Reviews

• 

  Mape

  Feb 22, 2022

  Hard to learn, harder to master. I recommend buying only if you want a challenging game.
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  Nat

  Feb 19, 2023

  Very fun IL speedrunning platformer. Can take a bit to get used to the movement but once you do it feels very fun and fluid.
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  Pertel

  Jan 7, 2017

  This game is nuts! If you hated super meat boy, you'll hate this too! :D Controller recommended btw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly0Pi3i81oU
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  Ryuze

  Jan 8, 2017

  Standby is a tough-as-nails platformer made for speedrunners and platforming masochists. The game centers around speed, timing, and precision, with minimalist visuals, and a fantastic soundtrack to boot. I got through all 54 levels in roughly 3 hours, but this game is meant to be played to perfection, with leaderboards and collectibles for completionists. TLDR: I recommend this for speedrunners and platformer enthusiats looking for a fast-paced challenge. my playthrough: https://www.twitch.tv/ryuze/v/112716606
• 

  noxtherox

  Jan 9, 2017

  Great game, really fast paced and fun overall. It's a bit hard to coordinate all your mechanics at start but you will improve. Seems like an ideal game for speedrunning. I liked I wanna be the boshy, Super Meat Boy, etc, where you need to memorize stuff and be very coordinated, and this ticks the same boxes in this regard
• 

  Invader Skoodge

  Jan 13, 2017

  It's like an easier version of Dustforce. I loved Dustforce, but it was a little bit too difficult for me, and I couldn't finish some of the levels and wasn't able to beat the game. STANDBY is a perfect stand-in since I don't have much time for gaming, and always wanted a bite-sized game to master and get good at speed running.
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  the tremble

  Jan 14, 2017

  AGDQ 2017 for life! Kill the animals!
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  Moody Muffin

  Jan 14, 2017

  This game is not about story, not about fights with enemies, not about exploring world. This game is about fast, hard, perfect timing, in cold blood sliding/jumping/runnig/breaking through compact, minimalistic levels, where floors/walls/ceilings..literally anything trying to kill you. And when after endless attempts you'll finally beat the level, you would like to do it again - faster, better, stronger, with collecting all these rombs in your way! Speedrun mode increasy challenge mood. There are no something incredible or special features in this game, no metagame or customisation, but platforming part is very good. SO, if you like such platformers - you should like this thing, it really gives you strong emotions! P.S. Electronic soundtrack is really charming!
• 

  flutterravie

  Mar 9, 2017

  Tried my best to enjoy the game, but its controls are not responsive enough. I've got that frustrating feeling of "I'm sure I hit that jump button!" when my character doesn't actually jump - which is not present in the likes of Super Meat Boy. It's just annoying.
• 

  javerikr

  May 16, 2017

  This is a difficult but rewarding game. If you're looking for a relaxing arcade platformer, you'll have to find it somewhere else.
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  Krauvando

  Jun 4, 2017

  Speedrunner's oasis; very short levels, every minimal action is relevant for a good time, good music and feels extremely dynamic all the time. What you see in the trailer is what you get. To fully beat the game, you need to clear every level in two ways (separately or at the same time if you're a speed god): by collecting all gems and by going faster than a set time, which is usually very tight. There's several semi-hidden mechanics that will help you go faster, but also make the levels more tricky to clear due to fast speeds. Overall a much more solid game from the dev of Barrier X, I got what I expected and it was a very sweet experience :^)
• 

  Linkblade

  Oct 6, 2017

  Very good and challenging platformer for players who strive for perfection! Every level is about 5 to 15 seconds long. It is in fact a bit like "10 Second Ninja", but then a bit more different. You have to hit them buttons timed and fast to beat the pro time of the level and to collect all squares meanwhile. What I don't like here is that you can seperately beat the time and in another run collect all squares without the pro time to get the full progression achievement. There is NO reward for beating the pro time AND collecting all squares in the same run. What I also don't like is that you can complete the level with a very bad time and without collecting any squares, in short: being awful at the game and still progress to all levels in the game. Players who're not up to this hard difficulty can play through all levels with caution. But in my opinion they won't have much fun. This game is all about getting the best time out of a level by 40% skill (concentration, reaction), 10% wits (creativity and intelligence how to get the best time) and 50% endurance (repetition and memorising). What I could critisize here is that you literally imprint the level into your fingers for muscle memory and after several tries finally succeed. There is no possibility as in other games that, once you have the game skill you have all you need for what is coming, no, you won't be able to beat the pro time at the first try. Firstly you cannot look that far to plan your way and secondly you have to analyse the level to find out how to save time. For example and this makes the aspect of memorising even worse is that some levels have timed lasers which you can only pass at the right time. The clock starts when you pass the start line, but the lasers are spawned before the clock runs. So, in some levels in fact you have to wait about 0,5s to 1s before the start line, then run furiously into the level to have the laser at the end of it timed right that you can pass. If you don't hit the right waiting time at the start you either get burned or you have to wait while the clock is running. In both cases don't get the pro time even though you performed a perfect button hit series. Memorising is even more important for the speedrun mode which activates after beating the 9 levels of a set. In the speedrun mode you run through all levels of a set in a row and try to hit the best time. Here the effect of memorising gets an additional big impact on your result. Just imprint these levels into your mind and fingers by repetition and finally succeed. This aspect never appealed to me as I find this to be more work than fun. For me this a waste of time, but for others maybe the real challenge. I'm not saying that these reasons/arguments make the game bad. I'm just saying, that this game is not for everyone. But if you like difficult challenges and speedrun perfection in a platformer like me then this game is for you!
• 

