140 by Carlsen Games - Quinn's Curios

First, the publisher’s pitch: “140 is a challenging minimalistic platformer with abstract colorful graphics. Rhythmic awareness is required to overcome obstacles controlled by an energetic, yet melancholic electronic soundtrack.“

Next, my one-sentence summary: “140 is an affordable, minimalist platformer that challenges its players with both difficult jumps and moving to the beat of its music.”

What Worked For Me:

The minimalist aesthetic means that, even at almost 10 years old, the game still looks good. It isn’t a graphically demanding, but that just means a modest machine can run the game without issue.
Just like Sayonara Wild Hearts, another game I recently reviewed, 140 has a banging soundtrack. I’m not sure I’d pay the $5 USD asking price, but if I still like it a few a few more listens I just might.
The game has an excellent difficulty curve, steadily adding in complications as the player progresses through the game.
The musical element of the game adds a layer of challenge that few other platformers share. While being “on-beat” is by no means required to beat the game, approaching the game with rhythm definitely made things easier for me.
The game is relatively short; I was able to complete it in about an hour and a half. I wasn’t bothered by this, especially given the game’s low price tag ($5 USD). Also, as I’ve said countless times, I’ll always prefer a short game that says its piece and moves on over a bloated mess of a game that runs for far too long.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

The game doesn’t have any menus to speak of. In fact, the only way I was able to quit out of the game was by holding the “start” button on my controller. While some may appreciate this language-free design, I found it mildly annoying since it made it harder for me to interact with the game.
The game has no accessibility options, or at least none that I could find. I found this especially annoying because I was unable to re-map my controls to include the d-pad; instead, I played the entire game using my controller’s analog stick. This wasn’t a deal-breaker for me, but it wasn’t ideal, either.
(nit-pick) I’m not sure how much replay value the game has (spoiler: beyond its challenge levels, which require the player to beat “reversed” versions of each level with one life). Then again, not every game has to be a “lifetime” game that lasts hundreds or thousands of hours.
(nit-pick) I didn’t mind this, but the game has no story to speak of. Granted, none of the minimalist, 2D platformers I’ve played recently (E.Z, Micro Platformer) have had stories, so I can’t complain.
(nit-pick) I occasionally found the game’s backgrounds distracting. They had nowhere near the level of flash as Sayonara Wild Hearts, but I found myself looking away from what I was supposed to be viewing more than once.

Conclusion:

If you’re looking for an affordable, minimalist platformer with a musical twist, 140 may just be the game for you. It’s almost a decade old as of time of writing and it is missing what I would consider key features (e.g. button remapping), but it still has the goods where it counts: the gameplay.

Check it out here.