VVVVVV
Platform: iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux
When a strange explosion strikes your ship and sends you hurtling through space, it's only a temporary setback... until you realise you're all alone. Luckily, you have the power of gravity on your side! Even luckier, less than ten percent of what you'll encounter isn't instantly fatal! ... wait, wait... that's not lucky at all! No turning back. From Terry Cavanagh comes VVVVVV, a retro platformer not for the faint of heart. Oh, not because of the subject matter. Because it will crush your very soul.
While VVVVVV controls like most standard platformers using the keyboard, it does offer a twist. Tapping the action key of your choice, [Z], [X], or the [space] bar, flips your character's personal gravity to allow him to walk on the ceiling or the ground at a whim. Since he can't jump, presumably due to a lack of knees, this comes in handy avoiding death and other obstacles. The game will auto-save whenever you encounter a teleporter, but you can save manually by hitting [enter] to open the menu. You'll need to be both fast and careful if you want to reunite the Captain with his crew, and VVVVVV is one game where success 
in every step of the way actually feels like an accomplishment.
Your main objective is to track down your missing crew members, of which there are five, which is easier said than done. The dimension you're stuck in is enormous, and locating your wayward companions requires a lot of exploration. The best way to achieve this is not by careful, measured expeditions but by immediately leaping bodily into the great unknown. Just make sure to watch out for enemies. It's easier to list what isn't dangerous than to compile a list of what is. Deadly encounters include "spikes", and "pretty much everything else". If it moves and it isn't you, a companion, or a platform, touching it means certain death. Of course, death is at most a momentary inconvenience since you'll instantly respawn at the last checkpoint you touched without penalty. Just don't look at your death toll under the menu, and you'll remain blissfully ignorant of your fragile mortality.
Analysis: Let's get one thing out of the way right now. VVVVVV, aside from being fun to say aloud, is pretty great. Sprawling, challenging, and fun, imbued with that old-school charm that those of us who remember when Atari was more than just a quaint collectible will love. The levels are expansive and well designed, with the unexplored void feeling satisfyingly epic each time you hurl your grinning avatar out into it. Each area flows seamlessly into the next and represents its own challenge. Helpfully, each area is also named individually, so you'll know what to scream out in rage after you fail a precisely timed jump the fourteenth. time. in. a. row.
There's also a moderately high level of difficulty present at times, which I suppose can be construed as "retro" as well by those of us who grew up in the arcade or NES era. But there are no quarters to bilk us out of now, so I can only assume having levels that kill you over and over and over before you manage to pass them is Terry Cavanagh's way of saying he doesn't like my face. See, there are times when VVVVVV passes from the realm of "challenging puzzle platformer" to "reflex hardening endurance fest". Since once you pass a certain point you can pick your own direction, the difficulty curve feels like it's all over the place, which can be frustrating. Yes, yes, "Dora is bad at games", bla-de-bla-de-bla. Of course, if you're a fan of Mr. Cavanagh's work for precisely this reason, feel free to ignore this paragraph entirely and pretend it consists of a dissertation on why Jurassic Park is the best movie, ever. (Second Place: Woody Harrelson and the zombies.)
VVVVVV feels like a departure from old form for Mr. Cavanagh. While the visuals are familiar, it feels much more gameplay-oriented than previous offerings such as Don't Look Back. The same confidence-crushing difficulty is present, but the story doesn't feel as if it fits in quite as well. It's hard to really get intrigued by the snippets of dialogue or other exposition when they're spaced so far apart and doled out in such small bites. Man, why are you talking to me about consequences and inter-dimensional travel when I got timed disintegrating platform runs to worry about?
While the main game can be conquered in several hours (more or less depending on how often you feel the tender embrace of spikes, or track down all the secrets), VVVVVV offers several unlockable challenges in case you didn't feel like it was hard enough. I look forward to the comments telling me you've beaten the game without dying once, so I can call you a liar personally.
One thing worth mentioning is that your save files won't survive the purging of your computer's temporary files. Do I speak from experience? You can ask the monitor-shaped hole in my front yard. So unless you feel like replaying all those fiddly little stages you only just managed to beat the first time, player be warned.
Although a bit too demanding on the fingers and reflexes if you're only a passing fan of the genre, VVVVVV is a challenging and rewarding experience if you have the gaming muscle to take it on. Yeah, that's right. I went there.