  Axcicos

  Nov 8, 2017

  Personally, I can not say I enjoyed my lack of time with STANDBY. I know I didn't play that much but seven levels in and I can already tell with numerous hints that this was going to be a bad game. A little bit of insight, to prove that this is not my lack of skill making me hate how this game is hard - I can say I completed VVVVVV and the majority of Super Meat Boy (save for the bonus seventh world). I tried You Have to Win the Game and failed because of weird invisible platforms. But I digress. What we came here today was to figure out what makes STANDBY feel like a sore thumb in what should be a clean hand of shining examples for hard platformers. And that, my friends, would be the controls. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] The gameplay is, arguably, the most important aspect of the format STANDBY is utilizing. There are three controls for the most part; run, jump, shoot. The issue, however, is how these controls work in unison. If you shoot while running, you will instead perform a slide, which you can only shoot within the slide. This slide lets you cross red barriers in your way, making it a nessecity for a trap commonly thrown at you. I found myself hunting for a long time trying to get a single key that would otherwise be easy to earn if this slide was more precise. If you slide and jump, you dive to the ground. This is the real bugger, my friends. You will commonly find yourself trying to slide, but since you have already jumped, and you will probably be sliding to jump over a red barrier, instead you will dive into a red barrier. This will be one of the most common ways you die. This is a big problem because it feels like a stupid mistake. If you fall off a tough platform, you want to get past it so you have bragging rights. But theres no competition against a stupid mistake killing you. If anything, it drives you farther away from the game you want to play. These stupid mistakes only caused by the developers trying to lessen how many buttons get pressed discourage smart play trying to figure out a puzzle, because odds are you will know what to do but you die anyway because you accidently dived instead of slided, or shooted even. This game needs precision, as any good tough-as-nails platformer requires. However, this precision is thwarted by just how fast the protagonist goes. Another stupid mistake you'll come across is slipping into a red barrier without a viable way to switch direction. I already covered why stupid mistakes cripple this game, so I won't cover that further. [h1] Story Elements [/h1] There is basically no story in STANDBY, and it doesn't need a narrative to be a good platformer, so I won't take away points for that. The settings are very bland, and the only difference you will notice is the background color. This game wants you to focus on what you're dodging and it wants you to know. [h1] Soundtrack [/h1] Alright, atleast this game nailed something. The OST of STANDBY is pretty good, although I haven't heard much. Still, it gets points for this just because of that trailer's music. Positive [list] [*]Good soundtrack [*]Enticing trailer [/list] Negative [list] [*]Horrid controls [*]No interesting backgrounds [*]No story, not even a simple one like SMB [/list] [h1] Summary [h1] Overall, there are a lot of charming qualities that STANDBY presents. If you're a balls-on-the-walls masochist who wants to get directly into the core of the game, STANDBY is probably for you. If that doesn't describe you, then you'll have a hard time enjoying STANDBY.
• 

  Yokai

  Jan 11, 2018

  The game's biggest downfall lies in the awful "minimalistic" movement system. FYI to any aspiring designers out there: don't bind three contextual actions to one key if your game is supposed to be precise and fast-paced.
• 

