TheAdversary
Curious Incubus
Just played through Environmental Station Alpha (ESA). Fun little platforming adventure game that came out a few years back. A lot of its gameplay is very skill-based, involves a lot of backtracking. Players end up thinking in unorthodox fashion, resulting in many new players progressing through the game out-of-order at various parts. ESA is quite a difficult game to play. It isn't uncommon to reach a point where the difficulty spikes up to the point where the player is left flabbergasted. If you have difficulty with this, you can change your total health by editing a text file. Hempuli, the creator of ESA, encourages this for players who want to see the game through without dealing with its harsh combat.
The game is very cutesy during the first play-through, but its post-ending content is a jarring shift in tone from platforming and journeying, to cryptic puzzle solving. Some can be obtuse to the point where it feels like a community challenge, rather than just puzzles for the individual player. The game also makes a swift left turn into Spookyville once the player starts making progress into its post-ending content.
The game is very cutesy during the first play-through, but its post-ending content is a jarring shift in tone from platforming and journeying, to cryptic puzzle solving. Some can be obtuse to the point where it feels like a community challenge, rather than just puzzles for the individual player. The game also makes a swift left turn into Spookyville once the player starts making progress into its post-ending content.