This review was originally written on 04/26/2018.

Technical Information

Developer: Serkan Bakar/Redrogames
Publisher: Serkan Bakar
Release Date: 11/5/2017

Ghoulboy – Dark Sword of Goblin is an action platformer where you explore dungeons, towns, find treasures, and fight monsters.

Final Thoughts – Looking at the game as a whole

Graphics and UI

I found the game’s art super cute. It keeps its own style, both in the protagonist and enemies and in the environment.
The art style really resembles Ghouls and Ghosts, but without losing its own unique identity.

The language options screen doesn’t have a button to go back to the main menu, I think the dev forgot to add it hahaha.
The level select screen is bugged, and honestly it really bothered me (when you go back to page 1, the game stops moving forward to the next page :/).

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

Not only did I like the music a lot, but one day my husband was listening and even asked what game it was from.
The songs are really charming, they fit perfectly with the game’s dark aesthetic while still keeping that upbeat retro platformer feel! <3

Gameplay

A great choice for anyone who enjoys platformers with a fully retro vibe.
Even without a story, the game is very charming, and once you start playing, you quickly get immersed in its little universe.

I thought the gameplay was good but only up to a certain point. The game claims to support controllers, but it doesn’t work. And the first time you open the options menu in-game, there’s a noticeable delay before it loads (meaning the game isn’t well optimized, even though it can run on very simple computers).

The difficulty increases gradually, and you can buy new weapons and items to recover your HP.
I really liked the level design, it’s full of alternate paths and hidden walls.

The only thing that really disappointed me was running into some pretty annoying bugs :/ The Steam community even mentioned them, but the dev never replied… which makes it seem like these bugs won’t be fixed. It’s a real shame, because this game has a lot of potential.

Replayability and Game Retention

Once you finish it, I didn’t really see any reason to go back. Maybe just for nostalgia.