the depth of her character, showcasing excellent writing and design that enriches the player's experience.
- “A particularly nice aspect of the game’s writing is the dialogue with Honno-chan, which frequently clashes quite harshly with the depressive tone of the game by juxtaposing it with an alter ego that is seemingly exactly the opposite: aggressive, energetic, and charismatic, further supporting the superb character design of her as the main character.”