Pardon the dust!
This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Review: Windowframe

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Ages 6 and up
Genre: Platformer
License: Donationware
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2016
Review Published On: July 9th, 2016
Played on: Thaddeus

Available on:

Windows

Available from:

Itch.IO

Areas of Concern:
  • Mild violence


How to Save and Pause:

There is no way to save a game in progress. However, you can skip to a desired level by pressing P.

Time needed per session:

Assuming you dont use the level skip cheat, youll need to play through this entire game in one sitting. This will take about twenty to thirty minutes, depending on how skilled you are.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
When something in this game takes damage, it just pops out of existence. This includes the vampires youre tasked with slaying.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
This would be a problem in most games

[view screenshot]
Dealing with the first vampire

[view screenshot]
Preparing easy wall jumps



Game Overview

Windowframe is a platformer with an interesting twist: the sides of the games window (ie, the windows frame) are treated like part of the game world. Objects in the game act like the sides of the window are walls, ceilings, or floors. By repositioning the window, you can give yourself room to perform a wall jump, create bridges over empty areas, and even block dangerous hazards.

Of course, youre not running around without a reason. There are six evil vampires that are causing trouble in Windowframe, and being a vampire hunter, its up to you to taken them down. The trouble is, the vampires control the window border too, and they arent shy about using it in an attempt to trap you or outright crush you.

Fortunately, you can use the stakes youre carrying to help you get around. Plunging a stake into the side of the window prevents that side from moving, and once youre in a better position, you can magically teleport the stakes back into your hand. The catch to this is that when you stake one of the vampires, you dont get to keep that stake. This makes navigating the later levels a lot harder.

Ultimately, Windowframe is about experienting with an unusal idea. Its pretty short, and a skilled player could probably complete the game in under thirty minutes. If you want a new challenge, consider trying this one out.

Points of Interest

Infinite retries

Death is just a mild tap on the wrist here. If you touch a spike or otherwise get hurt, your character goes poof!, and the level restarts. Each level is also one screen long. Thus, any time you restart a level, youre just starting that one screen over again and you wont have much backtracking to do.

Moderate to high difficulty curve

Many of the levels are just basic platforming challenges with a twist, and they arent terribly hard. Others, especially the levels with a vampire, require much more effort. The final battle is very hard, as the last vampire takes several hits, moves around, and shoots fireballs at you.

Concerns and Issues

Vampire slaying and other mild violence

When something dies in this game, it just pops out of existence in a little wisp of smoke, and whenever you restart a level all of the enemies reappear like nothing happened.

The vampires dont really do anything special either; they simply appear as floating pale men in red capes. Most of them dont even move.