Little Orpheus Reviews
Little Orpheus' Cold War-era narrative captures the fun of vintage adventure serials, but its gameplay is as rewarding as a Soviet breadline.
While the colorful underground worlds in Little Orpheus look fantastic, the terribly bland platforming and irritating story drag the whole experience down into the depths.
Little Orpheus turns out to be an ordinary and mediocre product in every aspect of what it proposes, even if the bad timing of its release is disregarded. With simple mechanics and an uninspired level design, it's tedious, sometimes funny, but most of the time it's just really weak.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I thoroughly enjoyed Little Orpheus' premise and imaginative game world so it's unfortunate that its gameplay is as basic and unchallenging as it is. Plus, having collectibles spawn only after you complete stages makes for some super-tedious replay value.
Little Orpheus is a colourful adventure title that plays it too safe. I loved its whacky story, interesting backdrops, and fun mechanics. However, its repetitive nature undermines its potential and this was disappointing.
It’s got a real Flash Gordon vibe to it and the humour really helps to stick the landing when it comes to the storytelling. The voice-acting is cracking and make for regular giggles, if not somewhat stereotyped. But when it comes to gameplay its fine but not anything to write home about. A nice game but not a great game.
I can’t quite recommend Little Orpheus, and not just because of its unfortunate choice of narrative given the current climate. Its story is at least told in an interesting way, and it presents you a colourful, well-realised fantasy world to explore. But its platforming is dull and uninspired; you’ve seen it all before in other games. Though being inside a whale is cool, I guess.
Little Orpheus‘ has a solid enough foundation. It is too bad that there was not enough creativity put into the puzzles or platforming. The imagery is so good that it could have made up for the lack of imagination, but the rough controls and spotty inputs are what prevent it from achieving greatness.
As much as we adored the charming back-and-forth between Ivan and the General, we also began to lose interest in Ivan’s predicament near the end. There’s no narrative payoff here, no greater meaning or memorable conclusion that sticks with you. In Little Orpheus, The Chinese Room flirts with providing a more engaging experience that never quite materialises, made all the more apparent by the lack of puzzles intuitive enough to give us the barest hint of a dopamine-laced ‘aha!’ moment or a chase sequence or two with enough challenge to make us sit up on our sofa. That aside, the richly detailed worlds and superb presentation provide just enough reason to see Ivan's tall tale through to the end, but we ended up wishing there was more on both the puzzling and narrative fronts.
Unfortunately, the simple control scheme proves to be not up to the standard required for a game in this genre, and after a rather weak ending there is very little replayability for all but the most hardcore achievement hunters.
If you think storytelling is more important than gameplay then you should definitely give this 4-hours long "comedy series" a chance. Just don't expect too much in terms of gameplay.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Little Orpheus has some bright points - like its atmosphere and soundtrack - but it could have given more with its gameplay.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Little Orpheus began life as a video game for phones and, on those platforms, its limited gameplay probably did not stand out as much. This made it easier for the narrative and the presentation to impress players and to keep them moving to see how the story of Ivan and the nuclear bomb ends.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
Little Orpheus brings us the adventure of Ivan Ivanovich, a character we know little or nothing about, but we want so much to understand how he got where he is. With simple gameplay and an interesting narrative, it is undoubtedly a title for new players and lovers of the genre.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While perhaps the presentation shines over the, at times, QuickTime Event-style action, it has some charm as well
The journey to the center of the Earth in the Russian way is funny, entertaining, but above all with a breathtaking appearance and fantastic visuals that will enchant you.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
A former Apple Arcade exclusive, Little Orpheus successfully brings its cinematic platformer action to Nintendo Switch. This throwback to pulp movie serials works well on the TV screen, and the gameplay is better suited to Joy-Con controls than a touchscreen. The sense of wonder does slowly wear off, but it's a quick, casual adventure worth completing.
Inspired, fun, colorful. Little Orpheus is an old-fashioned platforming adventure with an interesting story and simple gameplay for those who are looking for a few hours of fun without challenges.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Those looking for some kind of challenge will not find satisfaction in Little Orpheus, which, however, as at the time of its debut, remains an indie gem to which at least the admirers of narrative platform games, and of "sci-fantasy" stories in particular, should not turn their backs at all.
Review in Italian | Read full review