I’ve lost count of how many games Sometimes You has published in 2018 alone. With the exception of the very impressive The Mooseman, their 2018 portfolio has largely been comprised of extremely cheap and easily forgettable titles that tried to entice consumers with the possibility of getting more trophies/gamerscore for a low pricetag, as well as an occasional experimental indie or two.

Their brand new outing is called Sigi: A Fart For Melusina. First of all, let me just say something about the title: really guys? Second of all, while I wasn’t expecting this game to be very good it did manage surpass my very low expectations, but it still wasn’t anything to write home about.

The plot is as absurd as you might expect. Sigi is a knight who sees a mermaid then farts near her, causing her to run away. Now he has to kill zombies and fight bosses for some reason until the game runs out of levels to be thrown at you. You may think you’re going to use the powers of your bowels to traverse through the land in order to rescue or possibly capture said maiden, but that’s when Sigi falls even flatter.

The game is as basic as basic can get. You jump, shoot knives/axes/iron balls Ghosts n’ Goblins-style on hordes of enemies, collect four letters per level, and then finally reach the end of the stage. Occasionally, you’ll be able to find a cave with some loot, typically either coins, health, or a weapon you didn’t want to get in the first place. You’ll also fight poorly designed bosses every now and then in stages I can only describe as abominable exercises of patience, due to the sheer amount of enemies the game throws at you in a desperate attempt to look challenging. The game’s weird combat system, in which your weapons are never thrown in a straight line, only add insult to injury. To top it off, you can beat the whole game in less than an hour and by that I mean you can 100% the whole damn thing in less than an hour.

The gameplay is mediocre at best, but Sigi has a few saving graces. It tries to look and sound retro and it almost manages to succeed. It commits the mistake many retro-inspired indies do of looking way too detailed for an 8-bit title with large, colorful, and somewhat detailed sprites. It doesn’t look bad per se and the slight CRT filter can even be considered charming, but I feel that the intention of fully emulating a NES/Master System game hasn’t been achieved. The soundtrack is also decent, but there aren’t many songs to begin with. It got repetitive very quickly.

Games like Sigi are easily the most annoying to write about. It’s not exactly a bad game since it has largely average visuals and music, plus gameplay that can be considered as “just barely okay”, but it’s so uninteresting, unfunny, and short that I’m probably not going to remember it in… wait, what was I talking about again?

 

Graphics: 6.5 The main character’s animation is nice, the environments are cute, and the subtle CRT filter is a neat touch. It doesn’t impress and fails to look like a proper 8-bit game, but it’s still the best aspect of the game.	Gameplay: 5.5 A very high input sensitivity, weird jumping physics, and a nonsensical aiming system. It resembles Ghosts n’ Goblins in this aspect and that’s not a good comparison.
Sound: 6.0 While the chiptune songs aren’t bad at all, they severely lack in variety. The sound effects are excessively loud.	Fun Factor: 4.0 Between the poorly designed boss battles and the ridiculously short duration, you’re not going to spend a lot of time with Sigi.
Final Verdict: 5.0

Reviewed on Xbox One.
Sigi: A Fart For Melusina is available now on PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, PC, Switch.
A copy of Sigi: A Fart For Melusina was provided by the publisher.