So very rarely does a game from a genre that I don't normally like win me over as effectively as Never Give Up from developer Massive Monster. The "Hilariously Brutal 2D Side-Scrolling Platformer" has definitely never been my thing, mostly due to my frustration at repeated failure and my utter lack of skill, so I cannot quite quantify my surprise at how hard my enjoyment for this game hit me like a homing missile.
The game wears its punishing difficulty on its sleeve. Your character (Voiced by none other than Arin Hanson, the grumpiest Game Grump) has plenty of one-liners to deliver for the many, many times you will meet the business end of a saw blade or spike pit. Die enough times, and the game will actually encourage you to give up, allowing you to skip the level and come back to it later. I won't spoil what happens when you do this, but you should definitely do it just once for the screen that comes afterwards.
How many million strokes is your spacebar rated for, again?
The levels themselves are also rather uniquely done in Never Give Up. Each stage begins as a single room, and each time you hit the finish line you will begin again at the beginning of that room, except this time something is different. It could be new laser cannons or homing missiles, and a lot of new saw blades. Every death will place you back at the beginning of that version of the room (Or your most recent checkpoint if you were wise enough to select the difficulty that has checkpoints).
Everything Never Give Up does, it does very well. The music playing behind your infinite carnage never gets tiring and fits the game like a glove. The visuals are similarly executed, always looking snappy and sharp and never taking itself too seriously. Part of the lightheartedness is that the game will leave your giblets and precious bodily fluids on the spots where you die, remaining and compounding until you finally hit the exit gate.
And hats off to the Giblet Engine, for it puts in a lot of work.
Gameplay is similarly snappy and smooth. One of the only issues I had is that it's a little too smooth sometimes, with Arin's witty avatar sliding just a hair too far than I expect him to when trying to brake at the edge of a pit of acid. My own lack of dexterity aside, the game performs like a champion, even when rendering my red, gooey failures all over the place. The controls are extremely simple to use and learn, so it's all up to your response time and dumb lizard brain to get you through.
The most surprising thing about the whole experience for me was just how little it frustrated me, even on absolutely ridiculous stages. A speedrun timer is included, but there is no downside to going at your own pace, which is extremely welcome. Scattered throughout levels are coins and hidden items which unlock fun outfits for your blue hero (cosmetics that are unlocked through gameplay challenges as opposed to a microtransaction store? Who knew such a thing was possible in 2019). Don't get me wrong here: even on the "easy" setting with checkpoints, you will die. A lot. But even as someone who leans more on the "Throw the controller against the wall to exercise what Mega Man X did to me" side of things, and despite what the game itself constantly tells you, I never found myself ready to give the game the spacebar it so clearly wanted.
