No matter how many different platforming games I play, I’m always enthusiastic about what the next one will have in store. While the overall formula between games is consistent, the level designs and added elements are what separate each game from one another. Little Triangle is a 2D platforming game with one simple concept: get from the beginning of the level to the end. The Developers over at Dreamoji have made sure that this is by no means a simple feat. It’s going to take determination to master the running, jumping and timing required to surpass every level. The game will test your patience and your will to succeed. Do you think you have what it takes, or are you too square for the challenge?

Little Triangle opens to a cutscene of a news report on a television screen. Alien-like creatures have begun invading the Triangle world, and chaos ensues. As the scenes flash by, it’s apparent that disaster has struck. We are eventually lead to an out of focus shot of the nameless protagonist: a triangle-shaped character wearing a bandana. Your mission is clear. Proceed through each level, avoiding hazards such as enemies and traps and reach the ship at the end. Along the way, collect diamonds (that can be spent in various ways) and save other triangle-shaped characters. Between the 3 worlds you will visit, there are many unique enemies and hazards you’ll face along the way including toaster pastry shaped men with guns and laser walls that will completely fry you if touched. If that’s not enough, every few levels you are faced with an alien boss who will seek to make your life a living nightmare. The game adds to the fun with 1-4 player local multiplayer battles or co-op. There is plenty to experience solo or with family and friends.

What I liked:

Secret Areas – I have always been an explorer. With the interesting worlds that developers create, it’s always interesting to invest the time into exploring and seeing what all lies just outside of plain sight. Little Triangle takes the idea of a secret area and runs with it. Every level is riddled with hidden walls just waiting to be snuffed out. The concept is not any secret at all really. During the tutorial level, the game presents you with the idea of hidden walls by giving you one example. From that point on it’s up to you to find these false walls. The premise never feels unrewarding by any means. Even if you aren’t finding a character to rescue or an arcade machine, there is almost always diamonds for you to collect behind a wall. Just a small reward from the developers for exploring their game.

Casual or Hardcore – Whether you consider yourself a casual gamer or a hardcore platformer, there is an option readily available for both. When you start the game, you are asked to select from one of the two options. Casual mode has the player starting with three hearts at the beginning of each level. As you progress through the level, any damage taken by either enemies or the environment consumes one heart. Every checkpoint you reach replenishes a heart. After three hits you will lose all hearts and will be on last life mode. If you sustain another hit, your character will die, a point will be added to the death counter and you will start back at your most recent checkpoint with the amount of hearts you had when you reached that checkpoint. This mode allows for a little more leniency for the less experienced players and still allows them to experience the game. In hardcore mode, you are always on last life mode, so one hit from anything is certain death. This mode definitely adds a lot more of a challenge which can be great for a second playthrough or for those who seek a challenge from the start.

The House – Every character you rescue throughout the various levels in the game are immediately transported to the house. Accessed through the main menu, the house is the place to go if you want to view all the various characters you rescued throughout the game. This is no easy task however as the house carries 9 different floors with 71 different characters throughout. Some characters are in plain sight in levels while others are hidden throughout the many secret areas. Small switches or doors are normally the indicator that a character is around to be rescued. The game even gives you the ability to change to any character you wish and play through the game as them. Simply walking up to a character in the house and pressing the corresponding button prompt will cause the switch. The game has everything from a ninja to a cowboy to even a tortilla chip. This aspect is especially useful in local co-op to help players identify which player they are. Be who you want to be!

What I didn’t:

Stuttering issues – When it comes to a game all about platforming, consistency is very important. For that matter, it’s worth advising of the various stutters I encountered while playing Little Triangle on Xbox One X. This stutter wouldn’t be a big issue if the game actually froze in place for the short second it happens. When the game stutters the sounds and music continue, and after the visuals start moving again you’ll notice your character continued to move even despite the screen being frozen. This means if you’re in the air over spikes or lava when the game stutters, there is a potential chance it could cause you to fall into these hazards while you’re in mid-stutter.

Broken double jump – Possibly one of the most important aspects of the game just feels clunky and unresponsive at most times. Throughout many different levels, the double jump would not operate properly. The first jump always works as intended, but there is normally a 50% chance that the second jump will work when needed. The situation is hit or miss. A lot of the later levels call for precision jumping and without the double jump, making it through these levels is outright impossible. The game even tasks you with completing entire worlds without dying, but the malfunctioning double jump stops that from being even plausible.

Over-Sensitive movement – Granted, while there are controllers that you can buy which allow you to finely tune the sensitivity of your controller’s joysticks, for those who are playing using a basic Xbox One controller will find it a bit more of a challenge to compensate for the sensitivity. Jumping onto small enemies or even platforms normally ends in a 50/50 chance of either landing past what you were trying to jump on, or when you do land properly, you’re still pressing on the stick just enough to where you essentially ice skate off. There are no options in the options menu to tune this down, and in reality, not many games offer such a setting. Unless you own a controller with custom sticks, or the ability to tune down the sensitivity from the controller itself then you best be ready to learn to handle the sensitivity the game offers by default.

Little Triangle is a great game. It brings forward unique characters and interesting level design and finishes it off with genuine difficulty that starts out smooth but will ultimately quit holding your hand by the second world. Granted, while there are a few issues with the performance stutters and double jump mechanic, it’s something simple that a patch could fix. These problems, however, are minute when compared to all the great aspects the game presents itself with. Even if you aren’t in it for the long haul, the levels alone are something that may have you playing the game over again.  If you’re seeking another hard-as-nails platformer, then you need not look any further.

Score: Highly Recommended

Little Triangle was developed and published by Dreamoji. The game released on February 7, 2018, for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.