Wunderling
If one trope is common in video games, it’s that you play as the good guy who is off to save the princess but not in Wunderling. Here you play as the bad guy - and not even a powerful dark-side version of the protagonist either. Just a simple, low-level goon who must deal with Carrot Man, before he saves the princess.
As the game begins, you are presented with Carrot Man who you have full control over, leading you to believe this to be your character (unless you already know!) who can jump around, stomping tonnes of little yellow Goomba-like guys - including the one you’ll actually play as! After Carrot Man stomps the last little lemon-dude, the focus changes to you, as the now dead goon in the dirt. You’re revived by a witch named Kohlrabi who tasks you with hunting down Carrot Man - but beware! You only have a limited amount of power, so you must collect flower petals as you pass through the levels to keep this topped up, otherwise you ain’t gonna make it.
A runner-platformer-hybrid, Retroid’s Wunderling has you running in one direction until you meet a wall or other object blocking your path. You begin with only one ability, to jump, and you can utilise a boost, as well as flying in certain levels with a power-up, to keep the flow of things interesting. With puzzle-platforming at its core, you’ll need to figure out the path to the end, taking advantage of the blocks and knowing when to jump to other platforms and being aware of when you’ll change direction, to work through to the end.
The art style is nice and cartoony, with a really pleasant style that almost contradicts the idea of you playing as a baddie. The world is populated mostly by vegetables, and seeing the fun choices for the character designs is great - with a carrot for a main enemy and the witch’s camera-person being a cow injecting some hilarity.
The chip-tune music is super catchy, giving off a retro vibe that we’ve found ourselves humming away long after we’ve stopped playing, and it fits fantastically with the flow of each level. Navigating the world is interesting, with a variety of different themed areas with music that is thematically complementary.
There’s tonnes of quirky humour in Wunderling, with plenty of jabs at the typical tropes you see as well as references to other games, particularly the Mario series. The witch even mentions how she hates to be compared to “that boring old turtle king”, and how there are warp pipes to travel between some areas. Meta-humour is (usually) always something I love to see, and it works perfectly here due to the terrific writing.
Controls are simple, making them nice and easy to pick up. It’s enjoyable to play, with levels offering enough challenge to keep things interesting. With a bunch of worlds each filled with fifteen normal levels as well as three secret levels to be found - accessed via hidden warp zones in certain levels, you’ll need to keep an eye out as some of these are very well hidden.
Levels are fast to replay, which is great for going back to grab any collectibles such as cassette tapes to unlock tracks, as well as other unlockable items to customise your character such as hats and other accessories, as well as changing colours. Personally, I’m quite attached to little lemon-man, but Allan changed him up to appear like a moustached Sonic. Treasure chests can also be found in every stage, so going back for all of these is crucial for those completionists out there, especially as some of these require a great deal of thought to figure out how to reach them.
At only £8.39 on the Xbox Store, Wunderling is fantastically priced for the volume of content it offers, as well as the addictive-ness of playing through each level, so I’d highly recommend it for those of you looking for something new.
In the end, we decided to give Wunderling the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Have you played Wunderling yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Retroid Interactive for the Wunderling Xbox review code!
