Game Reviews

Narcissus review - A platformer where two heads are better than one

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iOS
| Narcissus
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Narcissus review - A platformer where two heads are better than one
|
iOS
| Narcissus

I’m going to throw this out there from the get-go. Narcissus is the sort of game you’re going to want to play with a friend. And since it’s Valentine’s Day today, maybe a special friend?

It’s a super tough auto-running platformer that features two characters running either side of a collection of platforms. And yes, technically you could control both of them yourself.

But there’s an excellent stream of cooperation if you get someone on the other side of the screen playing with you. And you should.

I love me

The game is controlled with taps. You tap to jump, and that’s about it. Both of the characters run forward at a quite dramatic pace, and it’s up to you to bounce them at the right times.

You can tap on the left and right, or the top and bottom of the screen. It’s up to you. And it sort of depends where people are standing when you’re playing.

If anything the game lacks a bit of challenge when you’re playing on your own, because you need to rely on yourself remembering patterns.

It’s when you combine it with another person that things get tense. And that tension is really rather excellent.

Because you’re no longer just pushing yourself, you’re asking someone else to push themselves in the same direction. You start to rely on someone.

And that makes things weighty in a way that other platformers don’t manage. The design is good when you’re playing on your own, but when you play with someone else it’s special.

I love me too

So if you’re going to play Narcissus with people, you can add an extra point to the score at the bottom there. And if you’re going to play on your own, you can probably take one off.

Either way it’s an interesting addition to the platforming genre on the App Store. And one that, depending on your circumstances, you should have a crack at.

Narcissus review - A platformer where two heads are better than one

A smart platformer that's even more impressive when you rope in a friend
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.