In Alex Asvegren's retro platforming Metroidvania-flavoured adventure Wilt: Last Blossom, the world has ended and the only thing that inspires you to slog through each day is finding food for your daughter, Lily. Right up until she's abducted by a mysterious figure in a hazmat suit, which is rarely good, and considering you're alone and unarmed in your search for her through a mutant-strewn wasteland it's even worse. Use the [arrow] keys to move, [A] to jump, and the [spacebar] to interact with things. Hit the S button in the bottom-right corner to save whenever you like. Initially, you can't do much beyond jump and climb, but as you play, you'll discover and unlock new abilities... everything from the trusty double-jump, to energy blasts, and more. Rare pills found scattered around will permanently increase your health (displayed in the top-left corner), but be sure to use health stations whenever you find them, since the last one you passed will be the one you respawn or reload at. Keep in mind that enemies like the mutants only damage you if they actually hit you, so as long as you're out of the way before they can attack, you can run by them freely. Also, because your character is apparently part Wile E. Coyote, it's useful to know that if you walk off the edge of something, you can actually jump in mid-air.
Wilt: Last Blossom is one of those rare retro games that plays as well as it looks and doesn't seem to be sneaking by on coquettish looks alone. Which is good, since the game is definitely a looker from its faithful classic visuals to the fantastic moody soundtrack by Calamaistr. You can feel the love from the groundwork up, and the mechanics feel tight and responsive. The downside is that a lot of the areas feel sort of... empty... which is understandable for a post-apocalyptic setting, but also means that it winds up feeling a little repetitive at times, especially early on before you gain a few powers and encounter your first boss. Even after it might have been nice to see some more variation or even just, say, find some scattered lore about the world in all those empty buildings. Stick with it, however, and you'll find an incredibly faithful recreation of the classic era of gaming that retro action/adventure fans will love. What's interesting (and always good to see) is that Wilt: Last Blossom has been largely shaped by player feedback to its original "demo", and the result is really something special. A map might not have gone unappreciated, and some of the jumps can demand perfect timing, but Wilt: Last Blossom is still well worth your time
It took me a long time to figure out how to kill the bear thing.
You have to make it hit the stalactites, so mind where it's standing when you punch it.
Hmm..thoughts.
Gameplay-wise, this was a pretty good game. A little short for my tastes; there were some puzzles but nothing too difficult to figure out; in fact I wish they could have gotten a bit harder in the course of a longer game. I found it a bit strange to be playing a metroidvania with no map, but as brief and linear as the game's run is, a map really wasn't necessary in the end.
My real hang-up with this game is, strangely enough, the story. Which I will discuss below:
My complaint is that victory comes too easily, and too consequence-free. I don't like it when a game goes too far in the direction of hating on the player character for doing what they had absolutely no choice but to do (like in The Power or a game whose name I can't quite remember where you're created by a sage, told to go get something at whatever cost, and then the final boss is some Watcher fellow who you can either kill or go find special things to 'redeem' yourself). But I think this game goes too far in the opposite direction.
Sure, I can sympathize with the main character's problem. His daughter, his only connection to the world, his only reason for living, is taken from him. But at the same time, the people who took her were obviously trying to save a whole lot more people. There is something to be said for the good of the few as opposed to the good of the many. But the game treats the hazmat fellows like they were doing something wrong, when the only mistake I can see them to have made was keeping mutants around in a manner that would release them if the power went out, especially subject X.
In the end, the main character has probably killed a whole lot of basically innocent people who were just trying to keep humanity alive as a species to save one little girl. And yet the hazmat guys are the ones who are supposed to have learned something about ends justifying means. I just wish there had been a bit more balance to what happened, instead of the main character getting exactly what he wants through killing every human being in his way (killing the mutants is fine, don't get me wrong).
It's also a bit of a plothole that Mr. main character was apparently healthy enough to run around, jump around, punch mutants in the face, and shoot a gun, and he's perfectly fine through all of this, yet he wasn't considered for study. Despite being sludgified or whatever, he seemed to be remarkably well. For that matter, since the girl was his daughter, his genes must have gone into whatever made her immune to the sludging or whatever. There is literally no reason why the hazmat people needed to separate the man and his daughter--they should have come with offerings of shelter and food in return for being studied for a cure, for the good of mankind. Then everybody wins, but I suppose that would have prevented us from having a plot. I just think things could have probably been written better to prevent this gigantic hole in the plot from happening, is all.
