Wunderling : The Minions Chance To Shine

 

Sometimes it feels like you are just one of many, but that is not true. Even when there are many who seem similar you can stand out on your own, even if you happen to be a level one minion. Wunderling has you taking (some) control of a minion who has been given a second chance and wants to defeat the so-called hero of this game. When I saw it I thought I was going to play a 2D style retro platformer, what I got was a challenging, fun, charming, and engaging puzzle game that had so much going good for a game where you are playing as the bad. 

This game puts you in control of a simple minion who is now tasked with defeating the hero of the game, after being defeated in level one, our lead is given a second chance to shine. Going from vibrant and colorful levels with plenty of fun cutscenes intertwined that had more surprises then what I was expecting. There are plenty of cutscenes with some very charming humor and even some references intertwined with the narrative, it got some laughs out of me at times, so it was pretty well written. Also there is one joke in the first stage once you take control of the minion, don't jump into the first portal right away, there was one that had my jaw on the floor it was so unexpected. The music is fun and upbeat and each environment looks great, with a great level of detail in the foreground and backgrounds. 

There are a good variety of locales to get through and you don't even have to complete each stage, or play every stage in order, you can pick the level select and bounce around or skip a level you are stuck on and move forward for the time being. Speaking of moving forward the game plays as follows, our lead moves on their own, walking forward, the player can press a jump button, use buttons at some points to activate certain power ups, and a redo button that results in our lead comedically blowing up. You must collect flowers in order to stay alive as you make your way to the portal, collecting a treasure chest with some hidden goodies inside for an added challenge, or perhaps something needed to progress. In this puzzler your score is tallied for time, getting the chest in each stage, and all of the flower petals. Tackling the levels in any order as mentioned before can be done as long as a certain amount are cleared to unlock the next world. There are a few levels that change the norm but they blend right in and are very easy to get the hang of, they are more so done for comedic effect. 

As you continue the core gameplay does not change but rather power ups and different environmental pieces are added to keep things fresh. Each power up adding and changing up things just enough for things not to grow stale. With everything revolving around a few core mechanics that are sometimes expanded the game is very easy to learn as well as pick up and play. But the level design makes this hard to master in the best way possible, the level of difficulty in this game is very balanced but getting everything is where the real challenge lies. Staying alive, planning the route to grab everything, making sure there are enough flowers in a path to keep you alive in case you need to loop around the stage, and making pitch perfect jumps can be expected. The game is not worthy of losing any sleep as each stage is incredibly short in nature leaving them as fun yet challenging, bite sized romps with options to go for everything or just to clear the game and see the silly story. Being able to skip around levels so if one does not mesh well with you, the player is not forced the linger is another great help.

This game is packed with charm and is a very fun pick and play puzzle game, fans of Lemmings or the Mario And Donkey Kong series should give this game a look. The game has a fair amount of challenge, a great and cozy feel, great control, wonderful pixel art, and a simple yet charming presentation. The game is also fairly inexpensive and packed with enough content to even warrant it's full price, puzzle fans might just enjoy this platforming puzzle game that is super self-aware with tons of goodies to grab along the way. I personally really liked this game, and even when a stage gave me trouble, it was well balanced. In this case it did feel good to be a little bad.