LogFAQs > #977481408

Currently Playing: The Fall Of Elena Temple

What Is It? Indie puzzle platformer game #15162.

Gameplay Overview: So you play as a little squiggle named Elena. You need to go through 23 different rooms in this temple and grab every coin in it. There are a handful of different obstacles or mechanics (portals that teleport you, platforms that collapse, snakes), but the important one here is the rewind function. Elena can't jump but she can rewind her falls (keeping all the coins she collected regardless). She can only rewind so many times at once though, so you have to be careful or you might get stuck in a pit somewhere.

Here's The Game Page! https://play.date/games/the-fall-of-elena-temple/

Here's Some Pictures!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/433454f5.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/76d93c60.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d984b95d.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/13057d20.png

Thoughts:
-Well, moving on to The Fall of Elena Temple. I 100% picked this one next because of the title and it reminded me of The Fall of the House of Usher. It has nothing to do with that. I can tell from the screenshots it isnt anything referencing Poes work at all. But still, fun title.
-Ok title screen shows me that there are twenty rooms and the music is making me want to go deaf. There are two options at the menu screen: select your room and turn off the music. Ive never been happier to play in silence.
-Now youve done it again, Elena! Why do I always get myself in these sort of troubles? I know! Because I wanted these coins and I love exploring dungeons. Come on, girl, lets do what we do best! Get all those shiny coins! Waitso here name is Elena Temple? And she explorestemples? Hm, maybe thats why she became a temple explorer.
-Ok so if these are the levels these seem super short. You basically have one screen to look at and you need to grab all the coins to complete it, I think.
-I should be careful where I fall. I dont want to wind up somewhere I cant get back up from. Ah, ok, so it is a puzzley sort of platforming game.
-Wait can I not jump? What the hell? So this is a wander around and fall game?
-I turn the music back on out of sheer curiosity, and I swear the track for this stage sounds like someone playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a recorder and the turning the reverb all the way up.
-There are these little twinkle spots in the stage, but I dont know what they do other than serve as a warning that twinkle twinkle little star is waiting for me if I dare turn the music back on.
-Also, and this is weird as hell, once the song finishes it just goes silent. Like I didnt need to mute it again, it just ended. If I want it to start back up, I have to go to the menu, go to music, and select on. Again. I wouldnt do this if the music was something I wanted to listen to.
-Ah, ok so there are portals at some points in the stage. Step into them and they transport you to the twinkle spots.
-And I can jump, but straight up and not left or right. So I cant jump up to a platform, but I can jump up and grab a coin if it is right above my head. Does this add anything to the gameplay? No. Pushing up to make your character move up one space is no different than just walking to get it.
-Boy I love my puzzle platforming games with no platforming, I tell ya.
-First room is super straight forward and I clear it first try. At the end Elena makes a hilarious meta comment about quitting and restarting if she gets herself stuff and then is like jeez why did I say that out loud.
-Ok, the next level introduces the important mechanic in the game, which is that you can rewind time to reverse your last fall. You can do it four times, so Im guessing the game is about planning your moves ahead to make sure you dont wind up using up all your rewinds. Interesting.
-Oh wait, I misunderstood. You have unlimited rewinds, but you can only rewind four falls at max at once. So if you fall from five spots, you can only go back four and can never get back up. But you can rewind four times as many times as you want in a level. That makes things way easier and I blow through the second stage my first try once I figure that out.
-Yeah, so this is sort of a flawed concept for a puzzle game, unless they change it more. You have to get the time turn backer on each stage, so you basically need to make sure you dont fall somewhere you cant get out of before that and then just never go over that max falls unless youre sure you dont need to go back up. Its been very trivial so far, and I think Im five levels in now. I cant remember as the music is slowly killing me.
-Oh, I forgot. Now I have to turn back time midfall and theyre like ok just press the up button instead of using the crank for an instant teleport back. As long as you dont sneeze or something you should be fine because the coins you need to grab are always pretty far above of the spikes and you move slowly.
-Im six levels in and bored. Not a good sign.
-The little snarky dialogue Elena says is mildly charming. If only the rest of the game was.
-Ok, so the tenth level is finally the first one that I dont complete immediately. They introduce locked doors a couple of levels before, and this is the first one that has more doors than keys. You need to figure out which ones dont actually need to be opened by using a combination of portals and rewinds.
-I feel like that Gordon Ramsey finally some good fucking food meme. I know were only ten levels in, but theres only 20 here total so half the game has been completely brainless.
-I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely awful the music in this game is.
-Ok the game has sort of turned a corner for me. Puzzling is better now and it is easier to lose now that they have more mechanics.
-One level introduces ladders. There is a letter at the bottom of a bit below a ladder and it says something like haha yeah so uh hope you didnt drop down from the ladder because that does not count as a drop point. It is a little annoying but also a little funny in the way it is written. And also it is an important mechanic to learn because you use ladders in the next little part to save a drop down when gathering coins. Not bad design, tbqh.