Update: MLP: Revenants of Chaos / Project Dash playable demo

MLP: Revenants of Chaos

Here we have an update on the progress of MLP: Revenants of Chaos, a promising upcoming adventure platformer clearly inspired in 16-bit era classics. In this game we take on the role of everyone's favourite technicolor flyer, Rainbow Dash, as she runs and flies around Ponyville collecting gems and fruit and avoiding dangerous oranges.

This demo features one single level, that although short shows clear effort and love by the part of the developers. The Tails-like gameplay is fluent, with nice details like slight inertia, and doesn't rush you like other examples of the genre. You can, if desired, try your best at speeding through the level, avoiding or ramming enemies, releasing them of their citric ailment; or just enjoy the scenery and carefully trot and jump around the beautiful equestrian landscape, looking for hidden paths and collectibles thrown around for 100% completion.

The game's most notable aspect is the carefully designed and well executed artistic section, with defined and well-done sprites and backgrounds. The demo shows urban, countryside and cave sections with smooth transitions between each, giving a a feeling of natural progression as the level goes by. The music manages to convey a general atmosphere of cheerful relaxation, compelling the player to spend time appreciating the Equestrian landscape, whilst not taking attention away from the action at hand.

Rainbow Dash speeding through the cave section.

The game engine handles quick movements and reactions without a delay, and manages to control large crowds of homing enemies with naturality, as well as mantain the aggresive movement of fruited birds while the released ones fly away. it isn't devoid of issues, like blue birds chasing Dash undewater, which looks kinda silly, and in my opinion the front layer of the scenario requires a smoothing/blur effect on scrolling, since otherwise the pixel-by-pixel movement puts a great strain in the eyes after playing for a while. While this wouldn't be an issue in monitors with real refreshment (people still using CRTs rejoice) on modern monitors it is quite evident.
Of course, being a demo these small issues can be overlooked without greatly affecting the experience, as we can assume they'll be fixed by the time the final release sees the light.

All in all, this game shows great promise, and will most likely become a favourite of those who enjoy fast, retro-style games.

Thanks to Redenchilada for inviting me to hop aboard this blog. I do hope this is the first of many articles to come. Signing off for the first time, Nerthos.