A Sweet Spell of Retro Platforming
Welcome to Candylands, which isn’t quite as cute and cuddly as the name would suggest. There’s wicked witches, menacing minions and explosion risks just about everywhere.
Candylands Journey kicks off with a very loose and brief in-game tutorial. The first level is pretty small, but it still took me a few minutes to figure out what to do. Apart from the occasional instruction as to what to use each button for, you’re pretty much just left to it.
Bubble-Blowing and Wand-Wielding
After this introduction the world map opens up, as you set off to reclaim the heart of magic from the pesky Pastry Witches and save Magic University. You’ll run into each of these throughout the game, in the form of boss battles. Otherwise, there are fifteen different locations to adventure through, and mysterious puzzle pieces to collect.
The young lass you play as, who I can only assume is a good witch, is equipped with a magic wand. It can cast eight different types of projectile, but you begin by simply blowing bubbles. These have limited range, but will incapacitate most enemies before dispatching them and can also be used as a leg up to reach higher platforms.
Upgrades and Hats
Each level is littered with jewellery fragments, which become a gem when you gather a hundred pieces. These gems can then be used to purchase upgrades at the shop in between levels. It’s here where you can get hold of various elements for your wand to make combat easier and unlock special areas barricaded by certain types of blocks.
Your wand has the ability to shoot pretty standard projectiles such as ice and fire, but also leans into the more ridiculous options such as frogs, rabbits and even bats. Seeing the Pastry Witches’ minions getting duffed up by an army of frogs is immensely satisfying.
Referring back to my earlier admission of struggling to figure out what to do at first, this was also the case when trying to refill the ammunition for my different wand elements. It turns out smashing different coloured vases did the trick, despite these looking innocently like part of the foreground artwork which you can walk straight past.
Some enemies will also drop their headgear which you can pick up and wear, but not just to change up your wardrobe. These can prove very useful offering abilities such as extra defense and attack, as well as the ability to jump higher and glide in the air.
Boss Battles and Blurry Visuals
Each level in Candylands Journey is fairly linear and follows a similar structure. They open up a little bit more when you need to find several emeralds to destroy a blockade and progress, or to track down the key to a locked door. There are a select few, however, which end with an encounter with one of the Pastry Witches.
Each of these boss battles are very similar and not very imaginative, basically requiring you to attack the witch with your wand whilst avoiding her projectiles and minions that she summons. These bosses have pretty lengthy health bars but don’t be intimidated, you’ll cut them down in no time.
For the most part, each level feels aesthetically different, featuring biomes such as ancient ruins, dark caves and plenty of underwater areas too. There’s an ever growing roster of enemies you’ll encounter as you play Candylands Journey and most will stick around instead of staying unique to specific locations.
This means that despite starting off pretty easy, things get more challenging towards the business end of the game. Your character has five hearts, and can find more which are dotted about within chests in each level. Large statue-like creatures such as cats signify checkpoints, which is where you will respawn from if you die. In the event this happens, there is no life limit or “game over”.
Enemies defeated and items collected will be retained, which is a little too generous in my opinion. The same rules regarding death also apply to the boss battles, meaning you can jump straight back into the action with no penalties if you are killed. Still, on the flip side it keeps the game accessible to all ages.
Candylands Journey is an assault on the senses, well the eyes specifically, which sometimes obscures items, enemies or the general path forward. Things get very busy on screen at times as the background and foreground occasionally overwhelm each other, making it really difficult to decipher what on earth is going on.
A Solid, Plucky Platformer
I’ve played so many games like Candylands Journey I’ve lost count, but on reflection, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of gameplay for the money here. It may have only taken 3-4 hours to complete, but often the playtime is a lot, lot shorter. The different wand elements and hat based abilities add a little depth too, which helped keep my interest until the very end.
Candylands Journey is a solid, plucky platformer which does enough to keep your interest, even if you’ve seen it all before.
Important Links
Candylands Journey is a Sweet New Adventure! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/candylands-journey-is-a-sweet-new-adventure/
Buy Candylands Journey, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/candylands-journey-xbox-series-x-s/9p2x98pn8x58
There’s an Xbox One edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/candylands-journey/9n9vhkpdqr7l
