A Chill & Cozy Platformer: A Promenade Review

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Promenade is a new 2D platformer that takes inspiration from 3D platformers like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Spyro the Dragon. It's also inspired by works like Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Little Nemo, and Adventure Time. It arriving soon on all major consoles by way of Red Art Games, and we're going to take a look at it now to see if all those earlier mentioned inspirations come together to capture the magic of a classic 3D platformer within a 2D game. There's always a ton of things to collect in games like this, so let's not waste time and get right into it!

The first of many basketball sections.

Hope you have fast reflexes.

No that's not Finn, his name is Nemo! Promenade places you in the shoes of Nemo, a kid who falls into a magical world where he quickly stumbles upon an octopus who takes him in. Said octopus quickly becomes Nemo's best friend and the pair decide to take the Great Elevator up to the surface, hoping to return Nemo to the world that he dropped from. Unfortunately a rather shady figure has started breaking and scattering the cogs that the Great Elevator needs in order to work, so it's up to our duo to gather them all up and restore them to their proper machine home. Nemo and his octopus friend travel to the various worlds that exist along the Great Elevator's path in the hopes of not only finding cogs, but also to uncover the mystery of who the elevator-destroying figure is. That's pretty much all we get in terms of story for much of the game, but I'll come back around to talk about characters and motivations later. All that matters for the moment is that we have a setting for our wacky little adventures, and we can now move into the core discussion of gameplay!

Gotta find those bombs!

Flowers mean platforms!

While much of Promenade is your standard platformer, there are a lot of mechanics that make it unique. Besides jumping, Nemo is able to throw his octopus friend in front of him. This isn't done for attacking per se, it's instead more of a boomerang mechanic as the octopus brings back enemies and objects it touches. These objects or enemies can then be used for various purposes, but mainly they serve to let Nemo perform a double jump. The octopus can also be used to grab onto hooks, attach to ziplines, and much more. While enemies can only really be used for double jumping, objects that are picked up can have other uses. This can be placing barrels down so you can use them as additional platforms, putting down charged balls of energy so you can activate sealed doors, or even lighting and throwing bombs to destroy rock walls. Each of the game's stages have a lot of interactable and destructible objects, but you don't ever have to worry about getting yourself stuck. If you take out an enemy by performing a jump, destroy a barrel by setting it on fire, or simply throw things off the world's edge, they'll all respawn after a few seconds. Nemo can also duck, roll, and dash, with a long jump being able to be performed if you string all those moves together. Besides enemies, stage hazards can also cause you to take damage, and Nemo is able to take five hits before dying. Dying isn't too much of an issue though as Nemo has infinite lives. Lost hit points can also be recovered by sleeping in hammocks which also serve as the game's checkpoints. There's a lot you can do within each of the game's levels as they are pretty open-ended in their design, but the biggest factor will be learning to think outside of the box when it comes to gathering up some of Promenade's more obscure cogs.

There are also minibosses.

I was not a fan of this section.

Each level of the Great Elevator needs a certain amount of cogs to get it working again, and cogs can either be picked up whole or in pieces. Whole cog pieces usually come after clearing long difficult sections, or by defeating a boss and freeing the octopus they have captured. Boss encounters usually involve using techniques you've learned on specific floors of the Great Elevator, and are probably the best part of the game. Whole cogs aside, you'll need three cog pieces to make a complete cog and these are what you'll spend most of your time collecting. You'll eventually pick up a logbook that tracks all the cogs available in each are, and this list is complete with Super Mario 64-style names. These names serve as clues to get cogs you might not be aware of, and you're free to collect as many cogs as you want within each level without having to re-enter it. Most cog pieces require you to do some sort of platforming challenge or defeat a series of enemies, but some require a more thought and involve things like collecting lost chickens, making food for an NPC, or even bringing together two snails so they can finish their date. There's also a surprising amount of basketball-centered cog pieces where you have to clear a trio of baskets that get more difficult as the game goes on. Promenade contains a total of 180 cogs, with most of those being in the form of pieces, but you'll need far less than that to reach the game's end. This means that you can leave a lot of the more difficult cogs un-gathered if you're having a hard time. Promenade can actually be very difficult at times, especially when it comes to time trials, races, and zipline platforming, but you're allowed to skip a generous amount of cogs with no real penalty beyond not seeing the special 100% ending. I'll admit that I went this route in my time with the game, but I am slowly working towards finishing my cog collection here and there. Considering that Promenade may seem like a very chill game visually, I like this approach to difficulty as you can definitely find a challenge if that's what you want, but you're not ever forced into it.

