Nocturnal Review (Tickle Me Elmo)
I'm a bit conflicted. The game is beautiful - dark mist and bright flames are well done. The story is pretty bare, you learn little about the few characters you meet.
The main part of the game is platforming and fighting, which works but isn't particularly satisfying. There are plenty of safe points, so failing doesn't put you back far. Jumping can be extended by attacking, but it's a weird move - you can get used to it. Fighting is a pretty big game of evade - get in a single hit and roll or back away. It can be really disorienting, fighting multiple enemies in dark mist. Most of the bosses require a lot of throwing knife hits, because they swing multiple times with long weapons. Countering projectiles yourself instead of dodging is fun once you know you can do that.
There are always door or elevators to activate, so you need to move forward otherwise you fire will run out. This often means dashing past enemies is way superior than engaging them. Often, some kind of flame will move on rails beside you, making it an auto scroller section. That was mostly fine, but one part has just moving the camera down and for no (in game) reason, you'll die when you can't keep up.
This all leads to you scrambling around until you die and get, what the game expects in this section. Needing the future knowledge to complete a section isn't terribly good game design.
All in all an average experience that doesn't excel in a particular way.