TALLOWMERE 2: CURSE OF THE KITTENS
Where to even begin. If there is one word to describe this game, it’s unique. In Tallowmere 2, developed by Chris McFarland, you’ll take on the role of a heroic kitten and tread your way through a perilous dungeon. Slay enemies, collect gold and search for a group of kittens scattered throughout the endless map. The game starts with your pre-battle-tested warrior in the Tallowmere’s keep. Lady Tallowmere and other NPCs patiently wait as you move around trying to figure out what it is you’ve gotten yourself into. Grab the flashy gold key, and head towards the gate on the right.
Upon opening the gate, Lady Tallowmere’s purposeless ritual commences. With a flick of her wrist, she waves her wand at nine cats perched on the ledges behind her. Their eyes glow a neon pink, and they start spinning and poof. They disappear in a haze of magical smoke as Tallowmere taunts you to search for them. And so the journey begins.
The Gameplay is built with pure creativity. Once you leave the initial chamber, you enter the first room with a randomly generated enemy. Navigate through the level in search of a gold key that will allow you to open the gate and proceed to the next room. Certain levels will have chests for you to open. Upon opening, the chest will produce some type of weapon. Axes, Poison balls, Scythes, and more can all be collected to aid in your journey.
But tread carefully. As your mission proceeds, these enemies are there to make sure your time is cut short. If spotted, an exclamation mark will appear above their head, and they will come for yours. Depending on the enemy, you may find poison balls launched at you, arrows flying toward you, or a variety of melee weapons slashing through the air around you.
BRUTAL COMBAT
The combat in this game is nothing short of pure fun. A little bit difficult to grasp in the beginning, battling your foes and watching their heads roll at your feet as you triumph in battle will yield you much satisfaction. The jumping mechanic in the game is endless. Flip through the air dodging attacks and hits, essentially flying through the map so long as the space will allow.
But careful. Too much of anything can backfire, right? The levels contain hazardous obstacles that if not careful, will be your doom long before any enemies can claim your cause of defeat. There are spikes, rotating lines of flame or poison and outlets of electricity that will launch currents at you if you get too close. Truly get inside the mind of a cat as you move with precision to stay alive.
Every few levels will contain a white key in addition to the necessary gold one. Grab it, and search for a chamber holding one of the kittens you need to save. Open the chamber holding the kitten hostage, kill the guard and save the day. There is something so magical about saving these kittens. No, literally. It is part of the game.
Upon rescuing a kitten, the kitten will meow with gratitude and zap back to the main chamber. But before it teleports back to its original home, the kitten will grant you a magical power. This random ability can include increased health, faster movement and more. Be mindful though, that you can accidentally kill the kittens as well. If you are taking out the guard and you become too trigger-happy, the innocent kitten may get caught in the crossfire. What was meant to be a moment of heroism quickly becomes a moment of shame.
LEVELS AT YOUR DISPOSAL
If the level you walked into has a gang of enemies too big to handle, divert from the Rambo-style gameplay and seek a more strategic approach. You are not the only one that can take damage from all the death traps around. Enemies can also meet their doom via these obstacles you are avoiding. They can also be killed by each other and even themselves. Wait what? Yes. Due to level design and enemy placement, often times enemies will accidentally damage each other, doing your dirty work for you.
Your kitten in shining armor is also equipped with a shield. Turn the shield on and off to block oncoming attacks. Use this correctly, and enemy projectiles will ricochet off your trusty shield and launch back at them. A true Tallowmere warrior will be confident in destroying enemies without a swing of their sword. It must be noted, however, that the same rules apply to you. Your projectiles can ricochet back and kill you just the same.
Be mindful of the walls and moving objects around you. Too often have I stood above a pit of enemies thinking I would launch a volley of poison balls into it, killing every single one before they even realized what was happening. But sadly my silent cheers turned to dread as I watched these vibrant green balls come flying back at me. With a few smacks, my health bar went from an appropriate amount to zero. Game Over. Because of this design, perfect runs where you seem to be slicing through enemies like butter get cut short in the blink of an eye.
