I consider it a universal injustice that not a single living soul on SG has deigned to write a single line about this wonderful representative of Hidden Gems. The following text was drafted in July 2022.
A lonely emerald-eyed girl with black ribbons braided into her whitish hair rushes along a metal corridor studded with obstacles, accelerating as she runs. The air, fluttering, is cut by her uniform with contrasting blue insets, and her legs, rapidly stepping over obstacles, are pulled down by striped stockings and boots that bristle with belts. In her hands she has a hefty talking sword – with its help she quickly breaks forward, deflects a projectile flying at her, which immediately jumps away at the reflected corner, and instantly disappears from sight, leaving behind an unsteady silhouette disappearing in the air.
“Seems like a typical anime,” you say. “Hardcore, but terribly addictive platformer” – I’ll tell you in response.
In search of the true legacy of the 90s
Nowadays, among indie platformers, finding something truly exciting is both difficult and easy. Simple – because there is a huge choice. But with complexity everything is more cunning: when you try this, the fifth, the tenth, you always come across personal quibbles about little things: “here the feeling of moving is not so fun”, “here it’s boring to hit enemies”, “here they’ve gone too far with the levels”, “here in general the artists are very relaxed, as if they assembled everything at a resolution of 160×120, or worse”. COGEN: Sword of Rewind solved all these problems for me at once. If you allow this comparison, this is a kind of accelerated similarity Solbrain (Shatterhand), only crossed, in part, with Katana Zero and, in part, with Prince of Persia from the era of the sands of time, enclosed in cyberspace and compacted in a moderately fast side-scroller in anime style. For which the music was written not by someone, but by himself Motoi Sakuraba. And the visual part is a vivid example of how to draw smooth two-dimensional pixel animation, referencing the era of late 2D. I would call the Gunvolt series the closest relative of the one under discussion (in part, and in terms of sensations) .
The game can be described almost as a chant: “If you have a terrible withdrawal from those same platformers from the late 80s and early 90s with the difficulty level of arcade halls, you definitely, urgently need to buy COGEN: Sword of Rewind !». Moreover, when I mention arcade halls, I’m also talking about home consoles of 3-4 generations (NES/SEGA/SNES), and I’m not even trying to be disingenuous: this is a heartbreaking and nerve-wracking thing, fiercely hardcore even at a low difficulty level, forcing you to die 50-60 times per level, in which, unlike many other difficult games, death is not so annoying. You are rather surprised and annoyed by how many things the developers manage to do in a row in the design of battles with bosses and in the decoration of levels. That is, you are not just surprised, rather the increasing “Oh wow” is triggered! Yes how? Yes, how much more is possible? How can you avoid this?? SERIOUSLY?!». And at the same time, unlike HunterX, there is no feeling of dishonesty of the fight: there is always a chance to take a step back, a mistake up to a certain point is possible (and necessary)!) to correct. And for me personally, speaking in absolute metaphors, this is hardcore, which does not squeeze you into the vise of narrow limits of timing and stamina, like Dark Souls, but gives you freedom close to Super Meat Boy and Celeste .
Remember nothing
The heroine’s name is Kohaku and she, suddenly for herself, wakes up in a completely unfamiliar place and discovers the ExeBreaker sword next to her – the developers do not shy away from references to the principles of code execution in computers and draw this into the plot. The sword turns out to be more than talking and even capable of rewinding time, and agrees to help her deal with the situation: after all, they are both in Kohaku’s hometown, Kogen City, which is already in ruins, and is being gradually finished off by a certain Akasha. All this gradually triggers Kohaku’s memories and gradually she realizes that the environment feels somehow different, and in general it is ▙ ▚ ▛ ▝ ▞▜ ▟ ■ (further illegible).
What am I talking about? In general, the story itself is presented simply: with voiced dialogues accompanied by portraits of the characters scurrying back and forth. The acting is surprisingly captivating and entertaining: either the sword will make some kind of joke, then Kohaku will react funny, then the third character, who cannot yet be named, will provoke a reference to real events in our world, thereby causing a smile.
The story itself has a couple of twists and may even surprise the inexperienced player a little, but we didn’t come to COGEN for the stories, but for the gameplay.
