Flynn: Son of Crimson

It might look good but it's ultimately short. The reason is comes off as long is due to what's easily the dumbest thing in the entire game is forcing you to go back to certain levels under some pretense there's an invasion going on and due to this you're not allowed to go anywhere until it's done. Also the soundtrack is the most generic thing I've heard in awhile and that's terrible. Maybe consider it when it's on sale, hard, but even then you're gonna notice how generic this entire game is.

7.5/10 Played with controller

This is a rather linear but enjoyable 2d game.
Overall, the game experience is enjoyable and feels like a good introductory game to the gaming hobby.
My only real issue deals with the story of the world and it's characters. Something feels like it's missing.
Maybe more detail behind the background of things to draw the player in....
Either way like I said. I find this to be a good introductory game.
Definitely worth playing once if you have some time to kill.

Flynn: Son of Crimson feels like a project that checks off every popular mechanic without actually mixing them in interesting ways and takes forever to get going.

For a game this short, it takes over an hour to beat the first five levels and a "boss" just to reach the hub area and the funny thing is the only thing you can do is trade hidden collectibles for currency, as the NPC who teaches skills is still two levels away. To reiterate, you spend roughly a fifth of the game with your basic moveset.

The gameplay failed to engage me for most of my playtime. Traversing through levels remains static because there’s only one movement upgrade - the wall jump and it’s the last one you get. There's no double jump, and the dash is limited to mounted sections. This would be acceptable if the core mechanics were strong, but they aren't. Flynn feels slow and stiff. Fortunately, the later levels are each distinct from another, making progression feel a bit better. I genuinely enjoyed the underwater sections, the chase sequence, and especially the mounted parts. However, I’m mixed about the Scourge Invasion events - remixed parts of previous levels that you're forced to complete before moving on. The game is linear and these events feel like unnecessary padding. I would rather play something new with harder
enemies than redo a level with them.

Combat is serviceable for the genre, but I found myself avoiding enemies more often than not. They aren't difficult, don't drop much loot, and engaging them felt like a waste of time. Even when forced to fight, it’s trivial, hit a few times, dodge roll forward, and repeat. Almost every enemy can be beaten this way. I know that you can simplify every fight like that, but I mean it in the truest sense - the difference between enemies is just the number of hits you do before dodging forward; you don't dodge backward or jump. In 1v1 scenarios, with trash enemies it's just a chore. Bosses suffer from similar issues - waiting for them to finish their attacks before hitting them while they stand idle. I know it's common design but still.

The art is great; the sprite work, animations, and backgrounds are all impressive, though the designs themselves are generic. The story is practically nonexistent: there's corruption, obviously purple, and a bad purple guy, that's about it.

Overall, Flynn: Son of Crimson is a safe, functional product that’s middle-of-the-road in almost every aspect, and that is its biggest sin.