Written by James Nicolay
Title: Tiny Barbarian DX
Developer: StarQuail Games
Publisher: Nicalis
Genre: Action, Platformer
Price: $29.99
Also Available On: Steam
Tiny Barbarian DX is a loving tribute to the 8-bit and 16-bit era of platforming gaming—the pixelated graphics will stir your nostalgic heart and the amazing soundtrack will delight your ears and easily remind you of the soundtracks of the classic 80s and early 90s video games that you love. Unfortunately, this brilliant homage is accompanied by brutal difficulty of the games back then—hence, prepare to flex your gaming muscles.
Released on PC back in 2013, the game was a sleeper hit. Though, to be honest, prior to this review of the game release on the Nintendo Switch, I have never really heard of this game before. While I am a huge fan of the platforming genre, I still feel that the games falling under this genre should cater to gamers of different expertise level. Tiny Barbarian DX mostly caters to the veterans or the experts of the genre. I wish that the developers could have made an easy mode on the Switch, considering that this is already a port of the original game.
Starting Tiny Barbarian DX, you will actually play a mini-game called Horde mode even before you even see the title screen. Here you are being timed how long you can defend yourself against similarly buffed-up enemies who are climbing up and clawing through your way. In a clever way, this is Nicalis way of already teaching you of the basic controls of the game: you can jump, attack, ground pound, and, best of all, flex your muscles. No kidding.
Eventually, you get defeated—the title screen appears and the adventure mode formally begins. You are seen at the top of a mountain, tied to a tree, being pecked by mean birds—intelligently alluding to the mythological hero Hercules. Soon enough, you are traversing four different worlds (also called episodes), divided into smaller areas or rooms. Some areas end up with a mini boss, but most are really just to test your platforming skills—and your patience as well.
I lost count of the number of times I died in frustration because of the sheer difficulty of the game. While our hero is muscular and is given six squares/bars of life—he feels so underpowered in some areas of the game. Every start of area serves as a save checkpoint, but sometimes I feel it’s an oversight in some levels where the end of the area is just too far. There are no power-ups in the game—you mostly collect coins and diamonds (which cannot actually be used for buying anything in the game, strangely) and some meat pieces to regain your life squares/bars.
The enemies just keep coming left and right. My real gripe, sometimes, is that while the enemies can be defeated fairly, it’s the overwhelming rush of many enemies attacking you from all directions and they are all given at least two quirky characteristics or movements that really deplete your life bar and, if you’re super unlucky, you won’t make it to the checkpoint because it could feel like a kilometer away as the enemies just keep coming.
Some gamers, though, would probably appreciate the difficulty level. In my case, I really like the feeling of being able to see the difficulty level slowly rise and, if possible, it should also rise with the character you’re playing. In one area, my hero was dying multiple times and the checkpoint was far, and by then I discovered that there is a well-hidden meat piece in an unsuspicious wall block—and I felt that hiding it was really so unfair.
At least the best part of the experience of going through extremely difficult platforming levels in Tiny Barbarian DX is the rewarding feeling of being able to beat its unforgiving levels. Or maybe I have already come to a point in my gaming life that I would really rather enjoy a game than be challenged to my ragequit limits.
But aside from the sadistic difficulty, the game looks lovingly designed by people who also grew up in the same generation of gaming like I did. The visuals and the soundtrack are perfect.
I have yet to try the co-op mode, but I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to get someone to suffer with me in some of the most challenging stages. Okay, at least, my misery could really use some company. Haha.
It’s currently priced at $29.99 on the Nintendo eShop. Is it worth it? Maybe. You can spend at least six hours on the game and people who love speedruns will definitely get their money’s worth.
At its best, Tiny Barbarian DX is a well-made platformer game—if only the difficulty level were adjusted to cater to more audience, I would highly recommend it.
Rating: 4/5
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