Daggerhood review - "An action platformer with a teleporting twist"

Hardcore platformers are ten a penny on mobile, so finding one that does something a bit different is always a nice surprise. And that's definitely the case with Daggerhood - it might look pretty traditional, but there's actually some really smart ideas here.

Yes it's very difficult, and yes there are places where you're going to be more frustrated than entertained, but for the most part there's enough enjoyment here to make sure you stick with it even through the tough sections that pop up every now and then.

Leap year

The game sees you running around a series of levels, trying to get from one door to the next. There are treasures to collect along the way, as well as fairies that only hang around for a set amount of time before disappearing. Miss then and you're going to have to restart the level if you want to grab them.

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You've got the usual mix of buttons to help you work your way through the challenges. Tap one to jump, tap it a couple of times to double jump. Smash the other button and you'll fire out one of the semi-titular daggers. But this is where the twist comes in.

Hit the button a second time when a knife is flying through the air and you'll instantly teleport to where it is. Many of the levels are designed around that skill, and figuring out when you're going to use it is the key to beating the time limits on each of the challenges.

Those time limits aren't mandatory, but they give you a reason to head back and try earlier levels again - much like the fairies and the treasure. You'll be heading back to try things you've done before, but it means if you get stuck you can get better without repeating the same thing over and over again.

There are some pretty big difficulty spikes here, especially when it to the bosses you'll fight at the end of each world. Boss battles are usually pretty sticky in mobile platformers, and these ones are the same. There's a frantic nature to them that other levels don't have, and they can jar when you really need them to be a test of the skills you've already learned.

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And, it's fair to say, this isn't the most original game in the world. You're bouncing on mushrooms, killing bats, standing on crumbling platforms, and trying to avoid every spike in the universe by the looks of things. If you've played a platformer before then, aesthetically as least, Daggerhood doesn't have much new to offer.

Plataportal

It's the teleporting that really pushes Daggerhood up - there are some really clever puzzles wrapped around the mechanic, and they mean you're going to be looking at familiar obstacles in interesting new ways.

The game isn't perfect, and there's a chance that some people are going to find it a little on the difficult side. But if you're a fan of mobile platforming, you'll be hard pressed to find a better game to scratch that itch with this week.

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