P.S. If you enjoyed the music of VVVVVV as much as we did, composer SoulEye is offering the soundtrack, awesomely titled PPPPPP, on his website for a small donation.
Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Get the full version
Linux:
Play the Flash demo
Get the full version
VVVVVV (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
VVVVVV (Android)
I can't wait to play this, everything about it screams AWESOME!!! VVVVVVery awesome. ;)
If it's as hard as I Wanna Be The Guy, this is something I gotta play.
I played the demo and was amazed at the depth of such a game that uses pixelated graphics. Even then, it still looked very smooth. I'm not sure if it's worth the buy because it's a tad bit expensive.
I've been waiting for this for SO LONG. This is an excellent game, I can attest to it, having played through the beta so many times.
Don't let the difficulty put you off, before you consider the following:
Dying repeatedly in most games is very, very annoying. Especially when you have to redo everything just BEFORE the thing that killed you. VVVVVV makes dying much less of a pain than you'd expect, because there are many, many checkpoints. They're littered about like garbage alongside a freeway. If you die, you will rarely have to worry about redoing all the annoying stuff you overcame 100s of times before: you're thrown instantly back into the action to take another shot at the latest challange. I cannot overstate how much this contributes to the fun of the game. This game is hard, but you'll find you have more patience than you would ever expect of yourself.
I'm about midway through playing it (or at least I think I am, I've got 2 more crew members to save, and I have 8 of 20 trinkets) and it's pretty awesome. The no-jumping, gravity switching feature is pretty much rewiring my platforming impulses, which is always a good thing. I haven't felt bored at all so far. While yes, it takes time and multiple retries to get through some rooms, and to get used to smoothly flipping gravity up and down while moving at the same time, the instant respawn makes it less of a chore, and getting to that next checkpoint is very satisfying. Dora's "moderately difficult" is a good way to describe the game's challenge - not overly, hair-tearingly frustrating, just a good amount of challenge.
Some of my favourite sections so far: the timed upward-moving tunnel, and the "spooky" lab where you play escort.
And the characters wear adorably sad faces when they get upset or hear bad news!
I had seen a little about this while it was in development but from playing through the demo I have to say I was underwhelmed.
My random criticisms are:
- Does retro mean make a game that could have existed on the C64? You can have retro stylings while having other modern elements.
- It seems to be running at 30 frames a second which looks jittery and distracting.
- The sprites were 1 colour and barely animated without any charming qualities from their limitations.
- It felt like a basic flash game built around a single gameplay device.
- The background effect on the second level in the demo was too busy and bright getting in the way of the gameplay in the foreground.
- There was no inertia to the walking or gravity. Maybe this wouldn't work but the instant and full left/right/up/down speed feels crude.
Reading this back I seem overly negative without meaning to be, if it was a free flash game I'd think it was rough but fun.
Whew. Beat it with 10 trinkets in 1:29 with 600 deaths. I have no idea if that's good or not.
"- It felt like a basic flash game built around a single gameplay device."
The game was meant to be built around the "gravity flipping w/out jumping" core mechanic. The idea is that too many other games come up with a great core idea, then throw in tons of other aspects to gameplay that aren't as fun. You'll notice that he does a [i]lot[/i] with this mechanic; each level has a different theme and explores some new kind of obstacle for that single core mechanic.
"- There was no inertia to the walking or gravity. Maybe this wouldn't work but the instant and full left/right/up/down speed feels crude."
That's what I thought at first too, but the left/right motion does have (very slight) inertia. This game would be impossible if your character went gliding around, though.
"Whew. Beat it with 10 trinkets in 1:29 with 600 deaths. I have no idea if that's good or not."
From what I can tell, 1:29 is a really good time for your first playthrough. And 600 deaths is pretty good; I'd be impressed if someone beat 500 on their first playthrough. Usually people get more trinkets, though.
I'm intrigued by this, but fifteen dollars is extremely expensive for a game that lasts only an hour and a half. Could someone give some examples of the types of challenges that are offered in the post-game? Do they involve something along the lines of playing through the main game again with new characters or game mechanics, or is it just one or two new levels or something like that?
Well, for one thing, it takes most people 2-3 hours to beat the game first time through; Button's time is the fastest I've heard of yet.
