If you love boss rush games and enjoy a solid challenge, Nimbusfall might be the next game for you to tackle. This pixel art action title throws you into intense battles against towering enemies, where learning attack patterns and striking at the right moment are crucial. Let me take you through what makes Nimbusfall stand out—and why it might just be your next obsession.
What’s Nimbusfall About?
Nimbusfall centers on one simple premise: defeat giants, free your people, and escape the mysterious tower where monstrous creatures are set on stopping you. Armed with nothing but a sword at the start, you’ll battle your way through each floor, facing enemies with unique abilities and attack patterns. The story is straightforward, but it sets up the main attraction—the boss battles.
Each floor of the tower presents a new challenge, with each giant offering different skills, forcing you to adapt your strategy on the go. You’ll need to recognize when to strike, when to retreat, and how to best use your available tools to overcome these behemoths.
Difficulty and Game Modes
One of the things I appreciate about Nimbusfall is that difficulty affects more than just enemy health and damage. On higher levels, monsters attack more frequently, use more advanced combos, and gain new abilities you haven’t seen before. It’s not just about harder hits—it’s about a fresh, evolving challenge with each battle.
In addition to difficulty levels, you can select different game modes that further tweak your experience. There’s a mode where you start with just one health point, or a more forgiving one where you have 10. And for the truly brave (or masochistic), there’s Turbo Mode, where everything moves faster, including your enemies. However, I found Turbo Mode a bit unbalanced—dodging multiple projectile attacks in quick succession felt unfair, as the stun effect leaves you wide open for damage.
Combat Mechanics: Patience, Precision, and Rage
Once you’ve picked your difficulty, the battles begin. You start every run with a sword, but after each boss, you can choose from new weapons—sometimes even being forced to pick one to proceed.
The core mechanics are simple: you can jump, dash, attack, and use a special skill called “rage.” The game emphasizes timing, as you’ll need to watch for each boss’s attack cues, whether visual or audio, to avoid taking damage. Each boss fight is divided into two phases: once their health reaches 50%, they freeze momentarily before returning with enhanced attacks—more projectiles, longer combos, and more.
To even the odds, you can fill your rage meter by landing basic attacks. When the meter is full, you can unleash a devastating attack that deals extra damage. But beware—if you stop attacking for too long, the rage meter depletes, adding an extra layer of pressure, especially on higher difficulties.
An important combat move to remember is the mid-air ground-pound attack. By jumping, holding the down direction, and pressing X, your character transforms into a fast-dropping ball, delivering a heavy attack to enemies below. This move is key to breaking through tougher defenses or dealing damage in a pinch.
Control Responsiveness: A Double-Edged Sword
While Nimbusfall delivers in its core combat mechanics, the controls feel a bit sluggish at times. In most action-heavy games, dashing can cancel your attack animations, allowing for quick dodges. But here, you must wait for your character to finish their attack before dashing, leading to some frustrating moments where you take damage unnecessarily. This is manageable on lower difficulties but becomes a real issue on higher levels and in Turbo Mode, where split-second reactions are vital.
Co-op Mode
For those looking for a shared challenge, Nimbusfall offers a local co-op mode, although I wasn’t able to try it. Co-op boss rushes sound like a blast, especially when you have someone to share the chaos with—so grab a friend if you can and dive into the action together.
Performance and Bugs
Overall, Nimbusfall runs smoothly most of the time, with only a few glitches here and there. However, I did encounter one game-breaking bug while battling the totem boss, where invisible attacks kept hitting me, and the boss eventually became invincible. It’s a frustrating experience that I’m sure the developers will patch, but it did sour the gameplay for me.
Another odd glitch occurred during the flying helmet boss fight, where the enemy simply stopped attacking after entering the second phase, giving me an easy victory. While I didn’t mind the win, it’s something to note. On the other hand, I struggled with the spider boss, whose attacks were difficult to read, often leading to unclear hits.
Visuals and Sound Design
The pixel art style of Nimbusfall is simple but effective. The 8-bit aesthetic, with modern touches, helps you easily understand what’s happening on the screen without overwhelming you. Each boss has its own themed room that matches their style, adding some nice variety to the visuals.
However, the sound design is a mixed bag. While some tracks, like the magician’s theme, are enjoyable, certain sound effects feel incomplete. Some enemy attacks have clear audio cues, while others don’t, which can be frustrating—especially when you rely on sound to dodge attacks quickly. This inconsistency is noticeable and detracts from the otherwise engaging atmosphere.
Achievements and Replayability
For completionists and boss rush enthusiasts, Nimbusfall offers plenty of achievements, including trophies for beating bosses on specific difficulties or without taking damage. These add replay value for those who thrive on mastering challenges, although casual players may find less incentive to replay after finishing the main content.
Final Thoughts
Nimbusfall offers a solid challenge for boss rush fans, with rewarding gameplay and a range of difficulty modes to suit different playstyles. While the controls could use some polishing and a few bugs need to be ironed out, the game has a lot of potential. Its clear pixel art and engaging boss designs make it worth playing, especially for those who enjoy learning attack patterns and honing their skills in fast-paced battles.
If you’re a fan of this genre, Nimbusfall might not blow your mind, but it will certainly offer a few hours of enjoyable challenge. And with its full controller support, it’s a great pick for Steam Deck, making it perfect for on-the-go play.
If you’re interested in checking out Nimbusfall, you can find the link to the Steam page HERE And if you enjoy discovering lesser-known indie games check also my channel HERE
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
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