100% game completion with all achievements in just under five and a half hours. Yet I cannot completely endorse this game. Almost.

I'm going to echo the words of another reviewer: Pumpkin Jack is bland. Not bad nor terrible, just bland. It's unremarkable, which is disappointing because we seldom see the "silly gothic horror" aesthetic, like from PlayStation's MediEvil.

Visually the game looks fine, like a hi-def toony platformer. However, there's lots of reused setpieces. Among the swamps, graveyard, and mines, you're going to see many of the same wooden planks and crates. There's also some very amateur shortcuts being taken with certain animations, like props shrinking when broken instead of shattering into pieces. The worst offender was during the fourth boss when these very simple, untextured polygons appeared to serve as fractures in the ground. It made the game look unpolished.

Speaking of reused, you're also going to see the same few enemies over and over. Not enough variety, they mainly just go straight towards you. No strategy, no variety.

Combat is just as disappointing. Enemies don't recoil or get stunned, they'll just effortlessly go right through your attacks. And their tells aren't easily readable so you're just going to end up taking hits. While the game does award a new weapon at the end of every level, they're not substantial. They're more of a sidegrade or just an option at best because they do not do more damage than the other. With that in mind, the best weapon is probably the shotgun as the range gives you a little bit of safety but you can also perform a rapid-fire attack after a dodge roll.

The platforming and puzzles are very easy. If you're looking for a platforming challenge, look elsewhere. The boss fights are also samey, recycling the same attacks in slightly different ways.

And the game's writing/jokes is low effort. The attempts at meta-humor fall flat.

Despite all the issues, I will give this a thumbs-up but *barely* just because it's not an outright bad game. Middling. Grade-schoolers might have fun for a bit (if you don't mind occasional use of the word "hell") but you could do better, especially at lower prices.

100% game completion with all achievements in just under five and a half hours. Yet I cannot completely endorse this game. Almost. I'm going to echo the words of another reviewer: Pumpkin Jack is bland. Not bad nor terrible, just bland. It's unremarkable, which is disappointing because we seldom see the "silly gothic horror" aesthetic, like from PlayStation's MediEvil. Visually the game looks fine, like a hi-def toony platformer. However, there's lots of reused setpieces. Among the swamps, graveyard, and mines, you're going to see many of the same wooden planks and crates. There's also some very amateur shortcuts being taken with certain animations, like props shrinking when broken instead of shattering into pieces. The worst offender was during the fourth boss when these very simple, untextured polygons appeared to serve as fractures in the ground. It made the game look unpolished. Speaking of reused, you're also going to see the same few enemies over and over. Not enough variety, they mainly just go straight towards you. No strategy, no variety. Combat is just as disappointing. Enemies don't recoil or get stunned, they'll just effortlessly go right through your attacks. And their tells aren't easily readable so you're just going to end up taking hits. While the game does award a new weapon at the end of every level, they're not substantial. They're more of a sidegrade or just an option at best because they do not do more damage than the other. With that in mind, the best weapon is probably the shotgun as the range gives you a little bit of safety but you can also perform a rapid-fire attack after a dodge roll. The platforming and puzzles are very easy. If you're looking for a platforming challenge, look elsewhere. The boss fights are also samey, recycling the same attacks in slightly different ways. And the game's writing/jokes is low effort. The attempts at meta-humor fall flat. Despite all the issues, I will give this a thumbs-up but *barely* just because it's not an outright bad game. Middling. Grade-schoolers might have fun for a bit (if you don't mind occasional use of the word "hell") but you could do better, especially at lower prices.