Felix the Reaper is a game with an identity crisis: a title that asks you simultaneously enjoy the hard work put into its art, choreography and soundtrack, while also making you feel bad for sticking around to appreciate it.
Ahead of its release, Felix the Reaper appeared to tick all the boxes of an instant hit–so much so that I excitedly previewed it, going so far as to say it looked like another “great indie addition to Xbox Game Pass.” Yet having gotten to grips with the rotund, ruination-wreaking romp, I’m sad to say my prediction was misjudged. And I really do mean that: I wanted this to be great from the moment I first saw it.
Following so many fantastic and diverse indie experiences arriving on Ultimate Game Pass, Felix the Reaper’s promise of a new and unique puzzle format, coupled with an intriguing original soundtrack with even more original dance moves, sounded great. Yet the experience itself is a lot less satisfying and, at its worst, it feels punishing and unfulfilling.
It’s a strong start, at least
The initial execution of Felix’s world is nicely done. With the booming, well-spoken voice of the narrator, it’s quickly established that you’re quite the character: someone who’s tolerated despite being different. So long as you line people up for death on behalf of the Grim Reaper, the agency will overlook your odd desire to dance on the job, as well as your undying love for one of your “enemies.”
To fulfill your contract, you use the darkness and the clever manipulation of the “sundial”–a 90-degree shift of sunlight–to create your path by casting shadows via items in the field. Soon, you’re introduced to your early victims, who are choreographed to die in less-than-traditional ways. From the first stages, you use movable objects, levers and other elements to get things done.
It feels exciting and fresh. Sadly, it quickly becomes frustrating.
Great art direction that isn’t always good to look at
The purposefully gruesome art style of Felix the Reaper is bound to split gamers down the middle, especially once you realize that the apple of Felix’s eye, Betty the Maiden, is arguably (but perhaps purposely) the game’s least attractive character. However, the game’s wider artistic execution isn’t exactly stellar once the introductory videos are out of the way and you’re playing the game.
The game is, for want of a better cliché, literally rough around the edges. While close-up views of Felix provide remarkable, stunning attention to detail–and give you the best opportunity to relish Felix’s fantastic dance moves–pulling the camera back to the necessary zoom level to navigate levels properly results in a sea of jagged edges that are crying out for anti-aliasing.
It’s to be expected that an indie studio may occasionally miss the mark with visuals, and graphics really aren’t everything, but these sharp lines affect the gameplay almost immediately. Often, it’s easy to misjudge crumbling squares of the playing field for navigable paths, only to zoom in and discover they aren’t negotiable.
However, it soon becomes clear this is the first of Felix the Reaper’s major issues.
It doesn’t hold your hand, even though you might want it to
The real gripes with Felix the Reaper start almost immediately after the tutorial. This walkthrough is a simple affair, but then again, so are the game’s mechanics: shadow good, light bad. Yet that’s the only help you’ll get, and the difficulty curve feels exponential.
Now I’m not saying I’m a puzzle game genius, but I’m a fond fan of the genre and I love a challenge. With Felix, I felt lost very early. What you quickly realize is there’s a very specific way to solve each puzzle, with little-to-no alternate routes. There’s a lot of trial and error and even more sunburn when you get it wrong. Coupled with the inaccurate cursor-led controls–which I imagine are much better suited to PC and not the Xbox One version I played–it can be even tougher to play.
That said, there’s a real buzz once you complete your first level. This disappears after about five seconds.
Affliction through contradiction
The biggest problem with Felix the Reaper comes once you’re done with each escapade, when you get a scorecard. You soon find that you’ll fail most, if not all, of the test criteria, including time taken, actions taken, sun turns, number of times caught in the sun, and passed fields.
What’s more, the targets are as brutal as the par times that Doom and Duke Nukem 3D were infamous for: they can only really be done with a perfect run, with detailed prior knowledge of the levels. Weirdly, it never shows you these criteria before playing each stage.
There’s no doubt this system will add plenty of replayability for those who love a real challenge and are willing to give it time, but on a first run, it can make you feel empty to learn–after finally having that “eureka!” moment and completing the level–that you could’ve taken a fifth of the time with a tenth of the moves. Even in the earliest level, I replayed it twice and still managed to miss one of the targets, and I promised myself to never even try to hit them after that.
The biggest issue is that the designers and developers have put so much effort into elaborate and hilarious dance moves, an excellent soundtrack, plus a carefully researched, nicely executed world, but this sudden emphasis on speed-running and its ridiculous targets immediately sucks the fun out of it. It feels like you’re being told to stop enjoying its uniqueness and instead strip it down to base patterns and mechanics, should you want to feel satisfied. It’s wholly at odds with itself.
A thoughtful game that needed more forethought
I really wanted this to be another classic to add to 2019’s list of excellent indie titles. Felix the Reaper does most things kind of well–it’s not a bad game. But once you look past the music, dancing and the silent aloofness of Felix himself, it’s nothing exceptional. Levels eventually get bigger but don’t really change; your desire for a gradual evolution in the game’s formula remains unsatisfied.
It may be too much to ask for a patch to separate the speed-run element from the story mode; I’m sure other niggles can be fixed easily enough, but there’s a lot to change to make it a fulfilling experience.
One thing’s certain: Felix the Reaper is an incredible idea. But somewhere between idea and execution, development focused so much on Felix’s enjoyment of being in his own little world that it feels its creators overlooked gamers’ desires to enjoying being part of it too. Here’s hoping this great character gets a deserved follow-up, or even DLC, to iron out issues.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a review copy of Felix the Reaper in exchange for a fair and honest review.