I think, to simplify what Xindaris said before me, it does come off as a bit of a lopsided argument against the Pars pro toto principle. But I'll be darned if I didn't believe at the end there that
Lilly had somehow turned in to Test Subject X.
Speaking of Xindaris, I believe the game title you are searching for is Seedling.
Ok game. I had fun with some parts, but others meh. Kinda wish you didn't have to start a new game to check out anything thing you miss. (Once the backup generator kicks in you can't leave the building.
Also did anyone figure out how to get that power up? on the left of the long fall after you punch the blocks?
Nah, never mind it's just a torch.
I couldn't play beyond climbing the ladder in the opening screen. As soon as I got to the top and the credits started, the game slowed to a crawl, spontaneously threw me through a wall killing me and then crashed.
I tried it three times and got the same result every time, even without pressing any buttons at the top of the ladder and letting the credits play out.
I'm on Windows 7 and using Chrome if that helps pinpoint the trouble. I've also got the latest version of java, flash and all that jazz.
@ Xindaris
While I absolutely agree with you on your "seedling" comparison, allow me to offer a counterpoint to your thought.
This game met it's mark on where the creators intended. Perhaps the story could have been tweaked a little more but I feel one must suspend their disbelief for games as they would movies.(In no way am I saying to suspend one's intelligence though.)
I look at it like this, "Desperate times call for desperate measures" to be cliche; as the bio chemists had an opportunity to possible end the disease, they had to secure such hope at any cost. Asking a story set in the post apocalyptic era to play fair/nice, means that you live in a sane and just world where these genre's could never exist. XP
(A great example of this is Yahtzee's 1213 series)
The creators got the story right in establishing the main character's daughter is his only reason to live. If they wanted to improve or accentuate upon this, perhaps they could have added the main character's expressions of guilt or feelings about what he's doing and how he's meeting his objectives since he has "Mama bear syndrome"(through monologues and side thoughts to help identify with the character.) Any game creator or player should see through the main character's eyes and ask: "what is this character feeling/thinking? why do/did they make these decisions?" That's one of the biggest key factors in narrative writing.
Also I enjoyed how the cave music had sound clips of Link shooting his laser sword and being hurt. Nice touch!
Anyone else find the secret
hideout where you can talk to the creators of the game?
Yeah, I found that too Strangelander. Right at the top.
I'm pretty sure it's my laggy computer but the wall jumping is killing me. Now I have RSI!
I'm stuck at the part...
In the laboratory with the bridge operator. Clearly I have to destroy the emergency trigger but I can't figure out how. I'm hoping I haven't missed something because I can't leave since the back-up generator started.
Help! :S
@ Dandy
Lob a grenade at the emergency trigger
Thanks Yaddab. I got it right after posting. POP strikes again! I was aiming diagonally instead of straight up. Duh.
As for the discussion about the story...
I have to disagree with Xindaris that the Hazmat people weren't in the wrong for kidnapping the girl for tests. People who use force to defend their children in real life are viewed better than people that kidnap kids for sciencing. Just sayin'.
And the main character could only kill the hazmats responsible for taking his child, people that were shooting at him and mutants. (You didn't have to kill anyone though. You could walk right past the baddies. The only times you had to kill were the boss fights.) The innocent people including Hazmats that surrendered could not be killed.
As for him having the same special genes as his daughter, she could have inherited them from her mother. There were plenty of other survivors so that doesn't mean he had the same resistance as her. Afterall, all his skills were obtained later. He could only jump at first.
I agree with Akarroa, I thought Test Subject X was going to be Lily as well. I guess I've seen too many M. Night Shamalamadingdong films.
Overall, a really fun game.
Hi everyone!
I'm stuck
at the door where you have to put a code in order to open it... where do I find it?
Did I miss something???
Can you help me please? :)
Never mind! I figured it out after a while....
Talk to people!
