Toby: The Secret Mine Reviews
To be honest, the only redeeming factor of Toby: The Secret Mine is that it's not one of the many, so many, "roguelikes" or pseudo 8-bit platformers that are the norm these days from indie developers. It felt kind of refreshing to go back to 2014, even for a fleeting moment. The ideas in Toby are sound, the execution however is a lot to be desired.
Toby: The Secret Mine has fair visuals and a decent level variety, but disappointingly relies too heavily on inspiration from previous indie successes to blossom into anything truly original.
Toby: The Secret Mine lacks inspiration and original ideas: it's a puzzle-platform adventure inspired by masterpieces like Limbo and Inside, but it isn't able to rival with them.
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Toby: The Secret Mine isn't a bad game because it's so similar to other titles. It's bad because it can't even come close to matching the strength of releases from five years ago.
While beautiful in some aspects, Toby: The Secret Mine fails to grasp its potential, and leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It's short, way too challenging, and way too random at points that will frustrate even the most patient of gamers.
To put it bluntly, Toby: The Secret Mine plays it too safe. It settles for a basic understanding of the fundamentals, and does little to push the player. The pacing is appropriate, the adventure never becomes monotonous, but there aren't any inventive or exciting elements. Trial-and-error game design has its own problems, but at least more effort could have been put into Toby's death animations. Usually, he falls over like a puppet that lost its strings. In some cases, he doesn't do anything, and gamers are merely kicked back to the last checkpoint. If death is such an integral part, at least make it fun.
Toby: The Secret Mine is inspired, to say the least. Its not its imitation of previous games that kills it, but its execution of those elements. It had potential, but you've seen this game before.
Although it does share a few good, similarities when compared to the inspiration, enjoyment is sadly not one of them, and if I wanted to play a Limbo-esque game I would just rather play Limbo instead.
If you’re looking for a more casual LIMBO-stye game, this is certainly one I can recommend, because, after further evaluation, this is pretty much what Toby is going for in my estimation. A simpler, more accessible, friendlier LIMBO. It’s not a bad game. If, however, you’re like me and looking for a more core game like the former, this won’t hit those marks, though it could be a worthy play down the line with a sale, or if you just need more of these kinds of games in your library right now.