  Niphel

  Feb 20, 2018

  So, bought it on sales, because it looked so super slick (usually I go on youtube first and have a look over the game, if it suits me, i didn't this time, ... actually I wish I had, but oh well, maybe they will listen?!) So, soundtrack, slow-mo moving, really slick, B U T!!: It DESPERATELY NEEDS a REMAPPING TOOL OF THE CONTROLS! I come from playing games like Awesomenauts, Brawlhalla, Speedrunner, Sundered ... and so far, NONE of those controls felt as ALIEN as they do in "Standby". The simple REASON for that is: I CAN REMAP MY CONTROLS IN EVERY OTHER GAME! Why not in this one here? It really takes away the gaming fun, as I think, the skill-cap of this game might be quite high, but I WON'T learn new controls for THAT! So, either promise, to build in a KEY REMAPPING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, or I'd like to have a REFUND! As long, as THAT is not included, I cannot recommend that game! Simple as that! Another thing, that would be good, is the camera should be going forward or into tunnel view ... problem with the camera view is, that your character STICKS TO THE FRONT SIDE at some point, meaning, YOU CANNOT SEE, what is AHEAD OF YOU! In an OBSTACLE RUNNER GAME, where you cannot see the FRONT, or where you are GOING is downright useless ... unless, the creators of this game wanted you to know EVERY SINGLE MAP BY HARD (which is kinda frustrating, to learn on a fast paced 5-seconds [felt] run through a map; ESPECIALLY WHILE YOU CANNOT CHANGE THOSE BLASTED CONTROLS!). Minimalistic view and all is FUN, but because the BACKGROUND had the SAME COLOR (BLACK) like the GROUND that you are supposed to run on, I fell to my death plenty of times, because I SIMPLY COULDN'T SEE THE NEXT LEDGE TO JUMP TO! It is a great start of a game, but still needs some work put into it. It is DEFINITELY not ready for sale yet! (4 Euro, i better spend on a Pizza! More long time fun!) My point of view. GL&HF.
• 

  abcq2

  Feb 27, 2018

  The game has potential, but the controls pretty much kill it dead. The slow-motion doesn't feel under the player's control at all (it seems to be triggered by sliding toward a breakable block and stops when it feels like it). The controls are a little awkward but with no way to re-bind them. The distinction between 'fire', 'slide', and 'drop' feels arbitrary. Combined with the slide activating slow-motion the shift key becomes a grab bag of slide, drop, fire, activate slow motion. None of it is exactly a deal-breaker alone but it adds up to a frustrating, flow-breaking experience.. All in all, this game could have used more separate keybinds, less slow-motion, and rebindable keys.
• 

  LHunterr

  May 9, 2018

  This game looks like it would be fun, from the video shown on the main store page on Steam. I even read through the reviews and saw how many negative reviews there were just based off of the controls, but I still bought it. Really wish I wouldn't have. This may be a game some people like, if you are a person who likes games that are not only hard mechanically, but also have extremely bad controls. If you don't enjoy games that don't control well, don't buy this game. The controls just don't work. If you do buy this game, use a controller, as it makes it a little more tolerable, but even with a controller, this game still dosen't control well.
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  Polybrain

  Dec 30, 2018

  I liked the art and minimalistic approach, but gameplay is not for the people whose not so called "speedrunners" (which i am not anymore). I think will pass this one..Really want to like it though.
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  exie//exxy

  Feb 9, 2019

  [h1]the game has flashing lights, usually not suitable for people with photosensitive epilepsy[/h1] [b]Pro:[/b] Fast Vivid Light [b]Con:[/b] Terrible control. The developer should rather use [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/463150/]BARRIER X[/url] control layout or change [u]SPACE[/u] with [u]C[/u],
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  Fluupi.

  Jul 6, 2019

  This game is nothing but a dust collector that tries to mask its reputation by pushing the good ol' mighty reviews that make it seem like a fun game. DO NOT take positive reviews for granted! 99% of them are just useless, since those people have 0.0 hours of playtime over the last 2 weeks. Noclip's greed is so embarrassing that this product's price was changed multiple times just for the sake of making sales. Other than a mainstream electronic soundtrack and 2D style graphics, this game has very little to offer. This average platformer is theoretically based around the whole "speedrunning" scene, but lacks awfully in areas that would've make the game playable. Standby lacks in any form of freedom of change, other than the standard audio-video modifications. The controls are more slippery than a prison bar soap, it's so bad that the entire experience falls short for most people after only 10 minutes of gameplay. A controller might seem a bit more bearable, but with a keyboard, I can only say Good Luck. All of the protagonists actions are binded though one single key (being also unremappable) that generates deaths and crippling frustration during playtime. Standby is very closed, very incapable, so much so that a player has 10x more freedom from a f2p p2w ip than this title. If you still want to see it yourself, give the demo a try or wait until one of the Steam Sales occurs, because it goes deadly cheap around that time.