JTOH:XL - Citadel of Dust and Decay

Описание: Verdict: Boring (4/10)

Well, this is it. The last thing I plan to do for JTOH:XL until I get some more towers done for JTOH. I wasn't too big on the original tower. The original floor 9 can be a mess in regards to pathing, especially with the balloon platform at the beginning. Most of the tower is pretty basic as well, feeling like it only really gets involved in the upper half with the darkness floor.

Honestly, there isn't too much to say for this one. A lot of the new floors are designed to play off the concepts of the original floors, which is pretty nice because we get more themed floors as opposed to everything being thrown at us at once. Like the original tower, it takes a while to really pick up and a lot of the lower floors are very simple stuff involving waiting for slow spinners or jumping on large platforms.

Music is a bit of a mixed bag, there is some songs I like such as the tan floor with the neon spinners, but the second to last floor gets a bit too abrasive with its electronics for my liking. A lot of the new floors reuse sources fitting from the area which it is supposed to be around, so it is all trying to be pretty accurate to the original. Sadly this is one of those towers where the original just wasn't something I really liked.

I will say the new floors are pretty good with pathing. We got a area with low visibility through a bunch of transparent stuff. We also get a massive ball pit with a spinner. The latter is of course great and something you can never get too much of. We also get a floor with a lot of pusher mechanics like the one everyone loves to rage about.

The final floor is pretty basic, mostly just focusing on simple wraps. There is a shadow part near the end that became the bane of my existence as I had some weird flatsiding issues on it. Nearly messed up the seat outside as well, I really lucked out with getting to the other side there.

It was interesting to realize that there are two types of seats in this tower, light ones that you fall through when you jump and dark ones that you can stand on. Did take a little time to realize this mechanic, but it is an interesting concept and something I never really noticed existed in the original tower.

This thing is a pretty faithful expansion of the original Dust and Decay, which sadly results in something that just doesn't interest me highly. The floors tend to be on the easy side, honestly I am surprised to see this rated intense due to how much is free and how quick the citadel tends to be. The problem is that none of it leaves much of an impression on me. Even the upper floors mostly revolve around getting used to a mechanic, like waiting for a pusher to move you, which makes it feel less skill based in comparison to a bunch of ones you needed to time the jump right (timing the jumps on them tends to be bad as you end up bouncing). It has mechanics and more notable floors, but the mechanics are pretty simplistic.

All the new floors are much less offensive than the more confusing floor 9 of the original. There is also the occasional decent song in here. It just is that most of it isn't too interesting nor does it really play much into my personal tastes. It hinges a lot on how much you liked ToDaD, which in my case wasn't very high. I would say the build is decent and I appreciate how it took the original concepts and expanded on them, it just is one of those citadels that had a massive uphill battle and due to being faithful is going to be less appealing to me. This rendition is bearable enough to grind, but not really something I would be motivated to replay any time soon.