Underhero

Underhero is basically a story-based platformer, except combat happens when you bump into an enemy and plays out in this weird time-based format, kinda of like a series of quick-events. I think I got about 20% through before dropping it. It wasn't particularly bad, just... boring.

So the game opens up with what is essentially a cutscene of this max-level hero going to slay the big bad, and then dying to a chandelier, with a level 1 minion taking his talking sword, and then setting out on a quest to kill his own boss, or something. I hear it makes more sense as you get further into the game, as well as touching on some concepts of "what is good, what is evil?", but I wouldn't guess it's all too serious or deep. See, Underhero puts a huge emphasis on the story. There's so much dialogue, characters to talk to, and even all of the enemies have something to say. Problem is, the writing is kind of mediocre. It doesn't take itself seriously and makes constant attempts at being funny, but falls flat. Feels kind of like sitting in the audience, listening to an amateur stand-up comedian, and once every five jokes someone in the audience chuckles, but the comedian just keeps going for another 20 hours. This is important, because you will be reading much of this dialogue, whether you want it or not.
The platforming is average. Controls aren't tight, and the level design is slightly sub-par, with no special mechanics so far into the game.
The combat is... unusual. You have a stamina bar that fills over time, and a bunch of actions you can use which consume stamina (plus some that don't, but they aren't as relevant). Now, problem is, the game expects you to dodge the enemy's attacks, but this requries stamina - the same resource used for attacking. So the combat has far too much waiting, as you wait for your stamina to recharge and then don't spend it as you need it to dodge. Luckily they have a shield which could be used to parry at next to no stamina cost if you time it well, alleviating some of the time sink problem, but trivializing regular combat.

In the end, Underhero just feels like it's wasting my time. Between a non-serious story, unfunny jokes, uninnovative platforming, and combat consisting mostly of waiting, there aren't many redeeming qualities to this game. I wouldn't say it is particularly bad in any regard, but that hardly qualifies as a compliment. So, yeah, there's nothing to recommend here.