Certain segments ask Leo to move around a small area to trigger switches in the right order to put everything in its proper place. Moving crates can be about setting up the right path or using them to alter the landscape so you can properly build up the speed you need. A lot of the area design is about properly harnessing Leo’s movement tools to safely navigate between dangers or clear specific gaps and jumps, and there are no actual enemies to be found so it’s all about Leo versus the platforming challenges ahead of him.ĭespite how much focus is simply on the fluid motion and knowing when to utilize your special maneuvers, Leo’s Fortune also makes sure to wisely pepper in some puzzle focused moments so you don’t breeze through the game once you’ve mastered the movement. Movement underwater involves managing how deep you plunge and how you rise, floating through the air can involve alternating free falls and controlled flight to get around the thorns and spikes in the way of your flight path, and there are definitely moments where you will only get ahead if you manage teetering platforms properly or pick your moment to leap into an area. He can bounce off walls, inflate to glide across gaps, and quickly plummet by sucking in his girth, these tools often relying on the speed you’ve built up or helping you gather more momentum as you enter the next section. Leo’s movement focuses a lot on momentum, a lot of the level design including slopes and ramps so he can build up the energy needed to clear loopdeloops or reach a higher platform.

He is just a furball with two eyes and a mustache and he moves by just shuffling along, but his fur and mustache have individual hairs still readable in his design even as he starts to whip out some of his platforming tricks. Leo himself isn’t as basic in appearance as first described either. Areas focused on riding wind or jumping across perilous pits will use the movement of the background and platforming objects to emphasize the peril though, so Leo’s Fortune hasn’t completely sidelined animation in favor of fidelity. You won’t be finding complex particle effects or the like though, the rain not actually hitting surfaces or building puddles, and even when the world is filled with plants or cloth they won’t always react to expected forces like wind. Vibrant areas are still plentiful such as the bright desert and its crumbling ruins, but even the moody port town mixes in rain for something beautiful but subdued. It’s actually a bit of a shame a good amount of it takes place in interior locations underground where there will be some inevitable visual repetition, but Leo’s Fortune does try to mix up these settings as well by having different objects constructed in the mines or caves to ensure the game never breaks away from its devotion to minute touches. Moving forward into the game continues to be a treat for the eyes. If you removed Leo and certain objects like the gold he collects on his adventure these would feel like they’re something far more focused on achieving realism, but even games that do attempt such things often have to cut corners because their main character’s interactions with the world are complex and they aren’t a simple furball that slides across the ground with ease.

Rocks and dirt have their own unique shapes and are arranged with each other in ways that aren’t distracting but work together to create a marvelous landscape that borders on the realistic.

Right off the bat you’re thrown into a natural area of fields and forests, but rather than playing into the tropes of the unassuming first world of many platform games, these spaces make sure every piece of land you move across is remarkably detailed. While our protagonist Leo is only able to explore the environments he travels through on a 2D plane, the game takes no shortcuts in bringing this locations to life with astounding attention to detail. Leo’s Fortune does star the character described, but its level designs and graphics are not only remarkably vivid and detailed, but they’re positively drop-dead gorgeous. If you told me there is a platforming game where you play as a furball with a lush mustache, I’d probably imagine a game that chose a simple protagonist due to budgetary limitations or a desire to keep things incredibly minimalistic.

Leos fortune level 7