I really wanted to like it Animal well. To some extent, I went in knowing what to expect. It would be a game similar to Tunic Or Fezwhere the game, as it initially appears, is not the game it ultimately is. As with those titles, it would be a fairly basic “game” to play, but that would be just the beginning of what I would get out of the experience. There would be some deeper layer beneath the surface that would only be accessible if I paid close enough attention. Whether you call them knowledge based games Or Metroidbrain (even if they aren’t always metroidvanias!), games in this popular up-to-date genre require the player to grow by expanding their knowledge through observation, note-taking, and simply taking their time.
The problem is that I’m not that patient.
Maybe you’re like me. I love puzzle games. I love the feeling of frustration and then that I see moment lit up my brain like a Christmas tree. For me, that feeling of everything clicking into place is one of the best things games have to offer.
So on paper I should love games like Animal wellbut I’m still turned off by their dullness. I don’t like the idea of staring at every screen, looking for subtle clues to the hidden meaning of things like random glyphs or the positioning of rabbit ears. I don’t want to keep retracing my steps until something up-to-date comes to mind. I’m not the type of person to join Discord and try to solve problems in the community. But I Down you want to experience I see moments that these games have to offer. People who love these games I really love these games, and I want to experience that too. If only someone would make a game that was even 10% as dumb; maybe then I’d have a chance to experience something of what this genre has to offer.
Enter Leap year“a clumsy platformer” where if you jump, you die.
Like Animal well, Tunic, Fezand others like them, Leap year Initially, it presents itself as something quite basic: a platformer. You control a little guy who goes from left to right or right to left, and the only button you have is the jump button. CoolDo you think. I am a person who has played a video game before. I can do it. I have jumped before and I will jump again – in fact, I will jump now. So you do. And as you do, your little guy jumps into the air, starts falling, and just before he hits the ground, he turns from white to red and dies.
Funny! On a basic level, Leap year is an extended joke about what would happen if Mario had feeble knees. In those respects, it’s a mildly amusing riff on platformer design, but honestly, if that were all that was going on here, I wouldn’t be inclined to write about it. While I love games that are extended meta-commentary on games, I think a platform game where the whole point is that the main character dies when he jumps would probably test the patience of even the most postmodern gamer. Fortunately, that’s not all that’s going on in Leap yeara game about learning to jump without dying.
The goal Leap year is to collect all the days of the month of February 2024. Those 29 days, ripped from the calendar at the beginning of the game, are scattered throughout the game world. The first screen of the game shows both Day 1 and Day 29. Day 1 is uncomplicated to get by moving forward. But Day 29? It floats near the ceiling, and if you jump trying to get it, you die. Try as you might, there’s nothing you can do at this point to collect Day 29 without dying. So you move forward, as one does, toward something you can actually do.
You soon learn that you can jump without dying, as long as the platform you land on is slightly higher than the platform you jumped from. This isn’t a skill you gain from a power-up or skill tree. You’ve always had the option of not dying that way. You just haven’t figured out how to do it yet. The rest of the game is about learning up-to-date things about exactly how to jump.
If I’m being cryptic here, it’s for a reason. Writing about Metroidbrainia is encouraging others to figure it out for themselves, because these games are all about figuring it out for themselves. Let me just say that if you’re someone who’s read a review of a game like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Or Outer Wild Areas and you didn’t agree with the idea of keeping a physical notebook with you while playing, I assure you: Leap year won’t require anything like that from you. It will require, at most, about two and a half hours of your time, no notebook required. You’ll figure it out Leap yearand you will feel, like me, a miniature copy of what I imagine people who figured it out Animal well felt.
I say facsimile because Leap year he is not subtle about dropping hints that lend a hand you discover his secrets. He labels them so loudly that you can’t miss them. TIPthe game screams. TIP HERE. This is unsubtle on a capslock level. But I liked it Leap year for that. It wanted me to decipher its secrets. While titles like Animal well AND Tunic there are more or less personality tests that are designed to see if you are the type of person who will decide to play Galaxy Brain or delete the game, Leap year It’s just a fun little treat that anyone can figure out. It’s as accessible as anything I’ve seen in the genre, and if, like me, you’ve had trouble enjoying similar titles, there’s no better place to start than Leap year and his little clumsy buddy who dies when he jumps.
Still, there is no doubt that the game offers simplicity over accessibility. Leap year won’t make you feel like a genius the way I assume those brainiacs who graduated feel Animal well without a guide, it has to feel. It’s a snack to the conventional Metroidbrain meal. It’s a pond to their ocean. Still, I’m glad it exists, first because it’s very clever in its own right, but second because it makes me feel like maybe the next time one of the more challenging entries in the genre comes along, I’ll get a chance to finally watch it.
Leap yearshowing me a taste of what it might take to truly get to Metroidbrainia’s conclusion makes me eagerly await the next installment. Hell, I might even get the notebook.
Leap year was released on June 13 for Windows PC. The game was reviewed using a code purchased by the reviewer. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
