I'll start by saying I love platformers, but I'll be honest: I'm not very good at them. When it comes to fast-paced precision platforming, I panic and accidentally hold down direction buttons which send me plummeting into fire pits or spikes and send me back to the beginning. It's a constant battle, but I find it to be half the fun. If I could perfectly breeze through any platformer, my drive to keep playing them no matter how frustrated I get would be completely eradicated. Fortunately, Gimmick! 2 is filled with opportunities for me to repeat myself over and over again to my heart's content, and my controller is nearly snapped in half.
If anything, my frustrations are an obvious ode to how successful platforming in Gimmick! 2 is. It's a hard game, there's no denying that. No amount of glittery stars or pastel rainbows could cover up the challenge of certain sequences of jumps I was expected to complete. But the satisfaction of getting through certain levels no matter how many attempts it took is something I haven't felt in a platformer since my first time playing Celeste. Each time I had to go through a challenging boss fight I felt like I was holding my breath, which only heightened the relief that washed over me when I finally did it and saw confetti pop up either side of the screen.
