Jump King Reviews
Although frustrating and oppressive by design, Jump King brings a level of satisfaction in victory rarely found in gaming. The varied level design and sheer amount of content within will provide hours of falling for those with the patience to continue.
Jump King is an excellent experience in soul-crushing difficulty and nightmarishly precise platforming. It's the type of game that won't be for many people, but for the small percent that craves this kind of experience, they won't be disappointed. The somewhat imprecise nature of your jumping often frustrated me and diluted the pure player skill needed to clear the game, but it still ends up being a solid test of your patience and platforming skills.
There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple, and this game is a testament to that. Jump King only tries to do one thing, but it does it so incredibly well without compromising the challenge.
The simple but captivating visual and audio design combined with the thoughtful level structure makes Jump King one of the toughest but most entertaining games I have played all year.
Difficulty should always work in unison with the fun factor of game, and not overshadow it, which is exactly what happens in Jump King, where trying to "guess" how much power you need to apply to your jumps is combined with a level design that doesn't tolerate failure, with the end result being constant aggravation. The smoking hot babe at the top isn't worth the trouble.
Jump King comes together as a totally competent platformer with enjoyably simple mechanics, where the only major downside comes in with why the game was made in the first place. Designing a game in which the point is to have the player repeatedly fail, forcing several restarts, is inherently not a good way to go about things, but if you can take it as a personal challenge between yourself and the game, then this platformer offers one of the more unique experiences on the Nintendo Switch.
Jump King relies on its challenging platforming mechanics but lacks unique elements to stand out. Its pixel art style and punishing difficulty may appeal to some but not everyone.
Review in Italian | Read full review
OK, so here we get down to the bare bones basics...
"Just jump up, it gets better."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Failures aside, the challenge was fun and inviting and tested your patience.
Gamers who like a cruel, twisted challenge to keep them awake at night whispering just one more jump over and over again will find a decent game and one almighty almost insurmountable challenge here.