POLE

About

Pole is a NES style platformer. You use a pole (like a staff/stick) to play. Pole has tough to beat levels and a rewarding story.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

44%

Audience ScoreBased on 124 reviews

gameplay5 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

The game features a unique concept that combines 2D and 3D elements, providing a fresh aesthetic experience.
For players who enjoy challenging platformers, the game offers a steep learning curve that can be rewarding with practice.
The art style and music are praised for their charm and creativity, contributing to an engaging atmosphere.

The controls are often described as frustrating and unresponsive, making precise movements and jumps difficult.
Many players find the difficulty spikes to be excessive, particularly in the early levels, leading to a frustrating experience.
The game lacks adequate checkpoints, causing players to repeat long sections after dying, which can be demoralizing.

gameplay
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
68%
12%
Gameplay in the game is a mixed bag, with players noting a steep learning curve due to complex movement mechanics introduced early on, which can lead to frustration. While some appreciate the variety and challenge of the mechanics, others criticize the execution, particularly the wall-jumping and camera angles, suggesting that the game requires further polishing to enhance the overall experience. Despite these issues, many find the gameplay engaging and entertaining, with a blend of fun and difficulty reminiscent of other challenging titles.
- “This makes for some very challenging gameplay, especially while you are getting used to the controls and mechanics, and additionally because of some incredibly precise jumps that become more frequent with progress.”
- “It is a lot of fun and the mechanics are great, easy to learn, hard to master.”
- “The game throws a healthy amount of different mechanics at you and does so graciously, gradually ramping up the skill level and adding twists along the way.”
- “Gameplay feels very complicated and very hard to control.”
- “But the jumping mechanics when it comes to wall-jumping are far too unforgiving and it's so wonky.”
- “The mechanics are unique enough to have some novelty but there is a lot of polishing the game feels like it needs.”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
41%
13%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful blend of retro pixel art and modern 3D visuals, as well as the unique aesthetic of each level. However, some players criticize the visibility issues in darker sections and the overall clarity of character sprites and hitboxes. While the visuals are generally considered stunning, the inconsistent quality and occasional clunky controls detract from the overall experience.
- “The graphics are beautiful, it blends retro into gorgeous 3D graphics.”
- “Overall it is a really good game with actually pretty stunning graphics, and if you're into platformers and a challenge, I would definitely recommend it ;)”
- “The art style is gorgeous, with each level having its own unique design and background.”
- “Also, some of the visuals are a little hard to follow. There's a dark section that is barely visible on my laptop's full brightness setting, which isn't helped by the small character sprite and animation, and slightly unclear hitboxes.”
- “I know this should be a pixel art game, and I'm a big fan of retro and retro-like games, but the graphics are so horrible that they hurt the eye.”
- “Unfinished type of graphics and very hard control, so I don't recommend this game.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The game's story is generally viewed as mediocre and somewhat disjointed, with a premise involving a king's failed attempt to upgrade graphics that lacks depth and coherence. While some players appreciate the fun take on platformers, many feel the narrative advances too quickly and is overshadowed by gameplay mechanics, leading to a lack of emotional engagement with the characters. Overall, the story is considered secondary to the gameplay experience.
- “The story is about a king trying to update the graphics from pixels to a more 3D style, but doesn't manage to finish it, so all the people stayed pixelated.”
- “It's a very fun take on platformers with an interesting enough story.”
- “Yes, story-wise it makes sense because something happens to make one of your friends quit, but the story kinda advances too quickly for the main character's (best friend?) to really turn over and think about it.”
- “The story was kinda mid with the whole reason for adventuring being really random, a couple of moves you use during the game like the two bounce aren't told well enough, and the camera can lead to some blind jumps sometimes (especially during the final two areas).”
- “The story is neither here nor there, it's mostly about gameplay.”
- “For the mediocre storyline, this game is not worth taking the time to master the controls.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
The optimization of the game has received mixed feedback, with some users experiencing performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware. While one player found it well-optimized, others expressed frustration over the lack of performance settings, which hindered their ability to enjoy the game.
- “The game is optimized well, providing a smooth experience overall.”
- “Only complaints with the game are some performance issues, probably due to my lower-end laptop, but I had to turn the resolution down to about 1/4 of my screen size to get the input delay (with a Bluetooth controller, so that's its own thing) down to workable levels.”
- “Seems like a fun game, too bad I can barely play it due to a lack of performance settings.”
- “If the devs would be kind enough to add some settings to get better performance, then I'll return to the game due to how interesting it seems.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The humor in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players find it genuinely funny and a pleasant surprise, others criticize it as forced and unfunny. Overall, the humor seems to be a divisive aspect, with some appreciating its presence amidst strong graphics and gameplay, while others feel it detracts from the overall experience.
- “I was extremely surprised with the graphics, music, gameplay (and that ending sequence is so smooth!) and the humor was pretty funny in my opinion, but it's only because I was expecting a 3 or 4 due to initial reviews and rumors.”
- “In addition to the others who critique the controls while praising graphics and humor, the darkness is what finally broke me.”
- “Annoying controls, unfunny dialogue, ridiculous difficulty.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game is highly praised for its catchy and engaging quality, with players expressing a strong desire to access the original soundtrack outside of the game. Reviewers highlight the evocative and memorable compositions that enhance the overall experience, particularly noting the enjoyable tracks during gameplay and boss encounters.
- “I really, really, really want to know where I can find the OST for this game, because you can't find it anywhere except in the game itself, and it bops real hard. The music makes me bop my head while going through the levels.”
- “I was extremely surprised with the graphics, music, gameplay (and that ending sequence is so smooth!) and the humor was pretty funny in my opinion, but it's only because I was expecting a 3 or 4 due to initial reviews and rumors.”
- “Unique world, fun characters, stylish and memorable art, evocative music and sound.”
- “I really, really, really want to know where I can find the OST for this game, because you can't find it anywhere except in the game itself, and it bops real hard (through the air and paper pastures for example make me bop my head while going through the level).”
- “[0.1] sound & music”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Players criticize the grinding aspect of the game for its excessively long levels and tedious platforming sequences, which detract from the overall enjoyment. Many feel that the design is poorly executed, relying on retro aesthetics as a justification for frustrating gameplay, making grinding feel unproductive and unenjoyable compared to other titles like Celeste.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The levels are too long, about 3-5 times longer than they ought to be, in my opinion, and are full of checkpoints where you have to do a long sequence of tedious platforming followed by a death trap that's actually not a death trap and is a consequence of bad level design.”
- “I also get the impression that the devs are using 'it's retro' as an excuse for the bad design, which is ironic because this game is nowhere near as difficult as, say, Wings of Vi, but unlike Vi, it's tedious and unfun.”
- “It's not worth grinding or putting any time into like Celeste.”

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