AVOID | LACKING | MAYBE | WORTHWHILE | COMPELLING | UNMISSABLE

Ugly is a 2D puzzle platformer. There are two parts (technically three, but one isn't really relevant) to this game - the first is like 90% puzzle and 10% platformer and the second is closer to 60% platformer and 40% puzzle.

In general, this game displays a high amount of polish and thought throughout. The puzzles become increasingly more difficult and the game introduces new skills/limitations in how you can interact with the world as you progress. For the first five or so hours, it was mostly smooth sailing, but towards the end of the first part of the game and throughout the second part of the game, there were plenty of thinkers in terms of puzzles. You have to get creative in some of your solutions, as some of your skills aren't the most intuitive and so you can have moments of delight (or horror) when you realize what the end results of your solution will be. The primary mechanic here is using your reflection to solve puzzles, and while that sounds simple on the surface, it isn't by the end. There is a hint system you can turn on in the accessibility settings. I never did, but I did end up looking at a video for solutions to three puzzles because I was going crazy lol.

There is a story here that is told primarily through a series of photos and videos. While it leaves some of the narrative up to interpretation, it's clearly a dark and twisted story that underlies this game.

I think the only criticism I have for this game is the fact that making a mistake was sometimes very punishing. In some areas, it would take a long time to figure out the solution and then a long time to implement it correctly. But, a few times, I'd be >50% of the way through a puzzle, make a mistake, and because of how some of the mechanics work, I'd have to start all over. While I knew what the solution was in those cases, it still took me a long time to implement them again. The obvious solution is checkpoints, but I don't think they really fit with the way this game is designed, so I'm not sure how to solve this.

The game took me 9.5 hours to complete in entirety, which included all achievements. I imagine the replayability for this game is on the high end, as you have to redo certain puzzles to access areas you previously accessed, and doing so a second or third time when I had only done it a few hours prior was sometimes still tricky. I think it'd basically be a fresh game to most people after a few months.

In general, if you enjoy puzzle platformers with some narrative elements, this game is great! I caution that some of the puzzles and platforming can be on the more difficult end of things, but it mostly just took some practice (and patience) to be successful.

It def brought the ugly side out of me.

10/10

Ugly is very clearly inspired by Braid but manages to give the old classic a real run for its money. I would go as far as saying it's a masterpiece. Similar to Braid, there some late game "aha!" moments that make it worthwhile to replay the game with a new perspective. The atmosphere is sombre, the music is great, the puzzles strike a balance between being challenging and satisfying but not frustrating. One issue I did have was with a couple of the "optional" difficult levels you have to do in order to get the second ending. 2-3 of those levels require precision platforming that might frustrate players who aren't skilled in this genre. Despite this I would still highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys puzzle platformers.