A Heavy-Hitting Homage
Decline’s Drops is an homage to many classic games from the 90s and early 2000s, pulling heavy inspiration from Smash Bros, Yoshi’s Island, and Donkey Kong Country.
The player controls Globule, a wooden puppet that dons a pair of boxing gloves and embarks on a journey to fight those responsible for the destruction of her garden.
Decline’s Drops is structured like a classic side-scrolling platformer, with the game taking place across many self-contained levels that are sprawled out across an overworld map. These levels can be compiled into sets of five, with each set followed by a boss level where Globule takes on an officer of Eternal Corp; the organization responsible for the destruction of Globule’s precious garden.
Smash-Style Combat
Combat is modeled after the brawler style fighting of Smash Bros, and Globule’s arsenal of attacks are focused on punching, hence the large boxing gloves. Standard attacks can be chained into combos, and holding the sprint button or adjusting how you push the thumbstick will change how certain combos play out. There are also special moves that can be used with Linseed. Linseed is acquired every time an enemy is defeated, or there are Linseed jars hidden throughout the stages that can also give a large amount.
These special movies are more powerful and can drastically affect how Globule fares against large groups of enemies.
Platforming is also a major part of the game, and the controls feel good for the most part. Movement is easy, and the jumps are a bit floaty but responsive enough that navigating isn’t difficult. However, there are some issues, and some of the directional attacks can respond a little awkwardly, whilst attacks work in a queue system. Simply mashing the attack button can start a sequence of attacks that you can’t move during, which can open Globule up to attacks.
This feels a bit awkward, but it’s exactly how many older platform brawler games worked, and it at least forces the player to be more conscious about what buttons they are hitting and when. That said, sometimes the attack sequences feel like they are dragged out longer than they should. There are also chests hidden throughout the levels that need to be smashed with a certain sequence of moves, such as left, up, down, left. The first one of these I came across, the attacks didn’t register correctly several times in a row. And further, I also had some attacks that registered as the incorrect direction, and when I finally finished it, it opened to reveal some “drops”; the game’s currency.
Drops and Health
After collecting 100 drops, you will heal a single hit point. It can also add an extra hit point in the event Globule is at max health, which can be useful at times, but the reward for the chest probably isn’t worth the finicky attack registrations.
There are also heart containers that are present, and it’s possible some of these are hidden behind the chests, but these pickups didn’t make it obvious what they did, so it made it hard to spend additional time looking for them.
Despite these criticisms though, the combat is enjoyable, at least once you get used to the old-school timing on the attacks, and the platforming feels great once you’re into the groove.
The art-style is incredibly reminiscent of the classic games that inspired it. Decline’s Drops both looks and sounds great, although the first level set does feature the most redundant soundtrack out of all the stages. But right before it started to drag on too long, I found myself fighting and beating the first boss and progressing to the second area where the music really kicked off.
There are also some noticeably static elements, where you’d expect things to be animated. A prime example of this is the in-game shop, which I will touch on later, where the shop keep and almost all the UI elements are completely static. It’s not a huge deal, but it just takes some of the charm out of the world that is being built.
Boss fights are also well done for the most part. The different heads of Eternal Corp are all hydras, each with their own personality and fighting style. Levels that feature boss fights start immediately with that combat scenario too, so losing a fight doesn’t force you to replay any platforming sequences.
Modifying the Difficulty
And that’s the same for the rest of the game too. Maps feature buds that serve as checkpoints. Globule also is able to take five hits before dying, with a few exceptions, so progression comes easy. And then there is that in-game shop run by a monkey called Serge, where it’s possible to use drops to purchase phials that modify the gameplay. One of these doubles the drops received, but also doubles the damage you’ll take. It feels like using this is a bit like activating a hard mode, but I found myself playing most of the game with this modifier active without too much added difficulty.
Of course, players that don’t play many platformers probably won’t want to add to the difficulty. For them, there is a phial that doubles Globule’s starting health with a full row of armored health. There are several other phials to purchase, each of which offers some kind of pro and con to use. But the standard difficulty is fairly accessible, especially if players take their time.
A Fun Throwback for Brawler Fans
Beyond these phials there are also hidden worlds and challenge levels that continue to expand on things, and most levels feature several optional paths to pursue. While Decline’s Drops takes around 6-8 hours to beat, that time can be easily extended several hours if you choose to explore all available paths.
Overall, Decline’s Drops is a fun game that has plenty of good things going on, more than compensating for any of the bad. For each little criticism, I can think of multiple positives that counter them. It probably won’t be a game for everyone, but if you grew up playing classic brawler platformers, then there will be an immediate familiarity with Decline’s Drops.
Important Links
Decline’s Drops Mixes Beautiful Visuals With Brutal Combat – https://www.thexboxhub.com/declines-drops-mixes-beautiful-visuals-with-brutal-combat/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/declines-drops/9MZ6J859X4MN/0017
