These are also structured a bit awkwardly. The game also includes three boss fights.

Thankfully a good chunk of the map can be navigated without needing to stop and fight every enemy, but there are some doors that can only be unlocked by defeating all of the enemies in an area. It’s not necessarily bad – just slow and a bit awkward. This becomes more bearable after getting a few stamina upgrades, which are scattered around the place, but Dude only starts out with two, which makes combat early on very tedious. While the hatchets could be thrown one after the other until none are left, once Dude runs out of stamina it becomes a waiting game while it takes a few seconds to regain each stamina bar. Beyond that, the amount of times you can swing the club is based on the in-game stamina system. The line between the distance that is just close enough to an enemy while remaining out of their own range is a fine one indeed. Thankfully this wasn’t super common and it isn’t long into the game before the club is unlocked.īut the club isn’t without its quirks too. By holding down on the throw button, the hatchets will be thrown farther, but this isn’t really explained and there were a few times when the game glitched and just whipped them across the screen. The mechanics for throwing the hatchets are also a bit inconsistent. The hatchets have to be collected by walking over little shrubs scattered throughout the different rooms, which means there is only a finite amount, especially early on. The combat is a little odd when the game starts the only attack available is a ranged one where Dude will throw hatchets at his enemies. The controls are simple, if not a bit clunky at times, the movement mechanics are all fine and they are pretty much what would be expected in a platformer.

Hltb deathloop