The first boss.

Is this Zelda?

I guess my only real problem with Promenade would have to be its lack of story. I can't help but get Balan Woderworld vibes from this game and its lack of dialogue, even though it feels very unfair to make that comparison. There's a neat story here, and you can get hints of it from character interaction and general vibes, but just about everything is left up to player interpretation. I get that this simplistic nature and storytelling is a design choice, but it makes playing the game feel like a chore at times. Some of the bosses can be rather challenging and defeating them to free an octopus is great. I just wish I knew exactly why they were locked up, why it was up to me to free them, and just how they were connected with the shadowy figure. Speaking of which, you'll keep encountering the said mysterious figure scattering each floor's cogs, but these segments aren't shown in the form of cutscenes. Making them standard gameplay means you can run and jump as he's taking them, or you can just stand there and stare blankly at him. A bit of shock or anger on Nemo's face would've made these repetitive scenes more palatable, and the lack of any scripted reaction also weakens the eventual reveal. There's also a few other moments where I simply didn't understand what I was expected to do at first. There's a series of challenges that involve finishing a painting, but that's not really relayed to you in-game very well. Add to this the fact that I would've never been aware of many of the cogs at all if it wasn't for their titles in the logbook. I'm not even sure what if Nemo's octopus friend even has a name. You only even learn Nemo's name because he writes it on the front of the logbook that I'm now realizing is the only thing that drives the story forward. None of this makes Promenade a bad game, but I wish there was more here to give everything reason. It takes a lot of motivation to clear some of the game's tougher sections, and that's hard to work up when all you're going to get is a grunt or two from an NPC in return.

Got to rescue the other octopi.

This reminds me of Super Mario Land 2.

The graphics in Promenade are one of my favorite aspects of the game, as I think the developers could've gone in several directions based on the game's influences, but went for something totally unique. First off though, I must admit that I'm not a fan of the Adventure Time-style visuals as Nemo looks like he's cosplaying that show's main character much of the time. Other than that, I think everything else comes together perfectly. If someone mentioned a collect-a-thon platformer that gatekeeps levels by the number of them you've collected, my mind would immediately go to 3D games inspired by classics of the genre on the Nintendo 64. Just about all of those were 3D though and Promenade is a fully 2D game. Being 2D in no way limits being able to perfectly replicate the style of games it's inspired by, and it comes off all the more special because of it. Levels are huge and expansive, and they're put together in a way where everything makes sense and you never get lost. Much of the hub world is actually inter-connected, with the Great Elevator travelling up one large world. You can even fall all the way down to lower levels if you're not careful. (Oh, and trust me when I say that it can be kind of annoying when that happens!) Visually speaking, the world mostly has a pastel look to it, but flashes of brighter or darker colors can also be seen throughout. There's even splashes of neon to be found in the arcade minigames on each of the Great Elevator's floors. I also appreciated that Promenade doesn't focus on a pixel-based art style, as that would've been my next assumption after learning it's not in 3D. While I have nothing against pixel-based graphics, I think Promenade successfully walks the line of being inspired by classic games we all know and love, but also keeping everything feeling fresh, new, and even modern. Some character design issues aside (That Adventure Time thing!), there's honestly nothing to complain about when it comes to the game's visuals. Lastly, I played the game on the Nintendo Switch, but it's my understanding that it runs on 4K and 120 FPS on the PS5 and XBox Series X.

This sneaky section was pretty fun.

One of the painting sections.

