I’m not much of a platformer shooter fan, but I do love me some weird and quirky gameplay. Which is why I decided to give Douglas Circumstance a glance. And while it might still not be my cup of tea it still looks like a promising game in the genre. Plus, it looks like there’ll be more styles of play than just running around with giant guns shooting at things. I could see at least one Zelda clone and a street fighting level, which means that there’s probably many more “worlds” to explore beyond the usual.
Douglas Circumstance is a 2D side scrolling shooter where you play as the titular character as he goes out hunting monsters for money. He won’t be completely alone in his journey as he has his brainy sister, named…sigh…Douglette, on hand providing him the weaponry he needs to finish the task at hand. And it looks like the guns are as varied as the monstrous varieties that he has to face. Which is a most certainly eclectic bunch. From brains to zombies to what appears to be Cthulhu you’ll be facing more than just your run-of-the-mill creatures of the night.
Here’s the kicker, though. Douglas only has one hit point. Which means that he can only take one hit before dieing and you’ll have to claim another life or start back at the beginning. Douglas Circumstance is as hard as the 8-bit games that has inspired it. There are no save games, either. As such, you’ll have to be really careful when out hunting these monsters. Otherwise all you’ll be is another snack for them. While this game doesn’t really appeal even to my nostalgic bone it does look to be a fun experience for those who enjoyed playing games like Metroid or Mega Man back in the day.
Track the progress of the Douglas Circumstance Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