After you beat the game, you can still explore the world, looking for all 20 trinkets. It's not a scavenger hunt (They're all pretty visible, if you go through trying to fill in your mini-map, you'll find them all), but lots of trinkets have an extra little challange to overcome in order to get to them.
You can also play "time trial mode" for each of the various levels; you get ranked on time, deaths, with bonus points for going out of your way for the in-level trinkets.
Also, once you beat the game, you can "flip" the whole world upside down for subsequent playthroughs, if you'd like.
Once you've gathered all 20 trinkets, you unlock a secret area where there's a trophy case for various accomplishments, and a mini-game you can try to beat your high score on.
If you score at least an "S" (par, but not perfect) on four of the time trials, you unlock a "no death" challenge, which I can't imagine anybody ever beating. There's a whole room in the trophy case for the award you would theoretically get for doing this.
So yeah, there are several options for continued play, but it's mostly more of the same with added goals. If you liked the game up to that point, though, you'll probably want to do this stuff anyway!
Alright I'm monopolizing this comment thread; I'll shh quiet now.
Thanks for all the info, Stephen. I just went back and got the ten trinkets I missed. You're right, many of those I could've gotten the first time around, but I wasn't making much of an effort to explore the overworld. I like that Victoria marks your map with the missing ones after you beat the game.
But, man, there are some brutal challenges in getting a few of them. I probably racked up 150-200 deaths in the Veni-Vidi-Vici-etc. chain of rooms. Edge Games was rough too (62 deaths, my highest for any particular room), and the one with the moving platform that's blocked by a disintegrating brick (I forget what it's called) had me scratching my head for a bit, and then groaning when I figured out what I had to do, and how tough that would be to pull off.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the post-completion experience that's offered here. I can't stand games that just put you back at your last save if you continue playing after beating them. It's much more fun to have bonus content as a reward for your efforts.
I haven't even touched the extra modes yet, and I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth. To those who think $15 is too much for such a game, haven't you ever spent that much money (or more) on an entree at a restaurant? Did you think $15 was appropriate for how hard the chef worked in making the dish, and for how long you spent enjoying it? Me too. But surely those measurements pale in comparison to the months Terry poured into making VVVVVV and the time you'll spend playing it.
I was actually just about to make the very same point Button did regarding the price tag, but I'm probably going to do so far less eloquently.
I judge cost spent on games against similarly priced entertainment. A night out at the movies will probably run about fifteen dollars per person, depending on where you go and whether snacks are involved. Say that's about two hours of entertainment. If a game costs around that or less and keeps me entertained for at least the same amount of time, I consider it as having gotten my value out of it. And if I get more time out of it? Even better.
I'm not saying my way of evaluating cost/value is the best way, just that it's another way of looking at things. I'm inclined to view and reward all the hours T Cavanagh's put into this much more favourably than, say, Keanu Reeve's efforts at trying to conjure up more than one expression while I struggle to stay awake.
Alright. It is a well executed concept that explores many possibilities within its grasp. It creates a specific ambiance that can be appreciated by many as it is. It offers challenges for various skill levels. All in all, a great example of a positive gaming experience.
I just poured an hour and a half and upwards of 200 deaths into Doing Things The Hard Way. And triumphant, I used the save function in the pause menu. Reloading my save found me without that secret.
I've since run out of things to embed my fist into.
Someone on the distractionware forums made this mistake:
On the save menu, they hit "enter", which closes the menu, instead of "action," which saves.
ChaoSpectre, is there any chance you made this mistake?
In any case, don't worry! Doing Things The Hard Way gets easier every time you try it!
Honestly one of the hardest and most enjoyable platformers I've ever played (and I've beaten Hell in Cave Story on hard).
This game was definitely worth it. I looked at it, decided to try it out, and couldn't put it down until I finished (figuratively, of course).
I got all 20 trinkets on my first play through and spent about 2:57 on the game (I think I spent anywhere between 50 and 70 minutes going back for trinkets, and the veni-vidi-vici chain was TORTURE). My death count, however is embarrassing.
1996 :/
Oh, and I got 7482 flip count (I played around a lot when I was filling the map).
ok.... sooo I'm sitting here with the red guy and I missed a couple trinkets... and there's no way to get more... can anyone help?
