Our Darker Purpose

I'm far more interested in playing as Cordy
than as Isaac

I bought Our Darker Purpose, a very new game, on steam.  I noticed it because of the name and the art style.  I took at a look at it and it looked a lot like the Binding of Isaac, which was a game I think I would have played a lot of if I didn't detest the art style from it.

I was a little concerned that because the game described itself as difficult that it might be too difficult for me.  I'm not a I Wanna Be The Guy-alike player and I'm not really into super difficult games.  My next move was to see if anyone was streaming it.  Two people with a total of five viewers were, and neither appeared to be actually playing the game when I looked.  On YouTube I found a guy who was putting up videos of him playing it.

The guy playing it on YouTube talked about it being hard, and significantly harder than Isaac, which it sounded like he had played extensively.  There are buyable power-ups between playthroughs like Rogue Legacy, though, so he speculated it might only be really hard at the beginning until you start buying things.  In particular he talked about the bosses being challenging, but they looked like they had pretty predictable patterns to me.

Anyway, I decided to buy it and I gave it a whirl.  If anyone is thinking of trying it, I want to say, it is not that hard.  It's not that it's easy, it's just kind of like playing old video games.  You know, games that are hard and that you have to practice quite a few times to get good at before you can beat them.  I've played 28 hours now, and I've made it to the boss of the third chapter of four.  I got him pretty low on health too, though I wouldn't say I was close to winning.  But I learned his mechanics so I have a leg up the next time I get there.

It's strange how the idea of "hard" has turned into "you'll have to practice a bit."  Then again, maybe it's just that I'm very good at things, especially at learning enemy patterns.  Normally I would say I'm not good at games like this because my ability to duck through bullet hells is under-developed at best.  But this game isn't overly bullet hellish and moves at a pretty thoughtful pace.

Anyway, at 28 hours played for a game I bought on Friday night - admittedly at least a few of those hours were on pause while I went to the grocery store - I obviously like this a fair bit.  I'm not sure if the shine will come off quickly as I run out of things to unlock, but I don't regret buying it.