Dokuro (Vita)
I really wanted to play this much earlier than I did, and boy do I wish Id played this earlier. It is so adorable. I love the charcoal artstyle, and I love the colours used for the two main characters (their colours stand out because the rest of the game is tastefully done in black, white, and grey). It is such a fascinating puzzle-platformer with the right amount of difficulty. I havent finished it yet, but I like it so much that I want to put it on my honourable mentions list.
Dokuro is about a little skeleton working for this huge Dark Lord. The Dark Lord falls for a princess and subsequently captures her. The little skeleton protagonist, who was originally handsome human prince, doesnt take too kindly to folks to kidnap girls, so he goes through the process of freeing her. The game takes these little narrative tidbits and forces them into game concepts. For example, you may drink potions which allow Dokuro to transform into his princely form for a while in order to get through puzzles he cannot otherwise get through when hes a small little skeleton. Thus, the game requires the player to ration how long he or she may use Dokuros transformations for, and how he or she may be able to utilize both forms to get through levels as efficiently and quickly as possible (while trying to collect little coins).
Throughout each stage, Dokuro must go through puzzle-platforming and light combat in order to protect the princess who Dokuro seems to adore. The princess will walk through any path you lay out for her, or run when confronted with an enemy, and its up to you to prevent any mishaps from occurring. She wont walk into pits. Sometimes you need to use chalk colours to create ropes or other things to get through a stage (which is done using the touch screen). Sometimes you need to switch into the princely form to carry the princess to safety bridal-style.
If you feel like you arent doing a good job with a puzzle, you can always restart. You can also skip ahead if you feel like youre stuck on a puzzle. While its a critical thinking-oriented puzzle-platformer, it still allows players who dont feel that theyre up to the challenge at that point in time to skip ahead. Its accessible without dumbing down its base formulae. Its cute, its quirky, and it provides the right amount of challenge. The controls are tight as well.
Oh, and the soundtrack? I realize what GhaleonQ was trying to emphasize in the SotY thread now. Yasuhiro Kawasaki, the composer for the SNES classic Illusion of Gaia, composed the soundtrack, and you can probably hear the evidence for that too. Lots of whimsical piano and recorder stuff and its so gosh darn cute.
I realize that this comes off as a genuine writeup for a GotY contender, but Im simply so sad that I didnt play this before and I enjoy it very much that I would have added it to the list in some capacity. I think its one of the most underrated games of 2012.