In the event of the above scenario happening to you, the game does a fantastic job of letting you know; you messed up. Tallowmere 2: Curse Of The Kittens contains an achievements feature; the classic slay a certain amount of enemies with said weapon achievements, etc. When your character dies by its own hand, there is most certainly an achievement for that. For example, the first time my kitten died from its elemental ball, I received an achievement called It was a funny Angle. Nice.
As easy as it is to die, there is a surplus of health to keep you afloat. The game starts with four bottles of liquid that replenish a certain amount of health. Opened chests occasionally gift you with more. When you kill an enemy, they leave their soul behind. Your character will absorb this light blue orb, and once a specified amount is obtained your health is restored. In addition to their souls, enemies will sometimes drop hearts. Collect these as much as possible and watch points add back to your bar.
There are also various ways to increase the size of your health. In addition to weapons, you can collect shields. Depending on its level, each shield will increase your max health by a certain amount when equipped. This does not however replenish your health. If you want to increase your max health and replenish your health simultaneously, look for the demonic statues lurking in the background.
Not just for aesthetic purposes, sometimes these statues will have a blue arrow above their heads. When they do, you can interact with them. Upon doing so, it will give you the option to choose between 3 upgrades. It’s usually a choice of strength increase, health increase or a mystery. If you’re lucky, one option will increase max health and strength together. Pay close attention to when these statues are available. Although shaped like something from the underworld, these statues can be your angels when your health is about to run out.
A GOOD KIND OF RANDOM
The way this game works is there are no checkpoints you return to when you die. When you die, that’s it. Your run is over, and it calculates your score. To play again, you start a new run from the start of the Tallowmere’s keep. You watch Lady Tallowmere again carry out her ritual and start over from room one. But here’s the interesting part. The game’s levels, weapons and enemies all randomly generate, so no two play-throughs are ever the same. This makes the game challenging and eliminates what would probably make the game feel stale after just a few plays.
Are you someone that believes you are your only competition? Then you will love this game’s design. Although there is no life system, the game keeps track of your runs. Ranked by rooms cleared, you can view your best all the way to your worst scores. See your character level, enemies killed, time played and aim to get better stats in your next run.
THE DRAWBACKS
As fun as this game is, there are a few minor things worth noting. It seems like the game plays off the agility of a cat. If this is the case, there is one flaw. Your character cannot attack unless standing still or falling. This design is like putting a wrench in a network of smooth-turning gears. Flipping through the air dodging enemy attacks adds a fun momentous feel, but needing to stop in your tracks to fire upon enemies diminishes that.
Another small thing pertains to sound. One of the game’s primary objectives is to locate the gold keys to unlock the gates and the ability to proceed. Upon grabbing the key, the sound resembles a laptop or phone hooking up to a charger. It is very anticlimactic. Since some levels are difficult to navigate and the waves of enemies can easily overwhelm you, grabbing that key is no easy feat.
Developer Chris McFarland should devote some time to creating a sound that adds a little more energy and instills a great sense of accomplishment when grabbing the key. Despite this lackluster noise, many other fun sounds help make this game feel complete. Hearing your enemies’ various helpless squeals as they fall at your feet leaving their souls behind never gets old.
The biggest negative about this game is the paywall. Especially with mobile games, monetization is extremely high in video games today, and developers are looking to make a quick buck. This too often compromises the quality of the game. It is sad, but this game is guilty of the worst paywall design. When you hit certain achievements, the game tells you certain weapons unlock for you to use at the start of the game.
But even if you put in the time, grind and hit these achievements, there’s still one step to unlock these weapons. You must also purchase the core starter pack. It is understandable to some degree to have certain skins or bonuses locked behind paywalls. But to lock everything behind it and not allow players any access no matter what achievements they hit unless they pay extra? Sorry, no.
Aside from these factors, this game is still extremely enjoyable. Even after hours of play in this 2D-platform game, you will still find yourself repeatedly heading into battle to improve that top score.
