izigame.me

Rising Dusk is an excellent platformer with a unique rule: AVOID the coins in order to progress.
With that being said, the game isn't just simply dodging coins. If you want to progress through certain levels, and especially if you want to collect everything, you need to collect some coins. Which coins? Well, you'll need to figure that out.
The game very cleverly subverts video game tropes by challenging everyone's magpie tendencies with the promise of reward and adventure. Collect any small treasure you see and you lose the chance to get the bigger ones. It puts your mind and skill to the test in a way no other game has done before, and therein lies the true genius of its design.
The world is so charming. The 16-bit sprites of classic Japanese folklore are all very cute and detailed, and their animations are great. The sound effects are all perfectly evocative and the music is uniquely atmospheric and absorbing. Not to mention each level has its own theme. It's hard to believe a game that looks and sounds this good was all done by one man, but he really pulled it off.
Each and every level manages to feel fresh and new, in no small part to its music. Each one brings in a new theme, enemy or gimmick that makes it stand out amongst all the other levels. It keeps you guessing and never feels repetitive. Likewise, collecting each and every treasure is a unique challenge. Very few are easy-to-get and require you to wrap your mind around each one, but it rarely feels exhausting or tedious to grab a treasure. The game also never holds your hand; you need to rely on your own wit to gt these treasures. I managed to complete the game - all 60 Cat Statues and 5 Yokai Parts - however I'm still missing 5 Cassette Tapes and I'm honestly at an impasse as to how to get them.
The only criticisms I have towards the game are little niggles that don't detriment the game heavily, but would be nice if they were corrected. Like how most of the platforms in the game have rounded off corners so it's easy to fall off them when you land on their edges. Talking to characters requires waiting next to them for them to finish, which is a little boring. And admittedly the final boss was pretty... meeehhhh.
One thing I will say that I genuinely don't like however are the items. For the most part, they aren't necessary; you can beat and nearly complete the game without using a single item from Tesso's Shop. EXCEPT for one level - the Dark Cave Level - which absolutely REQUIRES both Coin items in order to collect 2 Cat Statues that are otherwise impossible to collect. This took me long into the aftergame for me to figure this out, after beating the final boss and clearing all the Temple Challenges. It seems very inconsistent to have the items only be useful until that one particular point into the game. Furthermore, the items aren't labelled, so you won't have any idea what they do until you use them, which is kind of a waste.
But with all that being said, I'm truly very impressed. At this point in my life, I rarely set out to complete a game on my first go anymore. But this is one of those games where I felt so compelled to collect everything, because the design is excellent, the world is charming and the concept is incredibly unique. This is right up in the ranks with Undertale, Papers Please and Iconoclasts for being one of the best games ever to be directed by one person.
Congratulations Lukas Stobie, you've done an incredible job. Looking forward to seeing what you'll make next. :)