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A Much More Notable Extension to Supraland!
Supraland: Six Inches Under is somewhat of a sequel to the Metroidvania Puzzle-Platforming Hybrid: Supraland. Taking place during the Beginning of the DLC: Supraland Crash, You play as a Blue Plumber who has fallen into a mysterious world just Six Inches under the previous game's sandbox. It introduces a lot of new moves and gameplay aspects to the formula of the previous game, as well as reusing tools and elements from the previous games with a new coat of paint. It's strange to call it a sequel as while it does a lot more than what Crash tried to do, it still feels like in a grey area between being a sequel and a much extended DLC.
As before, this game features many gameplay aspects so I'll cover each on it's own.
Puzzle Solving in Six Inches Under, is again fairly solid. With areas tailored for a specific puzzle and you're giving the tool on you or around you to solve it, with a few optional puzzles sprinkled in. As being a sequel in spirit, there's a only a few more concepts used to make puzzle solving interesting, Such as liquid based puzzles with a shower system. Most of the ideas here are retreads of puzzles used in the first game, like electricity puzzles, locator ball puzzles, or platforming puzzles. Which aren't bad mind you, it just more of the same in a way. Not to make a unfair comparison but Portal 2 was able to do this while keeping the core puzzle aspect of the 2 Portals. With the use Laser Puzzles, Goo Puzzles, Gravity Belts, and so much more. Six Inches Under definitely feels like it's another extension of the first game but with enough polish to make it feel completely different in comparison to Crash.
Combat here has objectively taken a huge decrease in comparison to the first game, At least in some ways. The enemy variety has gotten a fairly large increase with more distinct enemies than just the Skulls and Lava Monsters from the first game. They often encourage or downright require more in depth methods to defeat them instead of just shooting until they die. However where it kinda falls apart is due to two reasons. Firstly, the weapons are simply not as good from the previous entry. The Pickaxe is actually a fine improvement from the Doorknocker from the first game as it has a great ranged attack and has greater use in the exploration aspect of the game. The Tesla Cannon is such a downgrade from the ASMD-like Gun with it firing slower permanently and it's only trait being able to stun enemies, which is necessary for a few foes but isn't as fun as the first game's gun. Lastly for weapons the Flame Gun is straight up optional, so there is a high likely hood that you won't find it during your main playthrough, and it isn't even that useful in comparison to the pickaxe and barely has puzzles that require it. Secondly for the combat, the enemy spawners are straight up removed, this means all combat is fixed to one time arenas and also extremely rare in comparison to the previous title. Really it's some good, some bad and overall worst than the first game.
Lastly for gameplay is the Metroidvania aspect and it's probably the most consistent of everything here. You very frequently get rewarded for exploring and are able to see areas to keep in mind when you return with new powers. With the optional chests containing being minor upgrades and money, there's even some special upgrades for collecting items from Crash. It's overall pretty solid, though I think during the late/post-game is where it doesn't really work as well as the original. This is mainly due to the map's design, Unlike Supraland, you cannot easily get to one place to another by just walking over the level boundaries with your absurdly powerful movement options, you're kinda fixed to just using the fast travel system and it kinda takes away from the discovery of finding stuff way out of bounds. As the map no longer loops back around itself. It really makes getting all the chests a bit more tedious than it needed to be, but I wouldn't know how they would have solved this with the setting.
Now for the Style, Six Inches Under is just as good if not better than the original. With you being so small the game absolutely nails the whole normal human objecting being humongous to these clay people. The Unreal 4 Engine is use masterfully to make the objects shine without it looking down right ugly and with the cave setting, the use of darkness and light barely breaking from the surface is absolutely fantastic. Furthermore the sound design is also top notch with some extremely satisfying sound effects for a plethora of things like weapons, puzzle elements, and etc. Really the only style issue the game has is again the enemies looking extremely out of place in comparison to everything else, though it's again a issue you kinda just get used to as you place.
Overall, Six Inches Under, improved in some places and deduced in others. I think did it a much better job in terms of puzzle design and overall world than Crash but doesn't hit those same marks on why I really enjoyed the first game. I think one of the faults is just the shorter story, I mean the game even pokes fun at you probably being just 50% done. While more post content is nice, I feel like if the main campaign isn't as crafted and engaging it wouldn't make much of a impression than just having a large map that you can wander and discover new optional areas just from the urge to explore. With the newest upcoming game in the Supra Games franchise being the elusive Supraworld, I hope the developers can recapture what made the first game addiction fun while also having the great aspects that Six Inches Under introduced.