1001 Spikes Review | It's Not Great

1001 Spikes doesn't know how to break conventional design standards in an interesting way, the game has you transverse several different archaeological ruins through intense, cramped platforming. You have the ability to throw knives to defeat enemies or halt their projectiles, and you actually have 2 different buttons for jumping, one small, one big. While it is weird that you don't just have a pressure sensitive button for this, you quickly realize that having a fixed height attributed to both inputs is a god send for surviving these levels. You'll never have the frustration of losing a life from hitting your head against a ceiling because you'd accidentally help the button down for too long for instance. When I say this title doesn't break conventional design standards in an interesting way.. I mean that it throws fairness out the window and doesn't do anything interesting with it. Blocks that would impale or obliterate you don't always look the same, random tiles fall from under your feat.. and darts will not always fire out from totems.

Even if you're a platforming veteran that's survived the likes of Meat Boy, Dust Force, or the End is Nigh there's still a good chance you'll end up disliking this. Levels don't set up any consistency between themselves.. with constant cheap shots.. random spikes, and unexpected falling platforms.
But.. if you have a surprisingly high tolerance for this kind of thing.. and you'll willing to buy into memorization as a mechanic.. there's tons of content to trek through.