JIGuest, after you get out of the mini-dimension you're trapped in, you'll be able to roam free once again. Then you can go back and get those trinkets you left behind.
Stephen, before I start a new game to improve my time/deaths (and, presumably, lose the ability to continue from my current one), is there anything else I should explore after getting all the trinkets and filling out the map?
uhh... ok so i finished the final level and all it says is "Thats it so far. thanks for playing." what do i do.
Played the first demo level and have absolutely no guilt about paying the $15 for this! I always enjoy Terry Cavanaugh's games, and this one gives me that gleeful giggle-and-scream reaction that few platformers can pull off.
Really looking forward to it! Not reading any of the comments til I've played the rest.
The amazing Commodore 64 style just gives me the chills, and the music does the same. It's like childhood all over again!
Also it's super fun, not just playing off the nostalgia of that era.
I love it.
This is great fun, but I am stuck at ...NOT AS I DO. And my pinkie has a cramp...
Any words of wisdom?
@StephenM3 - Thanks for your concern, but I have seen the screen confirm my save, with an updated playtime, survivor indicator, and new Trinket count all presented with a hearty "Game Saved" next to it.
No worry. I'm at 20 Trinkets. 666 Deaths on story completion screen. 1:57 on story. (Those should be greater, but because of aforementioned botched saves...)
If I start a new game (
flip mode seems like a barely legitimate way to increase replay value
), would I
retain access to the secret lab?
@william - Are you perplexed? Or is it a matter of execution?
Buttons: nope, after you get all the trinkets and find the secret lab, you're done with the main world map (as far as I know).
JIGuest: If it tells you, "that's all for now," you're playing the beta. If you're playing the beta and don't realize it, that means you probably got it for free, in the 4chan leak or something similar. I would have some choice words for you right now, but this is a semi-family-friendly site, and you're anonymous anyway. Just go away.
ChaoSpectre: I have no clue, I haven't tried yet. I've been working on the time trials and that's about it (I'm not particularly good at this game :P).
So glad I played the demo. This is the kind of game that would make me throw my controller through a wall. Fun for a little, but the preview was enough to let me know not to waste my time any more.
I played a few minutes of the demo and instantly purchased the game. It is amazing! My only gripe is that a few of the trophies (15 secs and above on the Gravotron, beat game without dying once) seem to not be humanly possible to achieve, (the Gravotron ones 15+ seconds require so much luck that you could play for years straight and not get it), so the intended replay value is a bit hindered.
ChaoSpectre:
Yeah, you retain access. I just tried. (And I'm pretty sure your crew tells you this when you get there, too.)
@ChaoSpectre - Perplexed... my fingers seem able where my brain is not.
This game may have a good value compared to entrees and movies, but it's not an entree or movie, it's a video game. And I know that there are tons of games out there with the same price tag that last much longer--both games made by big-name companies and independently developed games, whichever you prefer. Actually, I've played a few freeware games that last longer than three hours. VVVVVV might be a labor of love that deserves the money, but there are hundreds of games out there that are also labors of love, deserving just as much money, and for my own sake I still need to be selective about which ones I decide to purchase.
That said, I decided to take a leap of faith and buy this game. And... Well, the main game might be only three hours long, but I think there might be more gameplay packed into those three hours than you would find in a standard 10-to-20-hour game. Cavanagh clearly spent a lot of time exploring all the things that could be done with VVVVVV's main game mechanic, and designed each individual room to make sure that no single variation of a theme was used more than once. The end result is that you're constantly experiencing something new. Also each room is difficult enough to make sure that the player is always on his or her toes, but because of the frequent checkpoints, the constant deaths never once became frustrating, at least not to me (and I've been getting frustrated at games that are much easier than this one).
I still wouldn't recommend this game to someone who's looking for something to fill their time, because it doesn't do that (the speedrun/no death challenges do extend the gameplay some, but you can pick pretty much any game and create similar challenges for yourself). The type of person I'd recommend it to is someone who's looking for a unique experience, because this game provides a certain level of thrilling intensity that I'm not sure I've even seen before, outside of music-based games.
Hey Buttons: If you're so smart, give me a hint... What the heck am I supposed to do at the room with the moving platform blocked by the disintegrating brick (which, by the way, is called "Prize for the reckless," which I assume is a hint)?
