Arthur Loves Watermelon is a challenging platformer where you are cursed to jump every few moments, requiring specific timing to survive.
This game is a 2D platformer all about a little squirrel that very much loves watermelon. During his time in his land, he has started eating tons of the sacred watermelon, which caused a witch to want to steal them! When the witch stole his watermelon, she cursed him so that he would have to jump constantly and uncontrollably.
And this is where the real challenge is in this platformer. Every three beats, your character jumps into the air. This isn’t ideal, but there is a counter in the upper left hand corner which can give you a bit of a heads up, but at the same time, it’s a lot to watch. Arthur Loves Watermelon is a tricky game and the entire mechanic of always jumping is one that you do need to get used too.
Collecting watermelons sort of shows you the way to go, but there are other things to collect in levels like keys that unlock different areas and potions. Some potions let you jump a second time when you hit them while others pause your curse for a small amount of time (which allows you to get to other areas). You see, there are tons of spikes everywhere. Along with automatically jumping, you can dash and also glide if you are in the air, which moves you around faster.
With these two abilities, Arthur Loves Watermelon feels like a fun game to speedrun. It’s got a lot of tricky moments, but as soon as the jumping pattern clicks, you can really feel satisfied as you jump directly through a level. There are a few different worlds to play through with varied to master. I got the chance to rage quit the game several times at the Bilbao Independent Games Conference where I did get a gummy treat each time I got frustrated (which is truly a great marketing strategy).
Arthur Loves Watermelon is currently in development, but in the meantime, you can add it to your Steam Wishlist.
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