We take a look into this 2D platformer that lists Banjo Kazooie as a core inspiration…
Promenade isn’t shy in parading its inspirations. The main one is Banjo Kazooie, with the game boasting similar exploration and puzzle solving – but on a 2D plane. And fortunately, we found it just as charming as its core inspiration.
The plot is enjoyably pared down, to an almost amusing degree. You, Nemo have to work with your small octopus (or “poulp”) friend to progress through various worlds using what is known as the Great Elevator.
Issue is, this Great Elevator keeps getting broken by an evil entity – and to fix it you have to keep collecting golden cogs to get it working and transporting you to new worlds.
You collect these by solving a range of puzzles and platforming challenges, with Nemo using his octopus friend as a lasso to catch and use enemies to jump higher – and then later using them to latch onto hooks.
What we found impressive about Promenade straight off the bat was how little it needed to throw endless instructions at you. The controls and puzzles are all presented with no real dialogue to speak of, but everything is designed in a way for you to learn the ropes and work things out for yourself. It’s a pleasure not to be treated like an idiot, we have to say.
The worlds you’ll explore are a varied bunch, including a beach, gardens, and outer space. In each there’s a range of challenges that never feel repetitive despite the game’s 2D set up.
You can be fighting an octopus one second and reuniting two star crossed snail lovers the next. The way you complete puzzles is constantly entertaining considering the limited mechanics (and space) the game has to play with.
Sometimes puzzles can be a little too confusing – requiring you to drop down the elevator and traversing across two different worlds – but there is some help to be had from a logbook at least, that titles each cog. These give you a vague idea of what you need to do, but it’s not always clear – we could certainly see younger players growing a little frustrated at times.
In fact, Promenade is not an easy game generally. Even taking some of the confusing cog discovery out of the equation.
There are a few challenge areas that were not easy in the slightest, requiring some perfectly timed jumps – pushing your abilities to their absolute limit.
So despite the colourful and generally chill aesthetics, Promenade is certainly not a game to be trifled with.
This only made us enjoy the game all the more though. What could have been another bland indie platformer is something much more interesting.
So if you’re looking for a new platforming challenge, we’d highly recommend Promenade. It’s charming, well designed, and has a few interesting new ideas of its own.
