Painajainen

4
Oh, goodness. 4/5, and I dearly wish it had the material that would give it that one more point — namely, length. Painajainen is a beautiful hybrid of dream reality meeting a Metroidvania with a dash of Soul Blazer on the side. Rather than gain powers, you find tiny flying creatures which aid you in mysterious ways.

This game was very relaxing and fun in a way that doesn’t invoke difficult challenge, but unbearably short — the whole thing can be completed in half an hour, and you won’t even fill in the entire map (in fact, one square won’t be filled in even when you visit it). It also shares issues with Kaipuu, namely that your key input doesn’t tend to carry over across screens and this can make going vertical a chore.

Despite these flaws, overall it is a very nice piece, and I would absolutely love to see a much larger game based on the same idea. After playing Kaipuu and Painajainen, I believe Virtanen is ready to be a direct competitor with Nifflas.