{"id":11944,"date":"2022-11-04T15:32:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/?p=11944"},"modified":"2022-11-04T15:32:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:32:59","slug":"there-is-beauty-in-the-chaos-review-of-dandara-trials-of-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/there-is-beauty-in-the-chaos-review-of-dandara-trials-of-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"There is beauty in the chaos \u2013 review of Dandara: Trials of Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have never been big on Metroidvanias, <\/em>non-linear platform games following in the footsteps of classic platformers like Castlevania and Metroid \u2013 I have played the odd one here and there. That’s why I was so surprised to really be quite blown away by one in Dandara: Trials of Fear, developed by Long Hat House and released in 2018. The world the game presents is gorgeous and nightmarish, with the environments and its details polished down to the smallest minutia. That said, the story is as impenetrable as any I have encountered; a very brief prologue explains that some mysterious force arrived to upset the balance of the world. Dandara herself awakened from something called \u201cthe Crib of Creation\u201d as a sort of messianic figure to restore the balance; that is just about all the information we are given about her. Also scattered around the world is a substance called the \u201cSalt\u201d, which holds some importance. That is all the setup we are given, and we\u2019re off to the races. Some may be left wanting for more concrete explanations, but I think the mystical nature of the narrative and, by extension, the milieu, works to the game\u2019s advantage, creating this very original, surreal world and mythos that, ultimately, need no explanation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The player moves by aiming at one of the white surfaces and jumping onto it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And what a fascinating world it is! In it, cozy forests and houses, deserts and netherworlds and
\nurban landscapes that are at once antiquated and futuristic, surreal dimensions made of floating
\nmountains and giant tubes and eyeballs, all melt into one beautiful chaos that seems to exist
\ninside a vortex where usual laws of gravity do not apply. This world is inhabited by strange and
\nfantastical creatures both friend and foe. Sometimes the villains are humanoid foxes brandishing
\nspears, at other times they are lumps of goo with monstrous faces. One boss battle sees the player
\nfighting the television image of a hideous golden businessman in a purple suit. Truly, the
\nimagination of the designers is breathtaking. And yet, none of this chaos becomes cluttered or
\novercrowded. It is busy, to be sure, but that is a given with Metroidvanias, and the beautiful art
\ndesign is never buried under too much visual noise. A special mention must also be given to the
\nmusic. It effectively amplifies the mood in any given moment, alternating from quiet and
\natmospheric to exciting and energetic. It is one of those game soundtracks one could easily listen
\nto outside the game.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The backgrounds of the levels showcase many wonderful, surrealistic vistas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The gameplay, too, has an unusual angle to it: the environment is covered with white panels and
\nDandara is only able to move from one of these platforms to another. This is achieved by aiming at
\na panel and jumping onto it. The game can be played with a controller, but I used a mouse. The
\ncontrols are very simple: aim with the mouse, jump with a right mouse click, fire with a left mouse
\nclick, interact with spacebar. This may sound overly simplistic, but because Dandara is able to
\njump from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, and because from time-to-time gravity shifts and \u201cup\u201d
\nand \u201cdown\u201d have no meaning anyway, the controls never become repetitive or numbing. To
\ncombat the villains, Dandara is able to shoot blasts of light from her hands. This is all very routine,
\nand there is little originality brought into it, but hey, it gets the job done. And sometimes you just
\nwant to blast away some bad guys, newfangled battle mechanics be damned.<\/p>\n

In terms of the gameplay, Dandara: Trials of Fear is addictive enough that one does not mind playing the game
\nfor several hours in one sitting. What is really the main draw, however, is the magnificent
\nphantasmagoria of the world in which Dandara has her adventures. It is both dreamlike and
\nnightmarish, creepy and atmospheric. It is really quite a trip.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Basic info
\nPublisher: Raw Fury
\nDeveloper: Long Hat House
\nPlatforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
\nRelease date: 6 February 2018
\nGenre: Metroidvania
\nPEGI 7
\nPictures: screenshots from the game, taken by the author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#Unique and #surreal , Dandara is an intense yet beautiful #Metroidvania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":11948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[247,653,1718],"class_list":["post-11944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","tag-action","tag-metroidvania","tag-surreal","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}