Of the a whole bunch of variations of A Christmas Carol that we’re all bombarded with within the lead-up to the Holidays, only a few give any thought to what comes after Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Previous, Current, and Future. The main focus is firmly on how he turns into a modified man and never what he truly does together with his newfound pleasure and Christmas spirit. Ebenezer and the Invisible World makes the daring proposition that Scrooge would change into a ghost-thrashing, high-jumping champion of the frequent individuals and we’re right here for it.
Set a number of years after the occasions of Dickens’ novel, Ebenezer and The Invisible World sees the miser-turned-saint as one thing of a bridge between the spirit and the fabric worlds. His encounter with the Ghosts of Christmas left him capable of see the souls of those that couldn’t forged off their chains of distress and cruelty as he has, leaving him the one one able to aiding them on their quest for peace. It’s a enjoyable play on the unique story we all know so properly and it instantly drew us in
The plot unfolds on Christmas Eve, as must be anticipated contemplating the supply materials. Caspar Malthus, the top of an extended line of rich industrialists with a deep-seated hatred for the poor and dealing class, was beforehand visited by the identical Ghosts who modified Scrooge for the higher. As a substitute of discovering the thrill of Christmas and humanity, Malthus was as an alternative supplied a glimpse of a tool he would sooner or later develop that will enable him to rid London of the undesirable commoners. It’s as much as Scrooge to cease him, with slightly assist from his ghost buddies.
Ebenezer and The Invisible World is as near the Metroidvania formulation as you may get with out placing your character in an influence swimsuit on Planet Zebes and giving them a whip. Scrooge jumps across the metropolis on platforms, swinging his cane to wreck each ghosts and the foot troopers of the Malthus household who’ve been despatched to squash unrest within the streets. Alongside the best way, he befriends ghosts who will give him new skills. A few of these enable him to traverse to new areas of London and advance the plot whereas others give him new assault powers to guard himself.
There’s nothing right here you gained’t have seen earlier than, however we didn’t thoughts as a lot as we thought we’d. Regardless of feeling very formulaic, Ebenezer and The Invisible World manages to be a number of enjoyable whenever you aren’t hindered by severe, game-breaking bugs. The artwork is crisp and vibrant, with well-designed characters and ranges that make you are feeling such as you’re taking part in in Dickensian London. There are many references to A Christmas Carol sprinkled all through, simply to be sure you do not forget what you are taking part in. The concept of Scrooge violently wielding his new-found advantage by beating the ectoplasm out of ghosts throughout London and defending the working class is delightfully absurd.
For essentially the most half, the gameplay is stable – fight feels difficult however nonetheless truthful. The platforming controls are tight sufficient that which jumps it’s best to have the ability to make and which of them you want a brand new capability for. There are some management quirks, reminiscent of Scrooge’s backward sprint which we stored forgetting about and used to inadvertently hurl the previous man into the jaws of demise a number of instances. We’d have favored extra save factors all through the degrees, as we misplaced giant chunks of progress to dying or all-too-frequent recreation crashes.
The truth that the sport crashed a number of instances in our 15 hours with it’s only one of many severe flaws in the best way it runs, no less than on Swap. Throughout our playthrough, we have been unable to increase Scrooge’s heath bar past its default because of the recreation freezing after we approached the character accountable for that characteristic. This subject endured in each docked and handheld modes, successfully barring our capability to improve our character and progress by means of the story. It felt like being locked into a better issue mode in opposition to our will.
There are different, smaller issues with the construct high quality and polish of Ebenezer and The Invisible World. The identical button used to exit menus additionally equips gadgets, which meant we needed to exit out of the tools menu each time we needed to alter something with our loadout. One NPC’s dialogue modified to a clean field after we accomplished a part of their quest. Our tools menu additionally obtained bugged at one level and confirmed us having two of the identical heirlooms outfitted. These bugs weren’t as catastrophic to our playthrough because the crashes or the shortcoming to improve our well being, however they made the sport really feel messier than it wanted to. We perceive that the developer intends to launch a Day One patch to deal with no less than a few of these issues, however we are able to solely evaluation the sport we now have and this one, at instances, was practically unplayable.
We ended our time with this recreation feeling pissed off and, in the end, let down by the expertise. Regardless of some odd decisions with the best way Scrooge strikes, the fight is enjoyable and presents the form of problem followers of the Metroidvania style have come to count on. The core idea of the setting and story are each nice, as is the artwork model. This recreation has all of the makings of greatness, however it’s so severely let down by the technical flaws that we are able to’t suggest it. A patch may repair these issues and make this right into a stable entry within the style, however, for now, we are saying “Bah, humbug!” to Ebenezer and The Invisible World.
Conclusion
We needed to get pleasure from Ebenezer and The Invisible World excess of we did. The fight is stable and the platforming is tight, with the proper stability of accessibility and problem. Mix that with a enjoyable idea and artwork that does an amazing job of recreating Dickens’ iconic novel and it must be a recipe for greatness. Sadly, a number of bugs starting from barely annoying to game-breaking sucked the Christmas cheer proper out of us. Future patches may repair these points and provides us the sport we all know is hiding simply beneath the floor right here, however that recreation isn’t right here at launch.