Chop from the shoulder
Kohaku, being far from https://spinfinitycasino.co.uk/games/ being the most timid, is capable of not only running and jumping quickly, but also fighting – she dodges, sharply accelerates forward, bounces off walls, confidently waves her sword, and if she makes a mistake, she can rewind time 5 seconds back. The ability is not infinite and is replenished over time. Any mistake on standard difficulty leads to death, so her arsenal of “evasion” abilities is quite wide.
The process is based on horizontal/vertical running over rough terrain with various mean traps: everything is according to the classics, almost according to the textbook. Moats, floors filled with all sorts of dangerous nonsense, lasers shooting from everywhere, flying platforms, walls breaking from impacts – all this is combined with quite vile, but simple in behavior enemies. They are like in the old console arcades – they seem to do almost nothing, but they are worse than cockroaches, running under your feet and shooting whatever comes to hand. Those that shoot often release large projectiles, which Kohaku can deflect with his sword and thus harm a neighboring enemy. The levels never get boring: the developers don’t forget to diversify the situation: by playing with light, moving dangerous objects, pattern-moving presses, pursuing lava and accelerating paths that make it difficult to slip between multi-ton falling blocks in time, and also by blocks switching from the time shift.
“And now it will be even more difficult. Come on, dodge! How do you like this? Didn’t expect it?»
But the most evil, and the main treat here, are the bosses. They do not forgive mistakes, they behave completely differently, but with well-memorized behavior, which, when changing phases, can dramatically change the overall mechanics of the battle. Starting from the second or third level, delay means death, and on the fifth boss – I almost guarantee you will sweat, but you will be only glad for it. Emotions are overflowing: when, after a rather difficult first or second phase of a bossfight, you are sent to subspace a la the second level in BattleToads in BattleManiacs with a bunch of fast-moving spikes and blades, where you have to frantically use time rewind, without using up its reserve too much, so as not to die – this makes you sweat, curse, fall deeply into an overwhelming panic with the thought “YES IT’S EVEN HARDER”. "and persistently re-pass until victory. The boss already from the middle of the game made me howl with a mixture of indignation and surprise.
The fact is that the core gameplay of the game, coupled with laconic and very responsive controls, suggests the ability to rewind time over a short and precise distance, and thanks to this combination, the player manages to maneuver between attacks and fend off flying projectiles in the most difficult and confusing situations – without accidents and under strict control. And due to this, the developers, with a wide-open, malicious grin, have every right to roll up their sleeves and mentally, addressing the player, say the phrases that I put in the title: “And now it will be even more difficult. Come on, dodge! How do you like this? Didn’t expect it?».
I really don’t like excessive complexity in games, but in COGEN: Sword of Rewind it matches my needs, plus or minus: each of the 50-60 deaths per level does not force you to throw your console or gamepad at the wall, or break furniture. The penalty for an error is clearly visible, along with the reason; all behavior is clearly readable, and return to battle occurs literally in 3-5 seconds. No tedious hacking through the entire level again after dying at the boss, no extra enemies. Go straight into battle – not a second longer!
Final showdown
What kind of music is here?! If you love arcades and platformers from the 90s, this track from the second level will give you the same storm of nostalgic delight as it does me:
Motoi Sakuraba, seems to be not only capable of producing monumental canvases, but also very playful guitar tracks mixed with electronics. And notice how powerful the riff is and the subsequent solo that completes the loop – cutting through a series of robots in the level while listening to this is just the thing.
But here is the battle with one of the bosses, which actually shaves off with lasers and takes up a significant part of the area available for maneuver with attacks. This battle was decorated with a very playful and fast-paced guitar solo, with, again, a touch of the 90s:
And although not all the compositions in the game are as bright and expressive, they are of sufficient quality and do not cause sharp rejection.
Recommendation in the form of three points:
— If in difficult (for example, Souls) games you, like me, are enraged by at least the second or third death, but at the same time you remember that the old arcade games were fun but difficult, try COGEN: Sword of Rewind on low difficulty.
— If you really like complex, stylish and beautiful pixel platformers with very good music (Mota Sakuraba really tried) – just buy COGEN: Sword of Rewind and play on any difficulty.
— If you like hardcore without regard to difficulty, just buy and beat COGEN: Sword of Rewind on medium difficulty. And then again at an even higher level, it will open after passing.