36 Fragments of Midnight does a lot of things right - a cute protagonist, nice platforming, and an easy to understand objective make it seem like you’re onto a winner. Unfortunately, though, even with its low asking price it is hard to fully recommend a game that can easily be completed in under 15 minutes. It is a shame because there is a lot of promise here; some players may find themselves wanting to keep playing to beat their times but, ultimately, there is only a very small amount of content on offer. Many will have hoped for something more.
I came for the appealing art style with the hopes of finding a competent 2D platformer, but ultimately that failed to happen. This already short game doesn’t offer up enough variety to keep it engaging for very long and some mechanical issues only further dampened the experience. Couple all that with very limited replayability and what you’re left with is a forgettable game.
Even though the game does not have much content, it is kinda relaxing. You will play it ten minutes in a row then stop because there is not much to do. But you can come back to it later, when you feel the need to relax a bit. For three euros, I was not expecting much more than that, so i believe the game is not that bad.
There’s a lot of potential with 36 Fragments of Midnight, but it’s all wasted. The procedural generation of obstacles are cool the first couple of times you play the game, but the fact that it feels empty everywhere with no replay value makes this feel like a glorified demo of something that could be greater.
36 Fragments of Midnight may look enticing at its price point but fails to provide much in the way of content. It can be enjoyable if you like something quick and easy to pick up and play but otherwise, it might be best to avoid this one.
36 Fragments of Midnight is not only a waste of money, it's also a waste of time. In fact, it has me worried that the Switch's eShop will end up with as many horrible games on it as the Wii U's and that's a concern that I definitely don't want to see become reality.
The gameplay is too empty, the lifespan way too short and the controllers below par for this to be considered a decent effort and the lack of a soundtrack only reinforces the idea that this is not a complete game but rather a tech demo.
As a fan of 2D platformers, I thought this would be a steal.However, don't let the 2 dollar price tag fool you, Because I went through it the hard way. 36 Fragments of Midnight is a game that looks like it took only 10 minutes to program. The concept is as lazily planned out as the game play, 36 fragments are scattered along a world with jumps that only a freaking idiot would be entertained by. Don't buy this monstrosity. The only reason I gave this a 2/10 is because it's gameplay is better than Fortnite's.
Just completed this **** 8 minutes as the game only contains one level where you need to find 36 golden fragments (stars). It took me 3-4 attempts to get use of the mechanics. The double jump was sometimes not working (no idea why). I am giving it a 2 out of 10 as it was only $3 (canadian) and I still somewhat enjoyed myself for about half an hour even if it was ridiculously short and pretty easy.
I just went from 6 to midnight! Oh it’s 36? Oh oh ok..
Fragments is a simple 2d platformer that relies on its difficulty as you try to collect 36 fragments of light in only one level, yes ONE LEVEL. The mechanics are common to most platformers these days, left and right movement, jump and double jump. The level is multi tiered and you move up and down through the floors until you have successfully gathered all of the pickups.
First things first, I really love this type of indie game. Very very hard 2d platforming that jumps you back into the action immediately so you try try and try again until the mission is accomplished. Which at points fragments totally embodies, keeping me on the edge of my seat while i time out lasers to jump at the perfect moment to capture the light fragment. This only works when the mechanics are as solid as oak, unfortunately that is not the case for 36 fragments of midnight.
The double jump, which is one of the two mechanics of this game will randomly not work. So if you are trying a difficult move to grab a fragment, at points it’s a gamble to see whether the double jump will work or not. This is not a gamble that is fun to make. The double jump has failed a number of times when jumping between floors, which has also caused me to fall onto spikes, ending a promising run. Which is the sort of frustrating that makes me want to put the game down for good.
Another pain point is the camera animation when moving from floor to floor. This can only be explained as digital whiplash. The clunky jerky movement, almost gave me a headache and caused me to dread every transition between floors.
Aesthetically fragments is very nice, quite simple but the lighting effects and atmospheric elements make it a lovely place to spend some time. I even had fun doing goofy stuff with the lighting like this flying bird.
Overall, 36 fragments of midnight seems more like a game prototype that needs work rather than a published game. Honestly, I can’t believe this is on the switch eshop. With the lack of content and hit or miss mechanics, I’m giving 36 fragments of midnight...
Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox