Review: Trasmos Legends

Price £6.49 (Switch/PS5/Steam) 

Developer: Volcano Bytes

Publisher: JanduSoft

Players: 1-2

Light the candle In Trasmoz Legends and watch the cash rain down! Mixing 8-bit and 16-bit visuals, with a chiptune soundtrack, we have a game that looks old but plays modern, with chaotic and multiple ways to max out a high score. 

The aim of Trasmoz is to break an olde curse before the sun rises, setting players on a fast-paced journey through suitably gothic platform levels. 

The idea is pretty simple, stab an enemy, collect a flame, light the torch, collect any chests, and repeat for multipliers to boost the score. 

But with a pumpkin lobbing ghostly maniac floating around the screen it isn't quite so simple. 

Chests drop armour that will help you survive an impact with one of the beasts, very useful as further levels see re-animating monsters, small pathways and trickier traps. 

Legging it Through Trasmoz Legends

Trasmoz Legends is new to me, but apparently part of a trilogy. It recreates the retro arcade platformers with vivid, crisp pixel art. And unlike many that go hard or harder on the gameplay, Trasmoz offers a Family mode alongside Classic, Speedrun, and Endless  modes, plus local co-op. 

Once you get used to the steps within each level, your focus can then switch to whether you need to jump or fall to reach the next minion, where the next candle will trigger and how to avoid the relentless final boss that hunts you through cursed villages, cryptic forests, and decaying catacombs until you face off in a climactic battle. 

Based on original Spectrum homebrews, there's a lot to love here, with crisp visuals, but it somehow lacks that perfect consistency and fun factor that the likes of Donut Dodo delivers. 

If you do get frustrated then the speed run, endless or multiplayer modes might add a little stretch to proceedings, but in short bursts its a scratchy but fun experience. 

Score 3/5

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