Woodle Deluxe

In Brief

Woodle Deluxe, the third in the Woodle Tree series is a cute and colourful retro 3D platformer. I'd score it a decent 8.5 out of 10 for great family fun. You can also play with a family member or friend in a local cooperative mode and it may also be possible t play with a friend online with Steam, but I've not tested that option. When you first boot the game up a small window appears that indicates that you can play cooperatively, both locally or online.; however, I see no option in the menus that enables this option???

You can see a couple of You Tube videos created by the Steam community members PepperHomie HERE and Throneful HERE

The Game

Woodle Deluxe is a cute and colourful 3D action platformer ideal for children with a single player and a local cooperative mode, where the second player can play as Woodle Beaver. It's a nice relaxing platforming adventure with no time constraints and is ideal for all the family. You can wander around in an open world environment, but don't wander off the edges of he world, otherwise you are transported back to the beginning of the level.

Of the six Steam reviews currently available for Woodle Deluxe since its release earlier this week; i.e. 18th Feb 2021, all are positive; which is a very good sign and bodes well for those winning a Steam key, of which there will be 50 keys to distribute. After the second/third day since this offer went live, the chances of winning a key stands at approximately 50%. That is assuming you've clicked on the repeatable FB button daily to earn more entries. As more Steam community members become aware of this offer, the likelihood of winning will be reduce somewhat as this percentage is likely to change over time because Steam key giveaways are very popular amongst the more than 120 million live accounts. (When I joined Steam back in 2009 there were only 4 million users). At the beginning of the offer you had ten days to wait for the winners to be announced (though sometimes it takes a few days after the event has closed). All winners will receive a Steam code via the email they used to enter the competition. If you've used one of those throwaway emails, you won't get a key as it will disappear into cyber space.

I'm not big into 3D platformers, but I actually rwally enjoyed playing this in short bursts of around 40 minutes. I found the game entertaining and very easy to play.

The difficulty level lends itself to the younger player, though older player who aren't your usual platformer aficionados' will also benefit from the simple controls. There are eight distinct worlds to explore from snow covered environments to deserts all floating in the sky. You casa zoom out using the mouse wheel to get an idea of how big each level is or zoom right in to be up close and personal. This ability also enables you to see the area's you still have to explore. The game reminded me of that brilliant 3D platform game that was released about 15 years ago called Atmosphir, which sadly died a death due to way it was funded (you paid a monthly subscription, but got the game for free), but the very playable client is still available online for free HERE, but the servers have gone. Still, you can create your own 3D platform worlds that look as good as this game.

My son loved this game when it was still in development and won an Atmosphir Tee Shirt for winning 'level of the week' . Literally hundreds of levels were submitted by the community at its height as it includes a level editor.

Sadly Woodle Deluxe does not include a level editor, which in my opinion would make this an even better game..

As you progress through the levels you can unlock various items and clothing to dress your character in. You control your Woodle character using the WASD or the arrow keys for movement and Space to Jump. To swat enemies with the leaf you pick up at the start of the first level (when you enter your home), use the left Mouse button. If enemies hit you with their projectile weapons before you manage to swat them, you will be send you back to the beginning of the level, but you don't lose the berries or the fairy tears you've collected. You have to collect a specific number of berries and fairy tears to progress to the next level. When you get to the end of the level you'll find three white cups, which you have to fill with the fairy tears before being transported back to your home; where you'll find a new world has been unlocked. Just approach this to be transported to the next level.

There are several languages available, which can be selected from the options menu. e.g. English, русский Russian), Español, Italiano, Français, 日本語 (Japanese), Português, Nederland, Deutsch,中文 ( Chinese), Türkçe, Polski, Dansk (Danish), Svenska (Swedish) plus two others one an Arabic language and one a Far East language (couldn't figure them out in the time I had available for this review)

You can change the resolution from 640 x 480 at 75Hz to a maximum of 840 x 2160 at 60 Hz, with six quality settings from Very Low to Ultra. The difference between the lowest and highest quality settings presents itself with shadows and shading, with the lowest setting having no shadows etc. You can play in either a window, borderless or full screen mode. Changing the resolution from the highest to the lowest will reduce the size of the window when in Windowed mode, if in borderless mode the size of the game area will adjust to the resolution you have set the game to and the sides of the game area will appear black; this also depends on what type of monitor you have. With multiple monitor set ups the game will open in your number one monitor.

Overall this is a very laid back platformer that is simple to play. Some of the obstacles can be a little tricky because you cannot change the camera viewing angle (it would improve the game play experience greatly if the developer added this to the control mechanics; usually the middle mouse button held down allows for changing the viewpoint in some games); however, once you've mastered the movement, it is a very minor issue. It took me several attempts to ascend the waterfall area in level one to the highest levels, where you complete the first level. With eight different environments, this should give you easily a good three or four hours or more of game play, unless you want to speed run it. For someone who is looking for a laid back experience, or one they can share with their young children, this is an ideal starter game. I'm not usually into platformers, but Woodle Deluxe was a pleasure to play as there was little in the way of any stressful game experiences (apart from when I overshot some platforms and fell into nothingness before reappearing a the beginning of the level.

Please see Delenn's threads for Steam and Non Steam freebies HERE and HERE respectively. It’s worth adding these to your favourites and checking regularly for available freebies. Delenn usually updates the threads frequently. Most are only free for a specific time. If you miss the deadline you’ll miss out. Once added to your account, they are yours to keep.

One of this weeks Epic gams is an epic post apocalyptic open world game that is well worth getting, especially if you like First Person Shooters with a Mad Max feel to them. You can also commandeer vehicles with various weapons attached. The game is called Rage 2. The second game is a top down drift game called absolute drift, that reminds me of Mirror's Edge due to it's colour scheme. The next Epic game to be given away from 4pm (UK Time) 25th February is the excellent Lovecraftian Steam punk roguelike and atmospheric top down RPG Sunless Sea; (Take the helm of your steamship and set sail for the unknown! Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death, set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London, with 84% of over 6000 community reviews giving it a positive thumbs up.)