My thought is:
You're supposed to get pushed through the wall by the moving platform?
but I can't see any way to do that. The only other thought I had was
you have to go back to the room without dying, but if I leave the room and come back to it the brick returns.
If possible, a hint would be nice.
Scratch that question... I just figured out what to do. Now I need to sit down and have a nice cry before I actually do it.
Oh yeah, here's some tips for the levels people seem to be having the most trouble with.
Not As I Do (progressive hints):
Trying to walk across with two people is pretty rough. How can you make it easier?
Maybe you should focus on one person at a time.
And maybe you shouldn't head straight for the exit right away.
Solution:
Walk on the underside of the moving platforms to get to the safe spot under the exit. Here you should be able to safely jump up and down as much as you want to maneuver your companion to safety. Just make sure she's (he's?) out of the room before you make your way back.
Prize for the Reckless (progressive hints):
Does the room really provide you with all the tools you need to get to that trinket?
You definitely need to activate that moving platform, that's for certain.
You can't just activate the moving platform and head back, because the room will reset as soon as you leave.
But there's also apparently no way the captain is going to fit through that hole.
It seems like the only solution is for the captain to be in the top half of the room to activate the platform, and then be in the bottom half of the room to get the trinket.
Although maybe it isn't a matter of how you get from the top half of the room to the bottom half, so much as how you get from the bottom half to the top half.
Again, have you considered ALL the tools the room is providing to you to reach the trinket?
Solution:
The answer is that you have to start in the bottom half of the room and activate the checkpoint you find there. Then you have to go through the series of rooms that you normally traverse to get to the top half, but you have to avoid any checkpoints you see along the way. Once you make it to the top half of the Prize for the Reckless room, activate the platform, then kill yourself on the spikes. You'll regenerate on the checkpoint in the bottom half of the room, and because you didn't leave the room, the platform will still be moving.
Veni, Vedi, Vici (general tips):
This is largely a matter of doing the whole thing, over and over again, until it's become muscle memory. However, here's some general advice on how you'll want to be positioning your character along the way, to make it a bit easier.
First room: Going right, aim to grace the spiky corner on the lower right side. Swing back left before you exit the screen, because you'll need to be holding left immediately starting in the next room.
Second room: There's almost no room for pausing here, you have to hug the wall from the start and hold left to reach the end of the room. The trouble comes in figuring out how to let go of the key so that the captain stops moving exactly in the middle of the exiting passage.
Third room: If you stopped properly in the previous room, you shouldn't need to press any keys here.
Fourth room: The biggest challenge, for me, was restraining myself from pressing any keys in the first half of this room. Think of the first part as an extension of the hallway you were just in; wait until you're sure you're out, then move right (but not too much).
Fifth room: This is a balance of going left some, but not so much that you run into the wall. This wall isn't as steep as the one in the second room. Prepare to swing back to the right in the next room.
Sixth room: Move right and land on the platform. This part's tricky, because it helps to walk to the right edge of the platform before jumping back off; however, you can't take very long, and you don't want to slide off the opposite end. After jumping, position yourself near the right end of the room, then start heading left before exiting.
Fifth room (down): It helps to start at the right here, because you need some momentum to get you across that corner to the left. Then, in order to clear the next room properly, you'll want to swing back to the right just enough so that you have enough room to be moving back to the left at full speed before you exit this room.
Fourth room (down): Remember, you want to go down the LEFT passage, not the right one, which leads to a dead end. Making it to the left is more of a matter of how well you performed in the previous room than this one. Just make sure to position yourself back in the center of the hallway before exiting the room.
Third room (down): Remain still, you're past the hardest parts. After you've passed the spikes, hug the right wall.
Second room (down): Same principle as going up, but in reverse. Hold right, make sure you don't hit the spikes on the right side.
First room (down): It's just a matter of moving left enough to avoid the spikes, then you're clear. Just make sure you're positioned in the right half of the exit; you don't want to end up back on the left side of that block in the next room and need to start all over.
Everyone seems to have that reaction to Prize for the Reckless. I had just gone through Doing Things the Hard Way twice, so I just sighed a bit. :(
@William - So you need an honest to god hint.
So if you've caught on, the room names are great hints at the theme of the room. So "Do As I Say... ...Not As I Do" refers to how you need to take advantage of the fact that your second doesn't follow you perfectly.
