Sproot is an adorable platformer (made for the Bored Pixels Jam 7) that offers an interesting, challenging jumping mechanic that’s perfectly suited for plant heroes.
Sproot looks very cute from the start; you play as a little plant-headed creature who can walk around. How you jump, however, adds some unexpected challenge to this adorable game. Instead of just hitting a key to jump, you dig your body into the ground, gaining more power the longer you stay down. This power is represented by a four-spaced bar above the character’s head – the more full the bar becomes, the farther you will end up jumping when you emerge from the dirt.
This doesn’t seem too difficult at first. Soon, jumping too high will end with hitting spikes, and you’ll also be forced to jump or dig your head down to avoid bullets. It becomes a balancing act of trying to make sure you don’t jump too high or too much while also trying to just survive. There isn’t a checkpoint system, with the game sending you back to the beginning of the level should you get hurt, so you will need to really find the best balance and have quick reactions to stay alive.
Sproot is a really challenging game, especially when there are spikes and bullets both needing to be avoided. It’s a game better played with a controller in my opinion, but you do really need to have determination to complete your quest as this strange little sprout no matter what input you use.
Sproot is available now (for whatever you wish to pay for it) on itch.io.
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