Promenade features an amazing soundtrack from Yponeko, who might be best known for providing the music for Old School Musical. I really dug the music, and it all has a cartoon-y vibe to it, to the point where I don't think it very much resembles a video game soundtrack at all. I don't mean this in a negative way of course, as it gives the game a feeling of moving in and out of episodes of an otherwise-silent TV show. Add in the fact that the screen has a circular screen wipe when the scene changes and you'll quickly be able to see what I'm getting at. The music itself shifts between upbeat and happy to spooky and atmospheric when needed, and even sports some great boss tracks. Going back to what I said about graphics, one would be excused for expecting a chiptune soundtrack if they simply boiled Promenade down to its inspirations. I'm once again pleased to note that we get a much more modern soundtrack here, though with enough retro-inspired touches that we still feel exactly what the game is going for. While I have nothing bad at all to say about the music, I do have to lament the lack of voice acting of any sort. I don't mean just spoken dialogue as I've already mentioned that the game has none, but I would've settled for quips for Nemo and the NPCs at the very least. Everyone mostly speaking in grunts, and that really works against the otherwise charming nature of the game. This doesn't bring down the game by any means, but it goes hand in hand with similar issues I had regarding the game's story. Thankfully we have that amazing soundtrack to keep everything moving smoothly.

Monkey see, monkey do!

One of the retro-styled minigames.

Collecting all 180 cogs is sure to keep many players at this game for hours on end. I can't even fathom how I would ever get some of them, but they exist for those looking for the extra challenge. Completionist stuff aside, the game will probably take about 10-15 hours to complete if you're just looking to rush towards the ending. You can also go the complete opposite direction and go for a speedrun, as Promenade seems almost built with that in mind. There's definitely more than enough here to justify the game's current $24.99 price tag, but I think Promenade offers more replayability than simply collecting all the cogs. Since the game has an extremely chill, even cozy, vibe to it, I found myself booting it up just to unwind a bit after a long day. Not to get too out of the review here, but A-to-J had a long embargo time for this game and I had actually finished it within the first few days of getting it. Even though I had more than enough for the review, I found that I was still going back to it just to do some random level bits again. A cool touch is that most of the cogs you've already gathered are still within the levels, but with a string attached to signify them already having been picked up. This means that I could do some of the random platforming sections a second time, sneak past those pesky moles again, or get those two snails back on their date whenever I wanted. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up, but I can easily see others doing this too. Even if you don't fancy that, you can always just play the main game in that fashion, collecting a cog or three to kick off a lazy afternoon. There's a lot of ways to play Promenade, and I'm here for all of them.

Dude, just stop it!

Time to blast off to another game!

I honestly can't recommend Promenade enough. There are some small things I didn't like about it, and I think only the most skilled of players will ever be able to 100% complete it, but it's just too good overall to skip. There's something here for platformer fans, cozy game fans, and just anyone looking for a great game. I don't often fall for platformers like this, but here we are. Maybe the developers can work on a sequel that has more of those cozy game elements? That may be asking for too much, but I guess we can all enjoy Promenade as it is even if that never happens. Pick up this game on whatever platform you can and thank me later. Now go collect all those cogs and report back when you're done!

Check Out Promenade on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/promenade-switch/

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Story: B
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A
Music/Sound: A-
Value: A

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A collect-a-thon platformer that pulls off the Super Mario 64 gameplay formula perfectly. (In 2D of course!)
+ Cute graphics, colorful and silly art, and silky smooth animations make Promenade an impressive looking game.
+ Tight, simple controls make Promenade easy to pick up, learn, and master.
+ While some sections of the game can be quite difficult, there are more than enough easy-to-beat obstacles available so gamers of all skill levels can see its ending.
+ An amazing soundtrack by Yponeko that you'll remember long after the game is done.
+ Has some cozy game elements that you rarely see in platformers.

Cons:
- While you don't need to get all the cogs to complete the game, there are some that feel downright impossible.
- Falling from great heights out of a level, or even down several floors in the Great Elevator, can be very annoying.
- Travelling to other zones isn't nearly as convenient as it should be in a game like this.
- Could probably have benefitted from just a little more story so players would have more motivation to clear some of the game's more difficult sections.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Good night, guys!

#PromenadeRAG