So think about the rules that govern your second's movement.
Look around the room. You'll need everything that isn't spikes. See anything that you might be able to use?
If you need any more, I'll be here.
Loving this game, I'm on my third time through it ("Doing It the Hard Way" gets easier every time), although I've never gotten more than 18/20 trinkets. One was the Reckless puzzle, which took way too long to figure out. The other, for reasons I can't seem to figure out, is one that no one seems to have complained about yet, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something terribly obvious.
Here's what I know:
In the upper left-hand corner of the map, underneath the blue "Bounce" series of levels, I'm missing two rooms. If you're looking at the map, they'd be in the second row, sixth and seventh columns. It's marked on my map that the trinket is in the right-hand room of that pair that I'm missing.
The bottom border along the blue Bounce zone seems to be broken, as if to suggest that those rooms (or one of them, at least) is part of the Bounce zone. However, both of the rooms above what I still have hidden contain impenetrable(?) bouncers, the room to the left contains a spiked wall along that border with no other obvious openings, the rooms below seem to be random space clutter levels, and the room to the right is a tiny teleport room. If there's a way into either of those rooms, I'm completely missing it.
Hm... That's odd... While studying the map again...
I don't seem to recall ever being inside that light blue cluster of rooms on the right side... (OMINOUS FORESHADOWING?)
@artbegotti - Just look a little harder around that level. There's no weird warping.
$15 is a lot, but the fact that there's a Mac port swayed me-- too many critically acclaimed indie games I haven't gotten to play, or had to wait for the Xbox version of.
And if it's all as much fun as the first level, I'll be happy to have spent that money for a quality evening.
Aha! Thanks, ChaoSpectre!
On a related note, having the moving backgrounds turned on really helps! ;)
About 3 and a half hours first time with 17/20 (have since found one more) and a good 700 deaths (although I'm sure a vast majority of them come from the draconian "Doing it the Hard Way"). I've explored every tile on the map. I enjoyed every minute of this game and plan to replay soon, definitely worth it.
Is there some trick to the edge games trinket? I can't seem to figure that one out.
I just beat this game, but never saw the secret lab. How do I find it?
Thanks!
I don't think anyone's asked about Edge Games before. Congratulations.
This one's hard to explain. It's definitely more of a feel it out process.
Edge Games (general hints)
Once you know what you have to do for this trinket, it's still hard. I still have a few dozen deaths on this one when I replay the game.
Think about the name of the level, and the nature of the stage the level is in. What has the gimmick been and how might you use it?
It may help to observe the deadly pink fish.
Once you have an idea as to how to get to your desired destination, there is still a lot of work to be done.
You may be required to figure out some very specific timing.
Flipping may also be a frequent occurence.
I hope that was of some help.
If you need something more concrete, just ask.
I'm still getting nowhere on edge games I guess I'm mostly confused about
Flipping. It doesn't seem to help me avoid the guys at all. I can run up to third floor, but then I always get mashed.
I tried hard but i can't find the trinket in the upper left corner of the map. Anyone can't help ? Thanks.
My method for Edge Games:
There's more flipping to this level than you'd realize. My technique is to (from the ground floor, which we'll call Level 1) move to the left and get underneath the hole in the Level 2 floor. When both nomfish (because they're nomming as they swim by) pass, flip up (to the ceiling of Level 2) and move left, crossing over to the right side of the screen. Allow yourself to keep falling up to Level 3, until the first Level 2 nomfish gets underneath you. At that moment, flip down to the ground again (Level 2) until the first Level 3 passes above you. Then you're going to flip again up to Level 3 as the second Level 2 nomfish passes beneath you, and flip down again as the second Level 3 nomfish passes above you.
That's essentially the method you need to beat the room, flipping up and down to dodge the fish. Once you've made the final flip to dodge, you can flip up again and scramble to the other side of the screen, where you will repeat the process with Levels 3 and 4. From there, it's just another quick dash to the left to grab the trinket. Once the trinket is in hand, you can just go down the levels again by going in the same direction as the nomfish, or just dying and restarting at the checkpoint again.
If anybody still has trouble with Edge Games, this youtube video is probably the best way to see what to do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yab8B0pV4Pc
Just got all 20 trinkets. Good game, and the more devious trinket levels definitely did what post-"ending" game sections should do: give you extra satisfaction for mastering skills while being intense/frustrating enough that you're not really sad the game's over. Well worth the $15, if that needs to be said again.
