by DeadCore has an interesting problem. Or, rather, two problems. The first is that cubes spawn randomly. The second is that wall clipping is possible. These may seem like very obscure or minor complaints, but they are significant. You see, DeadCore is a speedrunning game. It’s a fantastic platformer, with at least 20 different paths in each level. There may only be five levels, but finding new paths or perfecting the ones you know can keep you playing for many hours. Each level is a new height of difficulty – introducing new mechanics or asking you to perform previous tasks faster and more precisely (though sometimes with just a bit too few save points in between).
But this is also where wall clipping – and some other minor bugs – are a real problem. Being a speedrunning game means executing actions extremely precisely – repeatedly. Except where you expect there to be RNG (I really hate those cubes), the same actions should produce the same results. But more often than should be, you’ll find yourself clipped into a wall or hitting a jumpad that doesn’t send you as high as it does 97% of the time. And then the run is ruined though no fault of your own – and you have to start over. DeadCore was made by a small team (six people, I believe) for an 7-day FPS challenge, so I’m willing to let these bits slide. Even so, I do wish they had been able to spend another six months working out those last few bugs.
Other than that complaint, Deadcore is wonderful. The controls are precise, the myriad paths are fun to discover and complete just a little bit faster each time. It’s well worth the $10, and I highly recommend it as speedrunning at its purest. The only thing more I could have wished for was a level editor.