Platformines (PC) Review

The general concept of Platformines isn't one that hasn't been seen before; it evokes the ideas of the randomly-generated worlds gameplay of a title such as Terraria, along with the familiar character designing prior to starting the game, and the concept of platforming through mines gives off a Steamworld Dig impression, too. Looting to upgrade weapons is now also a popular feature of so many games today, and the non-linearity will pique the interest of any Metroidvania fan. Platformines has seemingly taken inspiration from a wide range of games, incorporating many different elements, and the result is a title that is amusing for a good few hours.

Literally plonked into the middle of a randomly-made underground world, the idea is to progressively venture just a little bit further each time the main base is exited, shooting down enemies, collecting loot and upgrading the character to steadily make it stronger, by purchasing or finding equipment and guns. The overall goal is to locate parts of a ship that will eventually help escape the mines and complete the game. The further from the main base is explored, the more difficult gameplay becomes, with monsters, bad guys and traps getting stronger and extra plentiful.

Platformines quickly becomes pretty brutal in terms of how much progression can be made; it is hard to simply run through to the next ship part, whilst dodging every bullet and hazard. It demands that time is spent looting and killing things in areas that are comfortable, before upgrading tech and weapons. That said, the temptation to simply try to blast through everything becomes too hard to resist at times, as the continuous looting and shooting gradually gets a little tiresome. Once all ship parts have been found, it's then time to try to fire them all into place in a small puzzle-like section, which certainly isn't quite as fun as the core gameplay. Escaping the mines is the sole purpose, but once it's over, it really is over, with not a lot to come back to - save for creating a brand new world, and playing on harder difficulties.