The plot and character elements were awful, though. I wish I could put my finger on why the (very very thin) story bothered me more than a completely non-narrative version of the game would have. It feels tacked-on in a way none of the rest of the game does. Not to mention
the story doesn't even resolve! I mean, the crew say "yay, secret lab, we should be able to use this technology to save our dimension", but we don't see them DOING it.
My biggest complaint with the game is what happens at the end, say, after you've 'won'. You get the 'game over' screen and a redirect to the website, but you're not returned to the main screen, certain accomplishments aren't registered. As such, you can't go back and complete any tasks left unfinished (e.g., finding trinkets). You have to refresh the game and go off your last manually saved game (which hopefully wasn't too far in the past).
Maybe this was just a problem for me because the yellow dude was the last one I saved. This means that, even if I wanted to, I can't get out of the room from which we both need to teleport without triggering the end game sequence that I want to avoid so I can get the last few medals. AARGH!
hi there everyone... would anyone be nice enough to tell me how to get the last trinket im missing?
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1847/trinkg.jpg
thx in advance
I am clueless as in how to pass Driller, Exhaust Chute, Sorrow levels.
JIGuest: That's only happening because you're playing a stolen and modified copy of the game's beta, you complete and utter moron. That's what you get for stealing games from hardworking indie developers.
OblivionWielder: That's a tricky one. The secret to getting there is actually found in the "I'm Sorry" and "Please forgive me" rooms. If you look for somewhere you can go that you haven't tried before, you'll find it!
Yajr: That's a tough bit for early in the game, but there's no secret there. You've just got to weave around the obstacles on your way down, then come back out the way you came, landing on the other side of the spikes!
hi there everyone... would anyone be nice enough to tell me how to get the last trinket im missing?
Spoiler
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1847/trinkg.jpg
thx in advance
Spoiler
in that bottom left blue square jump over the spikes
How do I get to the light blue section on the right side of the map?
I have uncovered a small bit of it through a small tunnel from the left, but the rest, I can't find.
Please give me a hint?
Ok. It helps to ask, I guess. Just uncovered the light blue section.
Next to the teleporter to the bottom right there is a terminal. When I activated this terminal, the light blue section was uncovered on the map.
But I've still not figured out how to get there. If it is even possible?
jpa:
OMINOUS FORESHADOWING!
That's the secret lab, which is only accessible after you've collected all 20 trinkets.
Once you've got all 20 trinkets, talk to Victoria on the ship.
artbegotti: Thanks!
I must nail the veni-vidi-vici trincket, then. The last one.
Gosh, it's hard! :-)
i dunno if i did well...
1:20 and 698 deaths. would that be a speedrun?
anyways, great game for it's simplicity.
Can someone give concise spoilers on how to get the last trinket at: http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/1847/trinkg.jpg
Just read through all the comments, and the only people who have mentioned the trinkets locations added onto your map after you beat the game - this is not the case. It is possible as soon as you rescue Victoria, you go and talk to her several times until she gives you a shiny trinket and add's the locations to your map.
Hi guys, can someone help me? How I can get to blue level?
I just can't find a way to get in it
Intie, what you're asking is a secret, so only click on the spoiler if you really want it spoiled:
That's a secret area that you can only unlock once you collect all of the trinkets
I'm not advertising! I saw a comment earlier regarding the price, and how 15$ more than some like dish out for a casual gaming experience. To those who are concerned about that you might want to check out the Humble Indie Bundle. You get 5 indie games (one of them being VVVVVV) for a price you name. I benefit in no way from the Humble Indie Bundle, I actually was look for help to a level because i bought the Humble Indie Bundle.
[It's fine. Some of the money actually goes to Terry, the developer, so no worries. :) Also, we have an announcement (and a contest, too) for the Humble Indie Bundle #3 going on right now. -Jay]
I just got this game yesterday with the Humble Indie Bundle, It is definitely worth paying for. Flip mode does offer replay value, it feels like a whole different world.
@avgjoe
Go to the "I'm sorry/Please forgive me" levels in the dark blue section. View this: http://bit.ly/nGs2Y1 Keep going to the right, and you will find the trinket.
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