Greak: Memories of Azur vs Growtopia
Greak: Memories of Azur
Greak: Memories of Azur is a gorgeous action-adventure game featuring a young boy in search of his sister in a world engulfed in turmoil, no thanks to the bloodthirsty Uglars. Playing as the boy Greak, you’ll venture across various regions in Azur, exploring every inch of it for hidden stashes, completing quests, and battling enemies along the way.The game starts off like a relatively regular action platformer, where you’ll get to jump, swing your sword around, and solve relatively simple puzzles by switching characters once you manage to reunite him with his sister. This part is actually pretty similar to the gameplay in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, a favorite of mine.
In fact, you’ll get to control both characters at the same time, which is interesting, though it does complicate things a bit during combat especially considering that the sister is a magic user and deals damage from afar while the brother is a sword-wielder and does best dealing damage from a much closer range.
In a way, Greak: Memories of Azur also feels a bit like a Metroidvania in the sense that the game hides secret chests and rare flowers in places that you, if you don’t pay too much attention, might miss. Even if you spotted the items, you will still need to figure out a way to get to them, which usually involves some creative and sometimes very precise jumping. Expect to get frustrated… a lot!
The gorgeous hand-drawn art in Greak is definitely one of the highlights of the game as well. The out-of-focus background in the distance matches well with the stuff at the front too.
In a nutshell, not only is Greak: Memories of Azur a gorgeous action-adventure game with a heartwarming story about a brother trying to reunite with his sister in a world embroiled in war and infested with dangerous creatures, it also comes with a fun gameplay that's perfectly "midcore". So, if you're into story-driven platformers, you'll want to check out this one!
Growtopia
Growtopia is a unique type of 2D sandbox game due to its incredibly social nature, as well as its special seed-splicing system that allows its players to discover new types of blocks and items. In this game, players can harvest the blocks they need by punching their surroundings, be it the ground below their avatar's feet or the tree that someone planted in a public world, and then use these blocks to create almost anything they like! There are tons of worlds in this game that you can visit and you can create new ones whenever want.That said, one of the two more interesting parts about this game though is the players' ability to obtain seeds of various types of blocks like stone, dirt and others - it sounds ridiculous, but bear with me for a minute here - and splice these seeds to get other, rarer types of blocks and items. The other part being the ability to set up player stalls. Players can actually sell off the stuff they have spliced in stalls they have set up and use the game's chat system to broadcast their wares.
Growtopia may feel like just another "Minecraft-like" sandbox game albeit in a 2D form, but once you play it, you'll quickly realize how social the game is. Of course, let's not forget about its one-of-a-kind splicing system as well. This is definitely a very unique sandbox game that you'd be missing out if you have not at least tried it.