LightQb - All S Ranks

LightQb is an upcoming first person precision platformer with a speedrun focus, in the vein of SEUM/Neon White/etc. I found it pretty fun, movement feels good which is core to the enjoyment of this genre in particular. Especially as a solo dev project, it has a lot of polish - the visuals are unique and stay very readable, and enough different map mechanics are implemented where it stays interesting and feels different for each stage. Maps had opportunities for fun routing, a lot had big skips to find while still having enough enforcement of a linear path to avoid devolving into completely skipping the level by going directly to the exit like you can do in some other games. A certain level of proficiency is required to complete it and get good times, but I wouldn't expect it to give experienced players too much trouble.

I did have some nitpicks, which I shared as feedback to the developer - many got addressed, but there are still some elements of the gameplay and design that I didn't like. In particular, my number one remaining complaint is about the RNG instant death bullets on some stages, like at the beginning of "Fire Works". In a game where you're trying to take the quickest line to get the best time possible, if enemies shoot at that optimal line you just have to pray they don't hit or reset... Or go slower, which is the exact opposite of what you want to do in this genre. I found that maps were a bit tough to initially scout out, as you often have very little time to see a new section and figure out where to go before you die to a hazard, this isn't a massive problem with maps this short but did feel more like trial and error than a puzzle to learn each map. I also just didn't like the tone of the narration, though it's been toned down a bit, just the whole "mean narrator makes fun of you after each death or slow time" thing isn't something I like.

Overall, I liked the game and think it's worth playing if you like individual level speedrun platformers. In my opinion it's not competing with the absolute best in the genre, but it doesn't have to, I'd happily play even more games like this. I just like iterating on my route and execution and seeing the measurable amount that I'm getting better by, it's a very compelling gameplay loop. Obviously by the length of the video it's a relatively short game, if you're shooting for all S ranks that should take a decently skilled player ~5 hours or so, then you can pour more hours in as desired if you want top placements on the leaderboard.

The dev said it should be out sometime in the coming months, I'll update this description if there's a more concrete date announced. At moment of recording, all of these are world record, but that's not really saying much when only a few people have early access. Though, the dev (RobDoesStuff) does actually have very good times on many of these maps, and it provided a solid challenge to aim to beat all of those times.

Level Timestamps:
0:00 Tutorial?
0:16 Warp Holes
0:29 A New Beginning
0:52 Unreal
1:20 Focused Light Ray
1:41 Precision Test
1:58 Graceful Descent
2:23 Rotating Contraption
2:40 The Accelerator
2:57 Moving Sideways
3:09 Fire Works
3:28 Bad Timing
3:51 Underwater
4:10 Elevator
4:32 In Motion
4:51 Hang In There
5:10 Dash Extension
5:30 When He Kills You
5:48 Running Away
6:10 Towering Structure
6:42 Challenge
7:08 DieHard
7:35 The End


LightQb comes out soon on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/33...

Let me know in the comments of any cool games I should check out, or what you thought of this game!

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Thanks to RobDoesStuff for the early access to the game!