I'm not sure who Judero is yet. I have even less of an idea about his neon pink floating bunny pal who left him minutes into his story. I'm not sure 🐭why I'm fighting haggis, why haggis looks like that, or why everyone you meet, from wary strangers to village priests, are all a little disconcerting. But this pagan folk tale doesn’t care about giving straight answers.
Some of this air of foreboding that leaks into Judero like carbon monoxide poisoning comes from the character designs. Judero himself is based on an Action Man (or similar poseable toy from yesteryear), with rugged highland features roughly sculpted onto his once-perfect body. Other characters seem to be built entirely from scratch, but looks as if the keen sculptor who'd worked on them left them out in the sun a little too long after finishing. Their features look melted, simultaneously welcoming thanks to their homemade qualit൩ies and unsettling thanks to the execution.
The enemies are even stranger. Haggis are multib🐽odied creatures, like a horizontal version of Mario's Pokeys, if Pokeys were made of clay and aggressively chased you through the Scottish Highlands. There's also eyeless humanoids with beaks, rumours of witches afoot and goddesses swimming in the salmon-filled streams. Though based on the oral tradition of Scottish folklore, Judero's interpretation is wholly unique and very uncomfortable.
It's not just the designs, though. The music is a haunting soundtrack of ethereal Scottish folk, simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. It g🌼ives the whole game a strange aura, if it didn't have one already. The stop-motion action is juddery – perhaps that’s where the name comes from – but feels surprisingly fluid. Every part of this game is a dichotomy𒊎, a contradiction. It’s juddery but smooth, comforting but disconcerting.
I want to reiterate that Judero is🐻n’t a horror game, I’m not even sure it is intentionally odd. It’s pre൲sentation just unsettles me.
I’m enjoying Judero, despite the unsettling vibes. I love the homemade feel, I love the classic gameplay that feels like a modernised version of the games I played as a child. The exploration is that of a ‘00s top-down hack ‘n’ slash, but the combat is a bit Soulsborne, in the same vein as Dark Maus or this yea🐟r’s most underrated action g💙ame, Death of a Wish. And all of it is animated with careful stop-❀motion, making Judero feel entirᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚely unique.
I’m a big fan of unique games, especially those which take bold concepts and try to think outside the boxes that your standard triple-A fare exists firmly withi♛n. And 𓃲Judero is doing just that. There’s so much love poured into this handmade game, but it’s not without innovation, too.
Every enemy feels unique both artistically and mechaniꦦcally. While Judero can only hit them with 🦄his stave or dodge away, the interesting enemies keep you on your toes by firing glowing balls at you or splitting into numerous, smaller enemies when they’ve taken enough damage.
However, things get really interesting when you start possessing these creatures. Maybe you want to force them to fight each other rather than wasting your precious health, as it has been a little while since you last rested at a standing stone. Maybe you need a beast's🧔 mighty jaws to chomp through an oversized apple that stands in your path. I’ve only played a few hours of Judero at the time of writing, but alreadyღ this mechanic has given both combat and exploration another layer of depth, and I can’t wait to see what other treats the developers have in store for me to solve by taking control of a foul foe.
Judero is strange, unusual in both presentation and creation. But it’s incredibly compelling, and eerily beautiful. As the eponymous protagonist runs through the Highlands accompanied by the haunting folk soundtrack, as the sun sets behind his seated figure at a standing stone, a💎s he vanquishes another violent haggis. There’s beauty in the weir💛d, and power in the unique. And, if nothing else, Judero is unique.
🌼2024 Has Quietly Been An A𝕴ll-Timer Year For Indies
A quieter year for triple-A made room for indie ♏games to make some noise.
