Deadlings offers small chunks of relentless platforming with some additional strategy elements thrown into the mix. Deadlings was originally released in 2014 on ios and android and has now been remade to fit the Nintendo Switch.
Death’s creations
Deadlings are the creation of Death himself. In his laboratory, he decides to make ghoulish looking life forms aptly named Deadlings. These Dealings come in many different types. As with most creations, these need some testing to potentially tweak them further. This is where you fit in. Death has many type of almost impossible test chambers to test the running, jumping and floating abilities of the deadlings. You are in control of the subjects and need to get from start to finish while also trying to collect as many brains as possible.
Classic phone/tablet objectives
After each level is done you get presented with a score, time and the number of brains you collected. Doing well for each of those earns you stars. Getting all three stars isn’t necessary to get to the next level but you kind off feel inclined to retry the level to get them all. Going faster, jumping higher and generally take the perfect route will grant you all the stars but this is no small feat. Learning from your past mistakes and adapting accordingly will get you that last missing star in a level.
Some strategy added
The deadlings come in different types. Some can’t only run and jump, others can float (by farting), others stick to ceilings and walls. After a few levels, new types get introduced with an introductionary level. Beyond those levels, many new types of deadlings will be available to choose from to get through a level. Choosing the right type to start can make all the difference. The trial and error aspect plays a huge role in this game. If you lose one deadling you get to start all over again but the number of deadlings from a certain type aren’t unlimited. Once your “army” of deadlings is depleted you have to start all over again. Some levels force you to start with one deadling which gets sacrificed after serving its purpose, to then finish the level with another type.
Many many levels
Deadlings consists of a few different themes and many levels to try to conquer. Along the way, new deadlings and new challenges get introduced to make it feel fresh. Some more variation might have done the game more good. Although the game tries to change things up, it sometimes felt repetitive. The order in which the levels were presented didn’t always fit in my opinion. The levels didn’t always grow gradually in difficulty which made some levels feel almost impossible while the next one felt like a breeze in the park.
Super Meatling
The many hazards shattered all around the world of deadlings reminded me of super meat boy. The precise platforming needed to traverse towards the goal also felt like super meat boy. The downside is that the controls are made with tablets and phones in mind. This meant, the speed rush felt when playing super meat boy is nowhere in sight while playing deadlings. The controls often failed to register properly leading to an untimely death. The hit detection could’ve been better too. All these things ended up being a bit frustrating after a while.
Conclusion
Deadlings feels a bit too much as a ported phone/tablet game. The limited ways to control the game don’t do the idea justice. The different types of deadlings add some spice in the mix and the use of some strategy, even more, mixes things up. Despite the addition of the game-extending elements, Deadlings wasn’t so enjoyable as I hoped. Best digested in small chunks in my opinion.
