Skully Critic Reviews

Any frustrations aside, from the boss fights to the platforming mechanics in the levels themselves, there is plenty of fun to be had here. While it may be difficult to wade through the countless games within the platforming genre, Skully is definitely a title that will roll its way right into your heart.

A good indie platform with interesting ideas, some techcinal problems but very funny to play.

Skully is a simple platformer that boasts fun characters, a great soundtrack, and creative gameplay; all of which provide a rewarding experience by the end of it. However, good things only last for a while, since the quality of the story drops off significantly by the end, and the poor music looping quickly becomes boring. And yet, it’s an underrated gem that you’ll likely want to platinum as soon as it’s done.

Skully is light-hearted, old-skool fun. In an era of online shooters and battle royale titles it is a breath of fresh air. At times difficult but not overly so, it will respect your platforming skills and have you performing daring feats. Nothing is incredibly unique here but what you have is executed well. Skully is not my favourite game of the year but fun distraction nonetheless.

Don’t be fooled by the nice-looking world, fun characters, or interesting story. Skully is a clever game with fun puzzles, and some of the most blisteringly difficult 3D platforming I’ve encountered in years. Be ready to challenge yourself as difficulty spikes put you in a blender and spit you back out. Skully is fun, satisfying and well-made, but not for the faint of heart.

Skully is a good 3D platformer with some good ideas. It doesn’t do anything revolutionary or outstanding, but if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll have a good time with it.

Skully is a case of lovely concept but fails a little in terms of execution. A wayward camera and overly idiosyncratic movement for Skully himself mar an otherwise fun journey.

Even if it's not a perfect adventure, it may still be worth checking Skully out if you're a fan of puzzle-platformers.

It’s hard to hold the positives in one’s mind without reminiscing on the kind of game Skully could’ve been. Yet take out the personal ambition of this being some grand, 3D adventure to explore in another scenario and Skully is still too much a case of good intentions marred by bad or downright odd decision-making in parts. While die-hard followers of the genre are sure to scrape together some joy in the spots of twitch-heavy platforming and hunt for collectibles the game affords, the lingering of one too many time-heavy design choices and back-end issues means the best Skully can hope for is the perception of a flawed “charming-enough” effort. Whether you can look past the inconsistent physics work, rough technical performance or the narrative’s hackneyed attempt at something resembling personality, will depend on how invested you are in the gameplay. It’s a rough, uneven, disappointingly-middle of the road trek. But for all its faults, Skully‘s acknowledging and understanding of 3D platforming’s appeal does count for something. A game whose heart is most certainly in the right place.

I hate being that guy who basically says "this isn’t the game I wanted to play", but in Skully’s case it seems the most appropriate conclusion. So much of the game concentrates on mechanics that were rightfully abandoned and too little fulfils the marble rolling promise of its early footage. Looks like I’m still waiting, like a strangely bearded Cinderalla, to go to the ball.

Skully is a platformer full of challenges. The game is heavily testing not only your agility but also your patience. While it has an interesting basic concept, it feels unfinished and does not manage to immerse you in its world. When you see the rolling skull you would expect dynamic and fluid gameplay. Instead, you are presented with jumps that require ultimate precision and obstacles with errors in collision detection which force you to adopt a slow and careful approach. With more attention to details and some more polishing Skully could have been an entertaining experience. Unfortunately, it just proves to be a modest attempt to make a cute platformer.

If you are really, really into the platformer genre and have enough patience, Skully may be a good choice for you. But even then, the 30$ asking price seems too much for the amount of content Skully is offering.

Skully is a throwback to the golden age of 3D platforming that has an interesting story, but an inconsistent difficulty level that is at times frustrating to play through. It might scratch that 3D puzzle platforming itch, but ultimately falls short of being a memorable experience.

What continues to be a source of frustration though is the camera, particularly during boss battles. It tries to take a page out of Crash Bandicoot's book by having Skully run at the camera, except it gets in the way more often than not. And that's all there really is to the game. The younger generation is sure to extract some enjoyment out of Skully, but it proves all too basic for those getting on in their years.

A strange bug meant that I twice lost control of the golems, watching helplessly as they plunged into the nearest hazard. Sometimes when climbing vines, Skully would fall off for no reason. There were invisible walls, times when Skully deflected off platforms at an unnatural angle, and times when the lava would just disappear. A lot of players will likely give up before they reach the end of the game. It’s a shame but completely understandable when the game has a heart that’s let down by myriad problems.

Fortunately, there was a lot of promise here with Skully. A nice and endearing story with platforming mechanics that make for interesting utility makes the game seem exciting, but it just doesn't execute its plan well. In a way I feel like the game has a bit of an identity crisis; while it could focus on being an excellent marble physics platformer, it has all of these other great ideas that ultimately end up hurting the whole product. With a bigger focus on one thing and improvement to level design, I could see a game like this working pretty well, but unfortunately, Skully is not that game.

Skully is a masterclass in bad platformer design. Characters that are a chore to handle, sloppy level design, lousy camera controls, irritating puzzles, and a general lack of personality combine to create a profoundly tedious experience. If challenge is literally all you care about (even if it’s wildly unfair), Skully might be worth a shot at a steep discount. Everyone else should spare themselves the headache.