@ Katabate
You should speak to everyone before you go up to the surface, going up the fist ladder and talking to the guy in his sick bed will push you in the right direction
Also it is worth pointing out in general that the help button is really a hint button - a nice touch for this type of game, rather than an out and out walkthough.
Stuck on patient X, not sure how to kill this dude. I get an ! near the machines, but pressing the space bar does nothing. I've tried grenades, melee, etc, no joy.
Power of posting, figured it out. For those who need a hint:
The lower right machine sets a metal box moving on the blue conveyor, the upper left machine drops it. Drop 4 on the monster and it dies.
Duh, how do you discharge the purple blast? They told me but I forgot and no amount of keystroking does the trick.
Silent
F
Hi all! Thank you for the kind words about the game. It is very moving to see your creation discussed in such depth (even when the comments are critical). If I knew only one person had experienced the game to that extent, I would have been happy. Reading your comments makes me feel this many times over.
Okay, saved the game and came back to finish but I seem to have lost my grenades or I just can't figure out how to throw one. This game could use a "controls" section on the pause menu. Anyone refresh my memory on the key to throw a grenade or tell me if saving made them disappear?
@ebenclaw
Press and hold D.
Thanks, Yaddab. I swear I tried it! It works now. /redfaced
Was anybody else stuck right after getting the
gun?
I'm not sure where to go.
Never mind, I found it.
You have to shoot upwards towards the red crate.
I just freed the guy and got melee attack. Collected 2 pills and am now stuck.
Hi inheritance.fan! Have you
followed the guy you freed down his "shortcut" back to his kid? Try punching the three blocks on the ground over the pit there.
Really like game, but am stuck. Have gun, got thru 1st boss, have been all thru everywhere I can find to go (including underground, high above past the 3 non-moving statues, left & up above the starting area all the way to the water with the blocks..). Retraced my steps in all areas, can't find anywhere else to climb/jump to. Really wishing for a map feature at this point.
Any hints?
I'm stuck..can't get the last rock up high to the right. any hints? please?
Like Dandy - POP. Realized I hadn't gone far enough to the right past the big red box (to the OTHER statues)..
gretchy...how did you get all the rocks???
I can't reach that top right statue/rock either.
Double jump isn't high enough, even with wall climb.
Can't find another way to it either.
Amazed no-one's done a map or walkthru (text or vid) yet.
What's this gun everyone is going on about, the F key?
And there are grenades? Where?
@ev ciak and others who cannot get the 3rd rock:
double jump followed by a wall jump
ok, getting really frustrated. got the missing part for the ship and am stuck. the hint tells me to "Swim under the Giant wall, speak to the dying old man in the cave" i can see the old man when i drop the long drop from the father son reunion, but can't get to him. What am i missing? where is the giant wall? over by the ship still? please help, this is really ruining my work day :)
I am stuck with the ship machinery. I cannot find where it is. Can someone help?
go all the way left. just above and to the left of your original cave. AFter you find it let me know what you do next, that's where i am stuck...you have to blow up rocks with a grenade...
Neat. Next you have to:
Go back to the ship and talk with that guy. Then the ship will take to somewhere near a big wall (On right side of the ship). You have to jump into water and then swim into the tunnel under the wall.
As far as the third rock/statue goes, the tip/spoiler given doesn't work unless you also know where to do it. I still can't figure out how to obtain it.
Great gameplay, but I had a serious problem with the ending of the game.
The dying hazmat officer right before the final boss battle concluded that "The ends don't just justify the means." Why on earth would he say this? Yes, he took someone's child, but she was also the only immune person on the entire planet. The hazmats were attempting to find a cure.
Instead, the man just announces his guilt. Had this been bothering him all along? It seemed to me as if he had no reason to say this. It was as if he gave up when the generator went down (which makes no sense).
I think a better ending would have been some of the hazmats saying how close they were to a solution before the protagonist killed them. That way, the protagonist would actually be an anti-hero (as he would have prevented humanity's recovery) but also be a hero for saving his daughter.
A story told in that way (which wouldn't be that difficult, just changing a couple lines of dialogue) would be much more intriguing, and would leave the player with a sense of hopelessness even in fulfillment.
Is the game telling the last blossom to wilt and die?!?!?
Update