I’m not sure how the little green fella – a nymph, as it turns out – got lost beneath the temple of Tithonus, although what I do know is that it needs to get back to the surface, and ASAP. A journey which involves a fair amount of box puzzling. I know, not exactly the most compelling aspect of a platformer in 2019, so it’s fortunate that Nymphiad also lets the player… shift geometry!
By this, I mean that making contact with a yellow arrow-filled sign causes the entire level to shift in that direction. An undeniably cool mechanic made even better by the fact that levels actually wrap around themselves. I suspect that, without those two features, Nymphiad would likely provide a far lesser experience, as while it does look rather lovely, the game doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. Then again, does it have to, in order to be, you know, fun? Not in the slightest, and it most certainly is just that.
While the objective of each level/screen is easy enough, actually reaching that darn coin can be quite a puzzling affair. Getting crushed by traps or impaled by spikes is not an uncommon event after all, at which point you’ll be sent back to the beginning of the level/screen, and everything completely resets. Of course, you could also not simply dash ahead without looking, unlike me. Yeah. Patience is not my strongest suit when it comes to platformers.
Oh, and when you do reach that elusive coin, the nymph does the weirdest little move; almost like it’s trying to belly dance, only… well, you’ll see. And you won’t ever be able to unsee it again. Muahahaha.
Nymphiad is available on itch.io, playable in a browser and as a download (Windows, Linux, Mac).
